Virsa is the real 'Make in India' – a collaboration with traditional weavers to co-create Khadi stoles and Jholas, which are naturally dyed, completely handmade, and are also eco friendly.

What is Virsa?

Virsa is a labour of love. When the world is moving to China to mass produce, we travelled in the opposite direction to collaborate with traditional weavers with an aim to co create amazing products that are untouched by machines and have zero carbon footprint. Virsa is a small attempt to revive the magic of Khadi, to create eco friendly products, to achieve inclusive growth and to share happiness and prosperity.

How is Virsa helping traditional weavers?

Weavers make a living of nothing more than 250 rupees ($3-$4) on a good day, assuming they have worked throughout they will still not make more than Rs. 5000 ($75) - 6000 ($90) a month. We have taken out the middle men and work directly with the weavers. All this so that the families get proper food, children can go to school and parents can afford healthcare. With us, the weavers make up to Rs. 1500 for every unit and roughly Rs. 30,000 ($450) a month. We also involve women of the household with no employment opportunities for pre and post production activities. We have sustained 4 weaver families for a year now. With your help, we will create enough work for the next four to six months and adopt two more weaver families.

What makes our products special?

All our products will be hand made using Khadi, which will be naturally dyed and will feature original motifs from Kutch-Rabbaris (nomad goat herders of Kutch), Flamingoes (of Rann), Ghuvad (Owls), Siyaar (Desert Fox of Rann) and Iscooters (from the small old town of Bhuj). Every single product will be totally unique as no two designs come out the same. In return for your contribution, we will be sending you these Khadi stoles and jholas, beautifully woven with love.

What is our long term goal at Virsa?

Virsa means cultural roots, in Punjabi. Our aim is to ensure that our art and cultural heritage finds a place in the new world. Today, most of our art forms are on the verge of extinction, and our artisans – the custodians of India's rich legacy, are languishing in poverty. We have drawn a five year plan and our collaborations will include working with artisans involved in weaving, block printing, terracotta, cane work and dokra casting.

We aim to promote inclusive growth through:
- Innovating and creating good quality, eco-friendly products in sync with modern tastes - Training and up-skilling artisans so that they can create better finished products using traditional techniques - Researching and documenting processes, procedures and templates for these art forms - Generating awareness about the unique arts and crafts of our country - Rehabilitating artisans so that they can earn a respectable livelihood commensurate to their knowledge, skills and hard work