And so on...

Its been exactly two months since The Secret Garden opened up...there have been so many things that we have learnt and so many things we unlearnt. There are so many ideas in your head that when in your head seem clear but when they translate into reality they turn out differently...products you thought everybody would love are different from the products everybody actually loved...so the project has been surprising us everyday...its been amazing the love that we have gotten from the people who visited us...one of my favorite comments were from this elderly gentleman who told me that he would have loved to own a store like this...it makes us happy when people ask us about the origins of the products they are buying...it feels nice to share the stories of people who worked hard to bring us these products...we are so happy to be on this journey to continuously look for interesting products, work with interesting crafts and believe in the stories of the craftsmen....

This is a small Secret Garden stall at an Organic Bazaar in Hyderabad. The idea of The Secret Garden is not to be restricted by the store premises, be at bazaars, provide gifting solutions, consult for crafts. We like the idea of evolving, constantly changing and not defining boundaries...

Akshara

Finally the store is set up and I have someone helping me out at the store itself...which for me means freedom to travel, to find more products, to meet new people, interact with craftsmen and document the crafts! So looking forward to lots of that...
   I began my list of journeys with a visit to Delhi. The Dastakari Haat Samiti organized an exibhition called Akshara. In an attempt to bring crafts together with education. There were over a 100 products which used an Indian craft in tandem with an indian language...the effect was fantastic! There was so many interesting products...I was bowled over by a kalamkari wall hanging which used old telugu sayings to form a tree of life...I wish I had taken pictures to show what I mean but unfortunately I was too mesmerized by the whole thing to take any pictures...there were beautiful handwoven Jamdhani sarees with poetry, kabir dohas...there were some fantastic lamps made with carved alphabets, kashmiri trays and what not! Hopefully will get some of the products for The Secret Garden store. This is a traveling show, keep an eye out for it and definitely see it!

Settling in...

The mad rush of putting things together has finally slowed down...the day before the store opened was probably the busiest day of my life...interiors work was still happening, we had products that still needed to be tagged...and after that was done the important but fun task of display! Making the display a lot easier was my friend Namratha who gave me beautiful interiors that didnt need us to break our heads about on how to display...but still I have to thank my friends, cousins, my siblings and most importantly my mother who stayed with me through the whole day and half the night to make sure everything looked beautiful and ready for the opening...Another person who I just couldn't do it without would be my sister, who helped me make the invites, photographed patiently as I kept moving things around...I felt really lucky to have this wonderful people around me...it was celebration for all of us...It's just begun...so many more things to do now...bring beautiful crafts and along with them stories...I am eagerly looking forward to traveling and meeting the artisans of India!

It's here, It's here!

It's been an insane couple of days and I can't begin to imagine how stressful the rest of the day is going to be...but it's happening, some things are falling into place, some things are taking longer than expected...we are going to open in a small way tomorrow and I am really looking forward to having everyone see what I thought needs to be seen! So many years of thinking about what I wanted to do..and the store is small but powerful manifestation of the things that I want to do...So come be a part of the beginning...

Countdown...

There is exactly a week left for me to open the store...the number of things running through my mind is insane...trying to decide things from what ribbons to use on the tags and what hangers the clothes should be hung from...its the little things that take forever, the color on the walls was easy but the color of the ribbon is taking a lot longer! My father laughs at me and calls me accountant, secretary, designer, sales, marketing, office boy and whatever maybe the need of the hour! It's been such a journey and there is so little time left and I think I am glad that there is very little time left...second guessing myself is a bad habit I possess. Some preview photographs at the work that is going on, the color schemes and odd construction!

Rapid...

Once the date is set there are so many things to finish on time. Making sure all the products are hire, all the stationery, the collaterals, interior details, last minute orders....its such a rush...expectantly awaiting the signage that should come tomorrow....somehow there are these small things that make it seem like its very real....a little price tag or a shopping bag...now I know that it is definitely going to happen!

So...two videos and a small story...
A friend of mine was working on a story for a magazine about FabIndia and John Bissell (founder of Fabindia). John Bissell was very fond of Ikkat and worked with weavers from Koyalgudem, a village very close to Pochampally. Pochampally mainly weaves silk Ikkat, usually in a saree format. Koyalgudem does mostly cotton fabric in large quantities. Bissell with the help of Suraiya Hassan (video about her in an earlier post) used a lot of Ikkat and helped the weavers in coming up with new designs, brighter colors...the weavers in Koyalgudem compare John Bissell and Suraiya Hassan to Gods...the village thrived at one point being a place of great business....now when you see it, there is only run down houses, all the stores that used to sell the fabrics are boarded up, fewer and fewer people are weaving now. One of the weavers we met said that it is difficult to get cotton and the price they get for finished fabric has not changed while the price of cotton has increased multifold. There is also new industries coming up around the village where daily laborers get paid more than how much the weaver would make. There used to be a dignity attached to being a weaver and now there is simply poverty...

This is a spindle machine that prepares the threads for the loom. Master weavers have this machine as well as looms, while there are some people who just do the preparation and earn very little while doing that.

This is a video of two men dyeing the prepared threads. One of them is wearing gloves while the other isn't. I was there, I saw the dyes, and they were very strong chemicals. Also the lack of footwear had caused a lots of wounds on the feet of not just these men but also the women living in the house. The dyers make the least money in this hierarchy of weaver and people doing the preparatory work. 

Just some things that were on my mind for a while...sharing them...hoping we can do something about this...

Very soon...

After many months of dreaming, sourcing, building its going to happen...if all goes well The Secret Garden store is all set to open on the 22nd of August! Its such an exciting and nervous time for me...so much to look forward to...so many stories waiting to be unraveled...so many people whose stories of dedication to the craft to be explored...so much so much!