As the sun reaches its zenith during the Summer Solstice, we are reminded of the profound connection we share with Mother Nature. It is a time to pause, to breathe deeply, and to take in the beauty and abundance that surrounds us.
This week, inspired by the golden hues all around, we shed a gentle spotlight on our marigold-dyed silks, created to be worn on balmy summer evenings or during gentle meditation rituals. Softly exquisite, this collection is hand-dyed in Mumbai with marigold petals collected from local Hindu temples, where the flowers are used as an offering during sacred blessings. A sense of serenity and reverence infuses each piece.
Crafted in collaboration with Thread Tales and the dedicated artisans at Fairkonnect, our silks are a celebration of spirituality, artistry, and sustainability.
We also use the same creative process for our treatment bed presentation in spa.
Kind to your skin
Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of wearing natural fabrics, as they are believed to be more harmonious with the body's energy and skin. Natural materials like cotton, wool and silk are preferred because they allow the skin to breathe, facilitate the natural flow of energy (prana), and are less likely to cause irritation or imbalance in the body's doshas (vital energies).
Our botanical silks are hand-dyed using flowers and petals, and even the mordant used to extract and fix the pigment to the fabric are from natural origins. As such only the most gentle natural compounds from the Earth come in contact to your skin.
Kind to artisans
Fairkonnect is a unique and innovative female-led FairTrade certified firm based in India working with weaver and artisan clusters across India using sustainable textiles, craft fabrics, organic fabrics, and handloom fabrics. Their social initiative program, Project Hennu, provides training & employment to women from the urban slums of Bangalore. Fairkonnect works on the business development and empowerment of artisans and as such every purchase supports fair labour practices and community development.
Kind to the planet
Our silk scarves are dyed through a zero-waste process and both ingredients and final products are completely biodegradable. No polluting effluent is generated at any stage of this process. The use of fabrics that are naturally dyed with colours extracted from plants, vegetables and roots reduces water and carbon footprint, ensuring that sustainability is considered from the very beginning of the supply chain.
---
Q & A with Rema Sivaram - Founder & Creative Director of Fairkonnect
Rema SIvaram is a Social Entrepreneur and Sustainability activist. Rema is the co-founder of Fairkonnect and the recipient of Earthwatch Institute India’s fellowship on Social Entrepreneurship. She works with students, research scholars and designers across the globe to impart concepts of sustainable fashion and ethical clothing.
- Can you share with us more about your values and mission?
Fairkonnect is a planet and people friendly organisation. We work towards a better environment and involve women from underprivileged backgrounds in the process. We are aligned with Fair Trade standards and Global Sustainable Development Goals. We enable training, equitable opportunities and empowerment for the women of Project Hennu.
- What have been the biggest achievements and biggest challenges for Fairkonnect?
Our impact on the women artisans is one of the biggest achievements for us. Many of them are able to improve their income generation and access to better opportunities and education for their children because of the training. Especially during COVID, we were able to support them through ration, medical assistance and vaccinations through the project. Our biggest challenge has been engagement with the artisans. Due to the seasonal aspect of fashion, we are sometimes challenged to provide employment throughout the year for our artisans.
- What does the partnership with La-Eva and Thread Tales mean to you and the business?
La-Eva and Thread Tales are very well aligned in their values and approach to responsible design and sustainability. is It gives us an great opportunity to grow and innovate with this partnership. At the same time, the partnership is giving employment opportunities for weavers, dyers and our tailors.
- What are you looking forward to from this collaboration?
What excites us the most is the unique design capabilities of Louisa and Katherine. Every time we speak, they have a new ideas that excite us. Honestly, we feel like an extension of their team and that motivates our team immensely. We are looking forward to grow this collaboration with a variety of innovative and sustainable products. We hope to make an impact in the sustainable industry with our collaborative offerings.
Images from the spa at the Maybourne Riviera
---
- Q & A with Janhavi, dyeing partner at Fairkonnect -
- Janhavi, how did you begin dyeing materials with natural plant materials?
My journey with natural dyeing began when I was studying at Srishti School of Art & Design, Bangalore for my post-graduation course. It was during the final graduation project that I was working with upcycling textile waste from garment factories.
I collected undyed fabric trims, leftovers from fabric rolls, defective pieces of fabric, and anything I could get my hands on from the various garment factories in Bangalore. I dyed these with natural plant materials and designed a complete collection of naturally dyed and upcycled garments.
After my graduation, I travelled around India to learn more about the process of natural dyeing from the fourth generation of artisans. After a lot of exploration and experimentation, I started giving out natural dyeing services to different brands, designers, and even an architecture firm. This is the beginning of our journey.
One of the reasons we were really drawn towards the whole process of natural dyeing is because we get to work with nature and use flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, and various plant materials. It is a unique process and every single time we are dyeing something, we are surprised by the results. You can’t control nature and that’s the beauty of natural dyes. No two naturally dyed pieces are exactly the same. And wearing a piece of naturally dyed clothing just makes you feel closer to nature.
- How long does it take to produce one metre of fabric?
It takes us around 3-4 days. Even before starting with the process of natural dyeing, we have to prepare the fabric so that it’s ready to be dyed. We have to go through two processes - scouring and mordanting. We first wash the fabric with soapberries to get rid of any impurities and fabric usually has a layer of starch on it which we get rid of. This process is scouring. The next step is to mordant the fabric and the term mordant means - something to bite into. So the mordant is crucial in helping the natural pigment to bite into the fabric.
Next, we prepare our dyebath by first soaking the natural plant material overnight and heating it to extract the colour. Once the dyebath is ready and the colour has been extracted, we immerse the fabric into the dye bath and let it sit in the dyebath and be heated till all the colour has been taken in by the fibres of the fabric. The last step is a final wash to remove any excess dye.
- How do you balance your work for Fairkonnect and family responsibilities?
Our weekends are mostly reserved for quality time with our family and our three cats. We make sure to plan some fun activities and arrange dinner plans.
- What are your aspirations?
We want to scale our business so that we can benefit and empower more people through our work. We want to include more artisans and communities in the production process. We want to build a natural dyeing community that grows with us. We would like to train individuals from underprivileged communities and provide them with the skill of natural dyeing so that it can be a stable source of income for them.
Marigold Silks Care Instructions
Please be sure to look after natural dyed silks by hand washing with lukewarm water with a PH neutral gentle soap and air dry. Do not machine wash or tumble dry or use normal soaps or detergents as this can affect the colours.