Imli Diaries

Hello! 

Hope you’ve had an awesome month - at Tamarind Chutney, we’ve been quite busy traveling, creating and selling. Read on to find out what we’ve been up to. 

We’re sorry, we love puns and we couldn’t resist. No more, at least for now :) Jokes aside, we went to Kutch, Gujarat to visit artisans we had partnered with for our first collection, and also to connect with others. In Ajrakhpur village we met Ibrahim, one of the more well known Ajrakh block printers in the region. He runs a large unit and supplies to some well known brands. We also visited Zubeir, who is more in the ‘start-up’ phase. He is in his early twenties, has a small operation but big dreams. And finally, we met Bhimji, a self employed weaver who has a loom in his house and recently completed a training programme conducted by the Handloom school. We really enjoyed getting to know our artisans better. Spending time with them also gave us so much insight into the diversity of their skills, interests, and circumstances. As we think of the positive social impact we want to create, this knowledge will help us work with our artisans in a way that most suits their needs.

Beyond the wonderful interactions with our artisans, here’s what else we discovered:

- Our metabolisms may be slowing down with age, but not our appetites. 50 theplas were consumed between the two of us over 3 days. We won’t tell you who ate more :P

- We have become chai (tea) connoisseurs. Hospitality in Gujarat is directly proportional to the amount of tea served. 

- The 4G network in Kutch is far superior to the signal in Delhi. Sigh.

What else is cooking: New Collection 

We’re so pumped to launch our next collection for the festive season! We are working with more artisans this time round from regions including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We’ve added a new craft-based fabric - cotton silk - to our ensemble and are continuing our practice of sourcing all non craft fabric from surplus stores. That is, to reduce waste and minimize our environmental impact, we use fabric that was leftover from other productions. While designing this collection (and all future collections too!), we have strived to be inclusive of diverse body types, which means we’ve included variations in sleeves, neck-lines, length and silhouettes. More on this in the next edition - but in the meantime if you have any comments or suggestions, send them our way at thetamarindchutney@gmail.com. 

Signing off, 

TC