Tharangini Artisans Fund

This fundraiser is created by San Francisco-based seemakrish to support the dedicated group of block print artisans at Tharangini Studio located in Bangalore, India. 100% of the funds raised by this campaign is for the 25 artisans at this workshop.

Established in 1977, Tharangini Studio is a heritage blockprint workshop, comprising twenty-five skilled artisans, entrenched in sustainable practices.  

Founded by Lakshmi Srivathsa, it continues today under the leadership of her daughter, Padmini Govind.  From its inception, they are ahead of the curve by being committed to the wellbeing of the craftspeople, following ethical labor practices and fair trade, fair wages with benefits, profit sharing, and private health insurance. They follow environmentally conscious processes and only use organic GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standards) certified dyes.

The Tharangini Studio workshop team comprises of block printers, dyers, woodblock carvers, colorists and support staff.
Two of their core team members, Govindanna- master block printer and Banu- natural dye expert, have been with them for over forty years.
The list of team members includes-
Block printers: Govindanna, Shankaranna, Satish, Krishna Bhat, Mallikarjun, Pandiyan, Dileep, Rajalingam, Ashwath
Colorists-: Banu, Yashodara, Shobha
Dyers: Anbu, Veeramani
Support team: Krishnappa, Syed, Bhagya, Saralavati, Lakshmanappa, Susheelamma, Prakashanna, Shankar.

This family-owned workshop has steadily expanded in the past ten years, under the leadership of Padmini Govind. It has grown from four artisans to seventeen, from two printing tables to nine. Their clientele, aside from the seemakrish brand, includes Pollack, Anthropologie, Passion Lily, Auntie Oti, Kufri, and many other independent small brands.

In addition to their textile production facility, they conduct workshops and training programs with a goal of sharing their knowledge and inspiring a younger generation to be involved with traditional heritage crafts. Tharangini studio is committed to Community Outreach programs wherein they provide vocational training for specially-abled artisans at five Autism centers for young adults, impacting approximately one hundred young adults through this program. Additionally, they have set the groundwork to soon establish a women-oriented blockprint studio to support this community outreach effort.

At seemakrish , we have an ongoing partnership with Tharangini Studio for block printing of our textiles since the founding of our company in 2012.   Sustainability is our core mission, and we care about the people that make our products and how they are made. Our textiles are handcrafted one yard at a time by this skilled group of artisans.

Due to the global Covid pandemic crisis, this dedicated group of artisans needs your help. Unlike rural craft workshops, they are located in the city of Bangalore which implies a high cost of living for each of the artisan families- including rent, school tuition, and essentials. Since mid-March, the bustling workshop and team of 25 artisans that typically create several hundred yards of textile/ week have been silent since India started their lockdown. The weeks ahead are uncertain  as they cannot work from home.

We care about this group and their wellbeing and have set a fundraising goal of $25,000- averaging $1000/ artisan. They do not have access to government support or funds like the initiatives being offered to US-based small businesses and individuals by the US government.

We hope you care about the future of sustainability and preserving heritage Indian crafts as much as we do.
We appreciate any contribution that you will share with this cause.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
- Team seemakrish