Our Supporters and Promoters
Our Supporters, Promoters & Contributors.
Kuldip Gadhvi (India)
Jessica and friends (USA)
Return to Stranger (Gratitude experiment by Jessica) Dear friend who put her faith and funding she raised under the Return to stranger gratitude experiment and entitled me to use it for my community and the project shaped. Until then it was only a Dream but now it's a reality :)
Beverley Bloxham (Australia)
(Kasu Emporium) She was touched by weavers' little act of fixing her beautiful old bag and on exchange brought Alpaca wool as gift to the weaver so they can try something that hasn't been woven in Kutch (according to weavers) As well as she contributed some money out of sale she did in Australia.
Helen Spencer (UK) My dearest old friend Helen, who has beaten Cancer and knows the value of everyday life, small things we can do for us and others, has been to Kutch more than 3 times and keep visiting for years. She is our UK representative and in future going to exhibit some of the products made by our team to sale in Christmas market in UK.
Hannah Michelle (New Zealand)
Hannah has visited me 2 years ago for the first time and places order to local weavers. When designers like Hannah places order straight to local artisans, it boost their confidence and that's what matter. She is one of the person who is genuinely willing to support artisans of India and put her ethical practices first before business. She encouraged Hareshbhai (weaver) to weave with natural dyed yarns by placing small orders and now he is getting eve more appreciation for his woven products.
Dolo Zoia (Argentina) Great graphic designer with big heart for artisans who volunteer for about 1 week and documented process and offered her photography skill to the project. Many of the pictures on the project website are taken by Dolo.
Momoca Usagi (Japan) Winner of Free Guided Tour that I offered last year, showed interest in helping some women from villages to find them customers through her network and first 30 bags order was generated. Eventually few other inquiries turned up and hopefully it will keep some of the local women happily busy making traditional envelope shaped Rabari Bags and help them earn some money.
Allison Bryant (Germany) I had chance to tour Allison along with Maraike, who shared her love in form of donation that I felt really blessed. It will enable me to do some more meaningful work on ground for my local communities. :)
Héloïse (France) She came to know about UAK through a friend in Rajasthan and approached us. After visiting some of the artisans, she decided to commissioned a quilt using hand woven fabrics from weavers and embroideries from women and hopefully develop a new product that can bring these artisans a new order. Besides she is the first volunteer who spent longer time to learn about the concept of UAK, objectives and its impacts on these artisans as well as how it can create awareness.
Monica Moisin (#Onevoiceforcraft Chapter-1 India) : “Monica is a friend who works for Cultural Intellectual Property rights of traditional artisans and decided to come for a field study trip to India in April 2019.
Together we will be interviewing artisans of Kutch and documenting their creative process to find out how they could be fairly compensated by the fashion and designing world which is benefiting from traditional artisans' knowledge and skills.
Monica wants to support United Artisans of Kutch to gain recognition of Kutch craftsmanship as cultural trademark in India.
To know more about her, visit https://www.monicabotamoisin.ro”
Jade UK (The Handloom Room)
"In 2015, I had the absolute pleasure of meeting and spending a few days with Kuldip Gadhvi, through his award-winning responsible tourism business Kutch Adventures India. He took us on an incredible trip through the rural region of Kutch, Gujarat and enabled us to visit some artisans in small villages amid the vast grasslands and desert. He also now collaborates with artisans as part of the United Artisans of Kutch project, supporting small-scale, traditional craftspeople to market their work, maintain a livelihood through their heritage skills and preserve the unique culture of the area."
https://www.thehandloomroom.co.uk/post/in-conversation-with-the-united-artisans-of-kutch
Maartje Croon (Netherlands)
2020 year has been very difficult for many small businesses worldwide. To support some needy village women Maartje came with an idea "The Quilt Project" and commissioned some quilts along with United Artisans of Kutch. So far 25 quilts have been produced by more than 8 different women and purchased by her. We are aiming to produce at least up to 50 quilts by end of 2021 before tourism and textile industry restart and smallest artisans such as some of these local quilters/women could sustain their economy in this difficult time.
Ellie Cleary (Soul Travel Blog)
"Through his work, Kuldip has founded United Artisans of Kutch, who are an alliance of artisans committed to breathing new life into producing beautiful fabrics in sustainable ways – through block printing with natural dyes. Kutch is famous for its beautiful traditions and handicrafts, but unfortunately as industrialisation advances and the younger generations abandon their cultural roots for city life, it is predominantly through efforts like these that traditions have a chance of surviving."
https://soultravelindia.com/support-responsible-tourism-india/
If you are thinking of India and willing to make Positive Change in the World without expecting anything in return but self satisfaction, Welcome to our "Global Team" :-)
How can you contribute?
A- Volunteer with your skill/knowledge with the team of artisans.
B- Help us spread the words about this project by sharing the website with friends and family.
C- If you're in Textile business, you can directly source textiles from them :)
D- You can send us your positive vibes, energy and best wishes whichever way you can. :)
Feel free to contact us for any other information.
"As you give to life, You will receive"
"United Artisans of Kutch"