Papreeka Tales (2024)

03/11/2022

Seen and loved from the feed today

x

16/10/2022

This festive season, recounts memories from her childhood years in Madras and what spirituality means for a generation that lives miles away from ‘home’.

As a small nuclear family of 4, we celebrated festivals with little gala and a lot of heart. Our parents were raised by their parents with mixed belief systems - our grandfathers prayed to the land, farm animals and to their vocations as gods, while our grandmothers lighted lamps, believing in a power greater than themselves and happy to assign that power to Ravi Varma’s prints of Devis, Lakshmis, Saraswathis and Parvatis.

My parents in turn took their own spin on religion and spirituality when they created a home in Madras in the 90s. They were a little more religious than my grandparents, probably a solace for people living far away from their own homes. Our mornings at home were filled with devotional songs playing on the tele. We were encouraged to remember the things most important to us that day in our minute of prayer. We wore little marks of விபூதி (ash) or சந்தனம் (sandalwood) after taking blessings from the altar before leaving home for school. My father took all that passion a little extra and strongly encouraged devotional tapes in the car ride to school.

For festivals - we mostly followed the same morning routine, maybe prayed a little longer. My parents did not teach us to sing verses in languages we/they did not understand. Instead we were encouraged to talk to the almighty and share our deepest desires. We spent a little extra time doing that on these days. We gave an offering of our new clothes to the gods and wore them on days like deepavali and pongal.

This whole concept of do what you will, but spend some time reflecting on your relationship with this power, I suspect, came from their parents.

Years later, I would move countries multiple times building and rebuilding a home - shaping my sense of the word. I would marry someone who comes from a very similar understanding of this part of life. We would have a baby and start wondering what religion or spirituality mean to us.

(To he continued tomorrow..)

16/09/2022

Wishing our favorite brand partner .in a lovely (belated) 4 year anniversary and lots of good vibes on the new retail concept store. So thrilled for everything that’s yet to come team ♥️ We’ve finally relaunched PTAL on papreeka incase you noticed them gone for a bit! Also shoutout to for the bits of beautiful that came home in this package!

14/09/2022

How do you pick between three equally gorgeous works of art? You don’t.

Mango wood and Mata ni Pachedi - a unison.

Available on the store now.

12/09/2022

~ heart is filled with joy browsing through beautiful ‘s work, meant for soothing the soul - chintz prints of all colors. She also retails at .

26/07/2022

Fashion that is capable of breathing life into our wardrobe regardless of the seasonal trends is always one step ahead and deserves all the attention. .shop, a Mumbai based brand, creates sustainable pieces that stand the test of time.
The closely knit team work from Mumbai to sew some staples that find their place in your everyday wardrobe.
Oozing with some much needed linen love, the pieces are clean and lend themselves to all your styling dreams. The color palette being all things nature is a treat to the eyes, with everything raw and rustic. Step into the world of linen with Dhaaga. The entire collection is live on www.papreeka.store

22/07/2022

Delicious, summery, locally sourced, fair pay tailored, cotton goodness to last you through many many seasons! These are just teasers to the main show - find the entire collection on the site. Launching and her mummy’s labor of love on www.papreeka.store today. Shweta has for a long long time supported papreeka in every way possible and it is a pleasure to bring her collections to the world ♥️ Truly life coming full circles!

Shipping 🌏

21/07/2022

It’s a horrible life when you have to protest for basic human respect and equity. Because the protest stands on centuries of inhuman abuse that generations took silently. What these factory based dalit women tailors faced in the name of caste is plain disgusting. I am proud of them - so so proud that they demanded for their rights and stood their ground. And stopped accepting the status quo.

And when a company like H&M that is well known to work with factories who abuse labor, does something good, it should be called out. They supported the women in their call for equity. Which I am sure went a long way in forcing the factory to sign the agreement.

Read more details and coverage by .network - who do great great work in sharing these stories of everyday awesomeness from rural India which is unseen on mainstream media.

18/07/2022

Dhokra, the casting process of non-ferrous metals using a wax casting technique. Little known, arduous and practiced in small communities across the country. One such community in Odisha hand makes these gorgeous dhokra pieces with whom Gina works extensively to design and co-create. our newest sustainable partner on papreeka! Please do check out the entire collection!

14/07/2022

Incase you woke up dreaming of ivory like we did after that gorgeous July full moon night!

All products tagged and available on www.papreeka.store

We do our best to work with brands and be size inclusive - if you have a request please email [email protected]

13/07/2022

Beautiful slow trinkets for your everyday made with exceptional attention to quality, finish and materials from .co on www.papreeka.store - made to last, made to impress - mostly yourself!

