Antara Chiripal
Founder – Director, Maya Weaves
India
My name is Antara Chiripal, founder- director of Maya Weaves.
Maya Weaves is a grassroot cluster , based in West Bengal,of approximately 300 artisans for hand weaving sustainable fabrics in Handspun cotton, linen, natural fibres like Tussar, Mulberry silk, wool. We also work with other sustainable yarns like Tencel, Banana, Bamboo etc. We make fabrics in different counts/reed/picks, from a coarse 0 count Handspun fabric to 300-500 count Handspun mul. We also make fabrics in 2 ply, 3 ply and above.We also work with recycled fabrics .Our processes are sustainable and we use recycled water for our pre and post loom processes.
We also have an all women artisan group for hand embroidery, crochet, macramé and Teracotta. We train our artisans in skill and design and provide livelihood opportunities for them.
We are proud to be associated with ace designers of the country, Corporates, craft houses and connoisseurs, exporters, craft based organizations and looking forward to more such opportunities.
I, am a certified artisan myself. Being a Bengali, my childhood years had all been about sitting and learning from my grandmother and other ladies, who in the afternoon, would gather in the courtyard and do different crafts -crochet, Kantha embroidery, wool, macramé, jute etc. We would have our. regular weaver for handloom fabrics on which embroidery was done.
After my stint as an investment banker and as Director-Finance in another Tech firm, I started working full time with my long associated artisans and founded Maya Weaves.
I have been awarded for ‘Individual contribution’ Eco friendly product from Sustainable India ( a initiative of Sri Aurobindo Yoga and Knowledge foundation), Women Iconic award by Mega Cosmos, Prime Women Icon from Foxclues, Business Excellence Award from MSMECII and few more.
I am one of the very few , first generation women entrepreneur in the supply chain of Fashion & Textiles. Our constant endeavor is to make quality Handloom fabrics in affordable range and experimenting with new yarns, weaving techniques and experimental textiles.