-
Producer Profile: Mansa Ram and Family
I first met Mansa Ram ji when he spoke at a meeting of NGO workers, researchers, and students gathered to examine challenges and opportunities facing the handloom industry in India. I visited him a few times when I was in the region again for research into wool production, and the first woven items available for…
-
Zero-Waste Design
Back in January, a very large piece of cloth arrived at my doorstep. I had asked for one of the blankets that herders sleep inside when camping out with the flocks, thinking that I could cut it up into smaller pieces and stitch some bags out of it. I unfolded the bundle as much as…
-
Lovely Reetha: In which I learn about soapnuts (the hard way)
Early on in my Fulbright research, I had achieved my first goal of obtaining several kgs of (very) dirty wool. Having managed to transport it by bus back to the institute where I was staying, I moved on to step 2: washing it. I wanted to test out a variety of methods using locally available…
-
In Praise of Pattu: Softer Wool is Not Always Better
When I first visited the Gaddi village of Karnarthu, my hosts posed a question: did I want to sleep under a synthetic blanket, or a wool one? Wool, of course! I was there to study wool, after all. Was I sure? It would be very scratchy. I was used to it, I assured them–I sleep…
-
My DIY Business Education
Those of you who know me personally know, and those who are finding this site elsewise can probably surmise, that I am not coming at this venture from a business background. Rather, I’m trained as an interdisciplinary researcher in the social sciences and humanities, particularly within feminist approaches to analyzing and imagining alternatives to capitalism.…
aana jaana
himalayan handcrafted woolens
aana jaana 