07/07/2022

went down a rabbit hole of beautifully adorned Algerian women portraits from another era.. while really trying to tell you that we launched handmade jewelry from made of brass and coated with german silver alloy on www.papreeka.store

design transcends borders, always

01/07/2022

Sustainability measurement is grey - as an entire topic. We all acknowledge and accept that.

But here what this company did is outright lying and greenwashing. Thank you and for this work of genius to out them. It discredits what everyone is trying to do to be transparent about their process.

I often get a lot of naive (or not?) support for this company on my page. What they do is outright greenwashing. Always has been and looks like will be. At every chance they have to have real impact, they are busy putting green colored tags on their plastic clothes, stamping conscious on half their inventory when infact it is all 100% over produced (and dumped at landfills or countries with less access) from pure polyester.

Yes I know they are the only few who make plus sized clothing and that’s their ONLY saving grace. If you’re shopping there because no one else is offering what you need, I get it. Please make sure you wear that dress out and upcycle it.

For the rest, please please reconsider shopping here. So many other options that you can choose from that are actually better for the planet. And that don’t outright lie.

01/07/2022

what little things did your heart notice today? happy friday!

30/06/2022

some recent conscious eye candy from live on www.papreeka.store

08/06/2022

~ bhavani jamakkalam, a tale of carpets, heritage and design

Have you seen one of these? Ever sat on them? I grew up with every gathering at my grandparents home in Trichy pulled together by the vastness of the far and wide reaching . My grandmother would hurry to get the living hall cleaned and spread the biggest carpet I had ever seen. It’s appearance, often a sign that many were to come, merry was to be had and much was to be said.

Needless to say, today a dying craft, jamkkalams are made in bhavani in tamilnadu, india. The weavers originally weaved sarees 4-5 generations ago and took up carpets to differentiate themselves. Meticulously handwoven much like any saree, these carpets are durable like none other, often lasting generations. The story of these weavers is no different than others like them - why will the next generation weave for a fulltime pay of about $100 a month?

Yet here is one such jamakkalam. My grandparents were gifted this at their wedding by their parents - you can faintly see their names, Krishnaswamy and Manimehalai woven into the bright yellow carpet that has been passed down to my family. I say on the very jamakkalam for one of my wedding festivities which included a ton of blessings from my family. I liked to think that I was sat close to my grandparents, remembering all their goodness and memories on that lovely morning in my parents home.

Naturally, being the heritage softie that I am, my son gets his monthly milestone photos on another jamakkalam here in New York. You’ve got to thread through that heritage in every tiny way you can, right?!

The wonderful made a documentary about the jamakkalam weaving community - just look for bhavani jamakkalam on YouTube!

These jamakkalams, a symbol of home in many ways, remind me of the Mexican falsa and serape blankets, and my much cherished Kenyan masaai shuka that I use as a dining cloth occasionally.

Design transcends nation and culture lines - almost always.

✍🏽

(Images are sourced from Pinterest purely for discourse. If you have any sources pls do DM and I’ll be obliged to provide due credit)

21/05/2022

~ ’s recent work for .

Is this campaign tugging at your heart strings? It is tugging at mine. I always look for South Indian silks styled with some homage to the heritage they come from.. classy, simple and so well done. Just Apt.

Thank you for creating this beauty!

Team - .ing_
🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

20/05/2022

launch ~ 4 different clothing collections from Ahmev, 4 different emotions, 1 conscious mission. Ahmev explores handwoven long lasting fabrics in timeless silhouettes - so you can revisit the pieces as your taste evolves over the years and give them different takes every time. We’ve curated a bunch of lovely pieces - all live on www.papreeka.store now ~ link in bio!

Conscious clothing is grey - we say this every time. The key difference is looking for brands which are transparent and honest about their mission, creating practices and treatment of artisans. Ahmev is one such brand with a mission to do better and product clothes that will go the mile with you.

13/05/2022

Loving the shoots and clothes - delicious choice of colors and compositions

11/05/2022

Sobz is a vibez ~

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4) Kurup movie shot
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09/05/2022

renditions of mothers by the late artist extraordinaire Elayaraja. He was known for his realist paintings that many mistook to be digital renditions of photographs. No, such was the talent of this master artist - he painted light in his work in such a way that it looks photographic. What I love in his paintings is the touch of everyday realism in the objects and place settings he chose for these Tamil women he painted. He was raised in a large family and took inspiration from the roles the many women in his life played.

