NAYANA

LOOMS OF THE EAST • WINTER 2009 EXHIBITIONS

Concerned about the future of traditional crafts and the future livelihood of small artisans in India, Nayana makes it a point to source directly from those artisans or non-profit organisations involved in the development and promotion of traditional crafts throughout the country. She personally travels from region to region collecting and courcing the pieces, and most of her collection are "one-off" pieces made especially for her. Prices are always dictated by the producers themselves.

A percentage of Nayana’s sale proceeds are donated to a wide range of social welfare organizations:
SEWA in Gujarat, working on earthquake and drought relief; the Prime Ministers Relief Fund for flood relief in Orissa and the tsunami disaster; sewing machines were donated to Jeevika Development Society, a women's development cooperative, enabling them to produce beautiful crafts and earn fair wages; SNEHA, a destitute women and children's literacy programme based in Uttaranchal; Small loans have also been given to young crafts persons to practice their crafts and set up projects of their own.
The exhibitions have also raised money for varied development and rehabilitation projects in the US, Morocco, Japan, the UK and other European countries.

Throughout the year, exhibitions are held both inside and outside of India, in order to give these skilled producer groups new channels for moving their crafts. Nayana offers a percentage to anyone who wants to sponsor an exhibition or home/office party for a specific fundraising event of their own. All details are negotiated prior to the show.

- Please contact Nayana if you have questions or would like to host a show!
- Nayana also purchases for socially responsible boutiques
- For more information: nayanagangooly@gmail.com

• WINTER 2009 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE •

INDIA EXHIBITION

NOVEMBER 12 (Thurs)
CALCUTTA, INDIA
A home show hosted by Sandrine Lejuene
11:00 am - 6:00 pm
8/5C Merlin Park / Ballygunj, Calcutta 700019
Contact: 999903230221 (Sandrine)

• EUROPEAN EXHIBITION DATES •

NOVEMBER 27 (Fri)
MUNICH, GERMANY
An exhibition hosted by Caroline Filou Heukamp
5:00 - 9:00 pm
Baaderstrasse 53 / Munich 80469
Contact: 49 1607257448 (Caroline)

DECEMBER 2 ((Wed)
LONDON, UK
A fundraising exhibition hosted by Rebecca Tinsley and Olivia Warham for Network4africa
9:00 am - 7:00 pm
60, Portland Road / London W11 4LQ
Contact Nayana for details: 078 33164931
* Pleased to announce that handbags by Meli Melo and boots by Penelope Chilvers will also be available at this show

DECEMBER 4 (Fri)
PARIS, FRANCE
A show hosted by Nicole Fontaine
12:00 - 7:00 pm
32 rue de lappe / Paris 75011
Contact: 0143576073 (Nicole)

DECEMBER 5 (Sat)
LA FERTE ALAIS, FRANCE
A home show hosted by Isabelle Boyer
3:00 - 7:00 pm
Les vieilles vignes
7 villa du pressoir / 91590 La Ferte Alais
Contact: isaboyer13@gmail.com / tel: 0671629988 (Isabelle)

TRAVEL AND TRUTHS: Nayana update • Winter 2009

I would like to extend a warm thanks to everyone who made the most recent shows in Europe and India possible – and successful! I should note here that some of the profits from these shows have been donated to a program that is providing food and shelter to victims of Hurricane Aila, which devasted the Sunderbans region a few months back.  Also, money was raise to support a project that offers educational and other opportunities to children living in the market areas of the city.

Thanks so much for your constant and continued support!

TRAVEL AND TRUTHS: Nayana update • 2008

Since I often have the opportunity to travel to very inspirational places, I have started to dabble in travel writing. Two of the pieces I worked on were published over the last few months. Please have a look at these links if you are interested in reading about my travels to Lhasa and Nicaraugua. GOOD NEWS!
Many of the Bengal kantha pieces I create come from an organization called Threads which provides a place for women to earn a living through needlework. I am very pleased to announce that the German Consulate in Kolkata, under its Micro-project Scheme, will provide funding for vocational training programs for both THREADS and the DEB SHISHU school where I often donate a percentage of exhibition sales to. This funding will help them expand and further develop their important endeavors. Congratulations to Threads and Deb Shishu – and grateful thanks to the German Consulate for their interest and support.

Setting up for Spring 2006

First I would like to say thank you to everyone who hosted shows during the holiday and year-end season last year. It's hard to believe it is already time to announce the Spring Collection for Looms of the East. My travels were smooth and I met lots of new and interesting artisans along the way. Now, slowly but surely the final touches on Spring 2006 are coming together and I cannot wait to share it with everyone.

Dates and timings are also just being adjusted so once I know the schedule I will post it here. I'll also have some images up for the new collection quite soon.

I'm looking forward to travels in the UK and the States again in April, May and June.

im

SNEHA

In early 2005, a donation was sent to SNEHA (Society for Nurture Education & Health Advancement). Here is the letter received back from them:

This is to express my sincere thanks to you for your generous donation. We are most grateful. You may like to know how we plan to utilize the donation. Since we are constantly having power supply problems, we plan to purchase a new generator for the computer program. We have started computer program for underprivileged children which is well attended but unfortunately, due to power problems, the classes are often cancelled. So we feel our urgent need is to procure a generator. Your donation will be put toward this. I am enclosing pictures of our computer classes and a few other pictures of some ouf our activities. You will have some idea of our programs. Please do come and visit our project sometimes when you come to Dehradun.

Dr. Reeta Rao, Director
SNEHA
14/A Teg Bahadur Road
Dehradun 248001
Uttaranchal

Working with JEEVIKA DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY

JEEVIKA Development Society is a non-profit organisation working in West Bengal to create a more independent environment for rural women and to develop a program of vocational skills training that draws fair wages for women's handicraft work. JEEVIKA means "livelihood" in Sanskrit. Founded in 1994, Jeevika aims to implement socio-economic development programmes among the poor, primarily women and youth, in villages south of Calcutta. It targets economic empowerment and improved social status through successful women self-help groups and maintains training and production activities centered on tailoring and traditional kantha embroidery to increase economic capacity in these areas. One show raised money to buy two sewing machines for Jeevika to continue its important work.

BEDSPREADS

The shows will feature some incredible bedspreads to change the whole feel of your room. This is a silk patchwork from Benaras.