With a love for traditional art and culture, I enjoy a nurturing passion towards everything handmade and artisanal.  I was first introduced to hand weaving industry in the early 2000’s when this highly skilled weaving community was going through a tough period with no demand for slow paced handwoven textiles. In absence of work availability, many handloom weavers were being forced to end their lives as the only skill known to them was no longer in demand and they were unable to sustain their families. During this period many activists, charitable organizations and a few textile leaders shifted their focus towards reviving this craft industry. I had an opportunity to be part of one such project which gave me an insight into struggles and limitations as well as the opportunities that exist in this authentic weaving oriented textile craft. Since then, we have come a long way and proud of what we are able to achieve. This is a collective effort of craftsmen, designers and responsible customers. We have been constantly adding new artisans and inspiring young adults to take up this crafts and still live a good, wholesome life, send their children to school, provide them nutritive food and have well-lit safe houses and work areas.

Presently, I orchestrate my life between being a mother, educator, designer, visual artist and social entrepreneur. Taking inspiration from elements of nature, I produce process-based works on handwoven textiles, and my ink drawings on paper produce organic forms and textures through a mark-making process. I bring meditative approach to art making as I derive inspiration from nature and highlight its beauty and perseverance. My master’s degree in textile design helped gain experience in garment industry before I shifted focus to a meaningful career with Indian hand-weaver’s community. I focused my work towards sustainability in textile industry and rejected fast-fashion that runs endless productions for personal gains ignoring its impact on environment. Read more about my artistic pursuits here. Please visit and follow my Instagram @calmcreativecraving to have a glimpse of my on-going art practice.

Through Weaves & Wildflowers, I aim to bring an incomparable authenticity of handwoven textiles to you and aims to educate on how this craft supports our environment as well as communities. They not only sustain the lives of the makers but the end to end processes are also more sustainable for our environment as opposed to mass produced goods.

— Parul

Sustainability and Slow Fashion

An unimaginative approach combined with disregard for nature, tradition, and community is detrimental to the environment and humankind. Textile industry is suffering from a lack of ambition for quality and conscientiousness in their vision. According to Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2018 Report, “Seventy-five percent of fashion supply chain material ends up in landfills. This amounts to the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles per second.” More than often, inferior quality materials and mass-production tools are used to create products, so they last for a short period of time thus necessitating consumers to buy same product more frequently. This selfish practice of planned obsolescence is profitable to the businesses but financially straining to the consumer. The poor-quality textile products can be rough on skin and environment similarly. A probable lack of empathy for textile workers who receive poor wages and are forced to work overtime is also extremely concerning and unethical.

In contrast, slow fashion is a newly evolving concept which prioritizes quality over quantity while practicing ethical, humane, and nature friendly techniques to create textile products that embody strength and long life. A lasting value is added to the product through quality design and moral thoughtfulness towards our ecosystem and local craft-artists. Slow fashion is intended to gather, design, produce, consume, and live conscientiously.

Kate Fletcher, professor of Sustainability, Design, and Fashion at the UAL, London, coined the term “slow fashion” in 2007 and defined it — “Slow fashion is about choice, information, cultural diversity, identity, as well as balance, durability and long-term quality products. Slow fashion is about designing, producing, consuming, and living better. Slow is not the opposite of fast. There is no dualism but a different approach in which designers, buyers, retailers and consumers are more aware of the fashion impact on workers, communities, and ecosystem.” 

Weaves & Wildflowers identifies itself as a slow fashion brand. We proudly celebrate the extraordinary creative talent of local artists while encouraging them to provide their input in the production process. We use environmentally friendly products that are remarkable in endurance and natural in style. Our profit from sales go back to our weavers to improve their working and living conditions thus expanding out clusters to include more skilled weavers. We take pride in creating sustainable and easy-to-fall-in-love-with products.

Let us commit to sustainable living for all. 

We Do Custom Fabrics

If you are a textile artist, craftsperson or a small business owner working with fabrics who appreciate the value of handwoven fabrics, we would love to offer our fabrics to you at best prices. Please reach out to me with your fabric requirements. I will personally work with you to understand the specifics, and then discuss with the artisans for best possible options.

Email : weavesandwildflowers@gmail.com