Some details to enjoy:
1) A simple kanjeevaram saree for a temple visit, a cotton blouse to go with it, a string of flowers, just 2 simple gold chains on her neck, a fading silver nail polish, the tiny toe of jasmine on the child crown, the basket with coconut and 2 bananas and the act of moms placing prasadam on the child’s forehead. Oh and ofcourse the stone idol in glimmering silk.

2) Mom with hair in a bun for a midday chat with the little one in the most casual seated posture - one that’s performed specially for tête-à-têtes, a lesson in Tamil alphabets, the rectangular piece of chalk and green trimmed chalk board, moms 2 gold chains on neck, a mismatched blouse with a homewear silk, the girl in a dressy mini saree, a little curious question on her face and tiny silver anklets.

3) A mom coo-ing with her newborn, presumably imitating their babble, the tiny ones hands firmly holding the moms fingers, a simple pink cotton saree, a plastic chair at the back, some regular kitchen things, a korapai in green trimmings in front of them. And most importantly, their mutual adoration for each other. A joy I’ve come to deeply cherish with my 4 month old.

Just everyday things, told as they are.

Elayaraja unfortunately passed away due to a health complication following Covid. His legacy lives on and breathes through his paintings. I am grateful for such talent to portray the lives of many women - in their simple (un)glamorous joys.

✍🏽

06/05/2022

~ sculpted pieces. Isn’t there something beautiful about sculpting an outfit so it mixes with the subject’s silhouette and results in the most fascinating outcome - a modern day liquid sculpture.

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01/05/2022

~ Thandattis, pampadams and the story of elongated earlobes

You’ve likely come across this cosmic contraption of a design from the 1900s - women in tamilnadu have been wearing these earrings in the past couple centuries with their elongated ear lobes. My grandfather’s mom used to sport one but no one from the generations after. Today you can see some remnants of the tradition still alive in certain towns and villages near Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli to name a few - but almost always on an elder woman’s ears.

The practice has many tales. The tale I’ve heard from my own family was that it’s said to beautify a woman, has benefits of improving uterus health and was a practice that was started really young in a female child from when she turns 7/8.. the elongation happens over a few weeks to months. The Asari (goldsmith) will visit the girls home, widen the lobe, and place a few hay stacks to keep the lobe contamination free and stuffed - every few days once and continue until it’s wide enough to adorn her with her own unique earring.

The earrings are designed based on her astrological signs which is in turn based on her birth. The clasp is cleverly designed as one of the design elements itself so it’s always a lovely puzzle as to how that particular thandatti or pampadam fits the ear.

Women also end up adding elements to their thandatti over the years and decades making their earring their own in many ways!

The art of elongating earlobes was not specific to just these women from the 1800/1900s Tamilnadu - I found examples in the Kelabit women from Indonesia (pic 6/7), Dayak women from Kalimantan (pic 8), and much closer to home the Rabari women from Gujarat (pic 9/10).

Will we revive these earring traditions? I would love to sport an authentic thandatti some day and whisper wisdoms to the young like the elder women in my family did. Ah the many retirement plans that come from these researches!

✍🏽
Images sourced from Pinterest with no real source - if you would like me credit anything here - pls do reach out. Images are shared only for the purpose of discourse and education.

29/04/2022

Papreeka x The Loom Art

One of our first stitched clothing brands is going live later this evening.

For a long time, I’ve stayed away from clothing on .store - for a multitude of reasons but the most important being that it’s messy. Conscious clothing is messy. It’s hard to provide a 100% assurance on clothing because so much of the supply chain - however hard one tries, depends on some process that’s not sustainable.

So why now? Because the market is ready. More and more people are interested in making a better choice, a conscious alternative when it comes to clothing.

So whom are we onboarding? We’re launching close to 50 clothing brands over the next 3 months. They all have one thing in common - they are trying to make a difference. They are transparent, accountable and passionate about their impact. They show us a better future. Of long lasting, well made clothing - that is fashionable too. For a customer who is 1000% thoughtful about their purchase.

And so one more step closer to our audacious goal of bringing conscious south asian labels closer to a global audience.

Welcome to ! Shop responsibly. We ship 🌏

28/04/2022

~ and her wonderful whimsical world. Where the best of nature’s creations overwhelm you with their magic and variety. Artists are indeed crucial to building new lenses for viewing the world - Nidhi makes it look easy.

You can buy her artwork and/or prints - pls DM her.

21/04/2022

I thought I’ll do a tiny introduction here and let the Instagram gods decide if you get the story!

Thank YOU for hitting a follow on my work whenever you did. Every single follow counts as a HUGE appreciation for the time and love I pour into building this body of work. I am filled with gratitude that you might be interested in my view of the world.

