Our Story
Chanchal – Bringing Art to Life
We make beautiful handwoven handloom Sarees and contemporary everyday accessories including Handbags, Laptop Bags, Sunglass Cases, Wallets, Dokra Jewellery using Traditional Textiles and Art of India. Our ethically-made sustainable fashion accessories are hand-crafted and bring out the dynamic dualism of the timeless desi and the contemporary global sensibilities. Be it our tote bags, laptop bags or Dokra jewelry; they are rooted yet free, bold yet understated, timeless yet contemporary. A true compliment to your multifaceted personality; the ethereal diva, the keeper of time and the everyday super soul.
We take pride in how well-designed and inclusive our product journeys are. Co-created with our artisans, weavers and patrons, each piece is an embodiment of our purpose to bring a piece of Incredible India to our lives with negligible carbon footprint.
We are Proudly Made in India.
How it all began
After a decade of working for corporates and heading business units, my long-cherished dream of being an entrepreneur could not wait any longer. Athough fighting the inertia—of a rewarding job, regular pay check and established credentials—was not easy.
Being an admirer of traditional art and textiles, the idea to develop an enterprise around Indian traditional art forms took over in 2014. I started traveling and engaging with the artisan and weavers communities in the eastern and southern parts of India. When I started meeting people, I realised how bad the conditions are for artists and weavers working in the hinterlands. Some of the heritage arts were already lost. Many weavers had stopped weaving, artists were struggling to make ends meet and were looking for other work streams; they no longer wanted to pass these heritage forms to their children. The need to revive some of the dying heritage art forms and sustaining them to next generation grew stronger in me.
Two catalytic thoughts behind CHANCHAL are – ‘creating shared value’ and ‘promoting traditional Indian art forms’. Today it is extremely gratifying to see that we are able to create opportunities and employment for these artists/weaving communities.
Our Objective
- Promoting traditional art and craft; and bringing genuine art forms to our customers in form of various products & accessories
- Empowering grass-root level workforce including artisans, weavers and -craftsmen by working with them directly and removing the intermediaries
- Using environment friendly techniques and processes and with almost negligible carbon footprint