Our Founder

Just like a needle is to thread, so is Shamlu to Kantha: a name now synonymous with this beloved traditional craft of Bengal.

Meet Shamlu Dudeja. A revivalist, a mother, a teacher, an author and a revolutionary.

Not an artist or a designer, but one with great sensitivity towards beauty; Shamlu’s keen eye recognised the need for reviving this dying art, 30 years ago. There has been no stopping her ever since.

Each piece of work, she professes, is a labor of love and passion, weaving, in its patterns, the stories of the lives of simple women, their joys, their sorrows and their aspirations.

It is a matter of great pride for her to have been able to take Kantha from rural Bengal to the rest of the world. Thirty years on, she still maintains her stance, "I live to support Kantha and the women behind it."

Self Help Enterprise © 2019