Hands Of India

About Us

HandsOfIndia (HoI) is the collective dream of two sisters, Malyada and Ramya. Both of us share an immense passion and love for the handicraft tradition and the people who are masters of such traditional and inspiring skills. We also strongly believe that sustainable natural processes make the best products. We had a privileged childhood in a large joint family, in a town called Vrindaban, which is one of the most important religious centers in India. The home we grew in is full of handmade stuff intricate yet simple, extremely eco-friendly and amazingly beautiful. Our family runs one of the biggest temples of Northern India, which houses about 100 odd families and where hand made traditions have always been and still are an integral part of life.



Right from childhood, we were exposed to different weaving and embroidery forms, as our temple has a huge collection of antique sarees, stoles and embroidered dresses. We were encouraged to take care of what is called the "Vastra Kothri" meaning "Clothes Room". While managing the inventory there, we got to see some beautiful hand-woven treasures some of which are more than 100 years old. Sadly, all our efforts to get similar products made were in vain as we were repeatedly told that those looms are closed, there being no market for them anymore.



After completing our graduation at Vrindaban, we moved to Delhi to chart out separate career paths. Ramya joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Malyada started her career with Advertising and Market Research moving on to Software Development. Both of us got together in 2005 motivated to work with artisans and market their exquisite, natural and handmade products. HoI was thus born in the spring of 2006 in New Delhi. We have spent the last 3 years working with the artisans,identifying the issues and challenges,taking part in various exhibitions, studying the market,designing our product portfolio and mainly selling to friends and relatives. And now, we are taking the big plunge of launching this website, and reaching out to you. We currently work in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, MP, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka and Tamil-Nadu, and our craft associations range from soof and ahir embroidery, hand made laces, silver jewellery, handloom fabrics, stone pottery, terracotta, oak silk, batik-dyeing and various kinds of hand embroidery.



"HandsOfIndia" showcases the timeless creations made by the humble artisans of our country who are largely unaware of the real worth of their products, especially in a marketplace cluttered with mass produced replicas. This name signifies the skill and painstaking handwork of the craftspeople and the fact that these products are created using simple, natural techniques relying solely on the accumulated knowledge of generations of artisans and the skill of the human hand. It reaffirms our love for all things handmade. We at "HandsOfIndia" work with these masters of traditional designs and hope to create a market for their products - a market which is as easily accessible to the artisans as it is to the consumers, so that the handiwork tradition of our country continues, inspiring future generations to take it up as a vocation.