Turmeric Hands
Over the course of three years, we’ve partnered with some very interesting people. Though I plan to do justice to that list over a period of time, I am starting with someone like me, someone I’ve never met, but someone with whom I’ve worked so much. Sonali Chand is a designer, craft lover and most importantly, a doting mother.
Our association started with an email from Sonali asking if she could collaborate in any sense. Our exchanges led to a collaboration on Pattachitra from Orissa. Being an architect and NID alumnus, Sonali wanted to put it to use in designing for artisans in her home state, Orissa. In a short span, our collaborations led to Sonali working with one our artisans in developing lovely products. Her organization Turmeric Hands is her explorations with Pattachitra, paper machier and paper.
Her description for Turmeric Hands is also very interesting! In her words, “One late winter afternoon, the little chirp of the sparrows was occasionally broken by my angel’s little giggles. As I went through my chores of dividing the new pack of homemade turmeric powder that my mom had sent me, I could no longer hear pari’s giggles. My little pari had sneaked a turmeric bag , pulled down my sari,and had made teeny weeny yellow hand-prints, thereby giving life to it. She looked at me and chuckled showing me the great work of art. The bright sunshine like yellow turmeric hands took me back to my childhood days – to the days of me spoiling my ma’s saree, to the days of much awaited mela filled with clay toys,masks, sugar moulded in animal shape-to the childhood days flavoured with the warmth of my mother. As I hugged Pari – that picture of my memories and the innocent smile on her face gave me my little pack of yellow sunshine – a sudden urge to re-ignite those lost joys. I decided to start my new endeavour and reconnect to my roots, to celebrate the tradition of storytelling, the culture of colors – the rich Indian ethnicity and the most valuable wealth –the Indian craft. Turmeric hands is my little way to celebrate our legacy of rich craft and connect to all those to convey this feeling.”
Sonali intersperses traditional motifs with very contemporary colours and backgrounds to bring out interesting products. Her range of stationery and table top accessories are on display and sale at our online store. Do check them out!