I am Dhanya and I started this line of work in 2012 when I was just graduating college in Singapore. I had always been obsessed with fashion but didn’t have any learned knowledge so I said I would start this effort to teach myself about the industry. I also started my career in retail with UNIQLO running their biggest flagship store in Asia at that time. Things have taken many forms - celebrity fashion, handmade collectives, women led small businesses, and most recently conscious fashion - all with a bias towards South Asia.

A year ago, I said enough is enough to working for others and started working for myself. Today, I live in New York with my partner and 3 month old. I am obsessed with heritage and write about keeping that close to one’s heart. I curate conscious fashion at www.papreeka.store with hope of helping someone make a better capitalistic choice. I consult for small brands that want to tell an authentic story about who they are and what they stand for.

I love getting to know more people in these spaces and welcome ideas at [email protected].

Thank you again for this brief overlap in our lives - I hope you’re making the best of your lives and leaving this planet better than you found it. ♥️

xx

19/04/2022

A short story on the quintessential ~ a choker par excellence that’s slowly diminishing in its prominence as a staple in a South Indian woman’s trousseau. If you google ‘vintage Tamil woman’ (images 1-4) and scroll past some black and white film images you’ll see a choker that’s a constant on all the portraits, adorning the woman’s neck. Typically made of a string of white (on occasion, red) stones or a bunch of gold chains forming a choker and a pendant that’s circular or triangular with some dangling stones.

If you’ve ever held one up to your neck and dared to see yourself in the mirror, you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s the most magical piece of jewelry one can wear. It has an ability to lift any ensemble a few notches up and maintain an elegant coming together of the look.

Why, Ravi Varma’s paintings of Tamil women always has them donning attigais (image 5).

Yesteryear actresses aka dancers padmini and vyjayanthi mala had favorite attigais that made repeat appearances (images 6-8).

I have a tiny privilege of inheriting an attigai, a family heirloom passed down from my grandmother to mom to me. That’s mom wearing the attigai, 30 years ago (image 9) while I wore it for my wedding a couple years ago (image 10). A small piece of my heritage drawn closer to heart.

It pains me when our jewelry heritage bears little to no cataloging except in Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction records - which I often find to be a twisted rendition of what might’ve actually gone down. When I am working on jewelry research for my clients, I spend painstaking hours sourcing authentic design inspiration.

Here’s wishing more and more people guard, trace and wear their family heirlooms - however grand or however tiny; for these are often more pleasurable and meaningful than anything new.

✍️

16/04/2022

~ using our brand partner in her creative work for with and

We love seeing conscious brands in fashion forward renditions / who ever said conscious fashion is not relevant.. you just have to make it so :)

14/04/2022

~ a range of beautiful bejeweled beauties handcrafted from dhokra elements on the papreeka store

we ship worldwide

12/04/2022

launching soon!

11/04/2022

The evolution of of the region in ~ a theory

I’ve spent many weekends in my 20s in the Chettinad region, obsessing over the art and culture of the homes and how they were likely built, a 100 years ago with such eclectic taste from around the world.

And so today I wanted to talk about a brief theory on the evolution of the designs of the athangudi tiles. You might know the tiles in question, a magical medley of geometrical and floral patterns, interwoven in earthy colors and laid in sets of 4 or 16 to create the most mesmerizing floor work. These tiles are produced in a tiny village called athangudi in tamilnadu - a cottage industry created and patronized by the chettiars of 1900s. The internet is a wonderful place, if you want it to be. A series of whys led me to learn that these tiles were handmade as alternatives to the imported Japanese ceramic tiles also called majolica tiles. Beautiful ceramic raised relief pieces laid extensively in the mansions. One small snag - these tiles were hard to replace or repair locally. Turns out, the Japanese tiles themselves were replicas or retakes of English nouveau Victorian ceramic tiles, patronized by the Asian merchants who protested against using their colonizers products.

And so we thread the inspiration of design from the Victorian estates of England, to the oriental Japanese ability to replicate with master craftsmanship, to athangudi - a small village cottage industry that survives to this day producing tiles that are best suited for areas with high traffic, away from the sunlight.. to maintain the surface gloss. Or is to remind oneself of the magic of color, pattern and trade. One wonders.

Images: from my travels at the athangudi palace, Aki Toyoyama’s research that gave me some answers, tiles produced in Japan bearing resemblance to both the Victorian predecessors and athangudi successors, customized Japanese tile from early 1900s with Hindu god Murugan on his vahanam peacock, some athangudi tile designs.

