TANTUVI

After spending much of 2010 traveling through India, designer Arati Rao established Tantuvi, while reconnecting with her ancestral roots and cultivating a relationship with India's hand-loom textile traditions.
Tantuvi works solely with Ikat weavers in South India reinterpreting traditional patterns and weaves of the region. By working collaboratively with our hand-loom co-operative, we help sustain the artisans and craft to preserve their intimate traditions of hand spun, dyed, and woven cottons and silks of the Eastern Ghats. Through the co-operative women are being trained on all aspects of weaving, although men still dominate positions of master weaver and dyer, more women are weaving and contributing to the process. Our hope is to provide income for women and enable future generations the chance for improved education and a stable livelihood.

Tantuvi, which translates to weaver in Sanskrit, is committed to supporting weavers who, using centuries old looms and techniques, continue to pass down their trade. We hope to conserve this rich culture and delicate community.

Our hand-dyed and carefully crafted Ikats are used to construct simple, easy to wear, comfortable silhouettes using bold patterns and prints. Hand-woven in India and made in Brooklyn, each piece from our collection features the finest hand-loomed silk and cotton Ikats of South India.