Hathkala: Stirring craftmanship

My mom’s way of buying saree from the weaver’s that came to our home always puzzled me. I could not understand why she was so obsessed with them until I embraced the local work’s and enriched them myself.

I joined NIFT which eventually left me in astonishment to see how the sarees were fabricated. I instantly decided that I want to forge these sarees myself. After graduating, I visited a lot of places for fabrics and then I found Chanderi right next to me. I had made the plan of starting a business so we interacted with a lot of craftsmen and I beautified them with my designs. That was the time when Hathkala came into existence. Apprehensively taking tiny steps evolved me, it was a big risk as I started my own line after college without any experience but my parents were very supportive so I determinedly followed the path that I had chosen because I loved doing it.

When you follow your passion you have to deal with the setbacks that come along the way. Initially, it was very difficult for us to establish trust amongst people and get them to buy. We did not receive any order for three months but with consistency we slowly picked up. We have different handloom fabrics like Chanderi, Maheshwari, khadi and we do natural dying. There were micro influencers that checked our designs and my blogger also admired the designs so she promoted it which really helped us. We even did collaborations with a shuffling suitcase and loom. We were expanding in the market and gradually succeeding.

When the pandemic happened, I had bouts of anxiety and I yearned to quit it all but every-time my mind entertained this thought, my heart skipped a beat thinking about the weavers that depend on Hathkala for their livelihood and give it all while they are working for us. They were my constant motivation.

While I was interacting with the craftsmen before starting Hathkala I realized a problem that is not openly addressed. The craftsmen in rural places have been working very hard but are not paid enough and that motivated me to take this cause further. I decided to not entertain any middleman so all the craftsmen get paid equally. After lockdown our weavers prioritized us over all other brands and helped us restore our faith. Providing employment to so many weavers and workers gives me an immense satisfaction and a goodnight’s sleep because I know I couldn’t have done it any better.