✍️

08/04/2022

~ Top 3 things to love about the gorgeous ’s jewelry on season 2:
1) strong south asian vibe that gave me all sorts of nostalgia
2) south asian woman personified in elegant designs vs. stereotypical chunky-over-the-top pieces including the ever present mathapatti
3) identifiable use of chandbali, polki, pearl clusters, and stone setting commonly seen in south asian jewelry reimagined in a Victorian design aesthetic

Say what you will about the sharma sisters and their story, you just had to love the effort and research gone into their costume and jewelry design. I plan to rewatch the show just to admire the costumes again. This post is an appreciation for the jewelry on Simone that not only gave her character authenticity wrt the Bombay upbringing but also put some beautiful south asian motifs on the map on mainstream costume design. I am used to seeing chunky over the top jewelry on south asian women - the cliche is too real. Oh and the ever present mathapatti..! However in Bridgerton, the utmost care has been given to incorporating an elegant south asian vibe while maintaining the influence of a Victorian design aesthetic - as much as this fantasy show can.

I am all praises and these are some of my favourite looks from the show! What did you think?!

✍️

06/04/2022

~ artist ‘s rendition of the wildlife of Andhra Pradesh forests in the srikalahashti style of kalamkari painting.

“It is a visual language unique to the land, that has led several beautiful narrations including those of local birds and animals to walls of temples, homes and everyday lives of its people for ages. The approach is an attempt to generate not just awareness about local biodiversity among the folks of the state, but also a strong association and profound connection with wildlife through folk art.” says Sudarshan.

05/04/2022

.store launch ~ just dropped a whole range of handwoven glass seed bead earrings and jewelry on the e-store! these are painstakingly woven by women artisans in india, giving them an opportunity to be employed at a skilled job and part of the organized workforce.

explore the whole range on the website | we’re shipping these 🌏

31/03/2022

~ a conscious creator’s magic is in retelling the same story with an entirely different design. is one of those brands I discovered in the early days of my Instagram career.. sometime in 2015. Creators were just taking to Instagram and sharing their work. I remember loving the design and aesthetic of the brand. For years since I have not been shown their work in my feed, though that’s the kind of stuff I live for on this platform. After 12+ years of creating, will take on a new avatar. Shutting small biz babies is always a hard call - what I find beautiful though is how there’s always a new way for the creator to pursue their passion for design. Hence this is just an episode making way for something greater ♥️ Good luck

The team is clearing their stock of beautiful handmade silver jewelry and I just bought 3 pieces from this carousel - can you guess which ones?! What’s more? You also get a little discount to egg you on. Go buy until April 10 and help them close gracefully!

29/03/2022

~ and her dream child . When I build my dream home, I would be writing essays to Tulika about my ideal sitting room and ask her to fill it up with magic she thinks it deserves. If there is one entrepreneur I admire for building her dream around her life, it’s her. She’s created a world of victorian delight in an indian town, with delicious indian craftsmanship - again, stuff of dreams.

The rest of us, dream on. I invite you to experience her Victorian magic on Instagram and maybe in reality too! That’s what I’ll be doing all day today!

xoxo

28/03/2022

~ so excited to discover and share artists we love here. First up, who’s portraits speak volumes about self-expression and play in the intersection of realism and expressionism.

26/03/2022

What? Make a saree with fibers from these things? Yes we mean banana, aloevera and gongura (sorrel). We kinda got that done and stocked papreeka.store with them! Check out the whole range of conscious manimekalai sarees now!

Linkin bio
Shipping worldwide

Pictures sourced with love from
1) , best in class indian wallpapers and decals
2) .studio, a digital artist with exemplary skills
3) , a delightful culinary adventure

24/03/2022

~ artists and their studies. I was inspired by the amazing .kashelkar’s recent musing - on how a piece of work takes shape and how sometimes it comes to a finish before the intended details make their way. I was gazing at the few religious oleographs of Ravi Varma I have hanging at our foyer and remembered his portrait studies. The portrait of ‘A Tamil Lady’ (second picture) is perhaps the more popular version. My favourite is the untitled first picture, a similar rendition in brighter tones. This one was part of Fritz Schleischer’s private collection which was inherited by his daughter and sold last in 1996 at a Sotheby’s lot. Who’s Fritz Schleischer? Ravi Varma’s German printer partner who set up the first oleography press in India for the Demi-god himself. Perhaps this rarer effort was a gift to his business partner, or perhaps a payment of sorts? One wonders. Ravi Varma’s women had a very familiar, soft, strong, radiant look - collectively beholding some mystery behind their beautiful exteriors. I enjoyed the third picture, a study from the maestro, perhaps an experimentation for achieving the perfect portrait face of an 1800s indian woman? Ah history. Ah culture. The unsaid stories one imagines.

xx

23/03/2022

shot by .prasad_ in the perfect evening mood

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