About
Kara Weaves is a WBE certified social enterprise working with co-operatives to create fair-trade handwoven textiles in south-west India. Started in 2007, Kara Weaves stands for everything we love about handmade products and the people who make them.
Here's a bit more about how we operate and who we are.
We partner with local weaving co-operatives in Kerala (India) to design contemporary home textiles. Each product is made from very ancient local fabrics that are hand-made at traditional wooden looms. Since February 2013, we are certified members of the Fair Trade Forum of India, the country network of the WFTO and WFTO-Asia. This first-of-its-kind attempt in Kerala hopes to bridge the gap between this traditional weaving art form and a contemporary lifestyle.
Team
Kara Weaves was founded in 2007 and is an all-women partnership, WBE certified and a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation of India. Meet our team:
Indu Menon
Co-founder, Managing Partner. Indu is a social anthropologist and co-author of Women Weavers (1983). She has worked as a research assistant at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and at the Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University and brings over three decades of expertise to the brand. She co-ordinates the production aspect of the fabrics, in addition to overseeing the management of the brand. She is based out of Kanjiramattom, near Kochi in Kerala.
Chitra Gopalakrishnan
Co-founder, Senior Art Director. Chitra is a Graphic Designer with dual MFAs from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, USA (2009) and the ESAG Penninghen, France (2004). She oversees the design, visual branding and marketing.
Revathy Menon
Partner. The noted Indian film actor, director and social activist is a founding partner since 2007
BINDU RAJESH Partner. MBA in Marketing and Effective Apparel Merchandising from NIFT with 22 years of hands-on expertise to drive successfull textile ventures.