Ever thought what happened to the old and tattered saris you gave away once you were done with them? Well, Stefano Funari, founder, I was a Sari and also the winner of the Circular Design Challenge, India’s first-ever sustainable fashion award, found a well-curated answer to this. His social enterprise worked with old saris, pre/post-consumer waste stock to craft contemporary apparel and accessories. And post-pandemic, I was a Sari launched free digital training program on Udemy for the women artisan which was supported by the global luxury house, Gucci.  

The programme was used by NGOs, export houses, and social enterprises to train marginalised women assisting them to join the labour market and generate their own earning. The course covered two main hand embroideries-zardozi and aari, and is taught in Hindi with English subtitles. Each session included teaching notes, video tutorials, assignments, and quizzes. The course was structured, considering that it is targeted at someone with no prior experience in embroidery. It started from a background of embroidery in India to different needles, threads, and embroidery materials and evolves to hands-on training.

(Image Courtesy: Official website of Gucci)

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(Image Courtesy: Official website of Gucci)

In a space that is usually dominated by men, this has been a noteworthy project where women artisans were groomed to an extent where they can start their own production. They have our best wishes.

(Source: Grazia India)