SIPA artisans craft a variety of high quality products, including baskets handwoven from palm leaves, sustainable wood carvings and Kalamkari textiles. These textiles are designed by printing the cotton textile base with hand-carved wooden blocks using a rainbow of natural vegetable dyes. All the materials used are widely available within India, and SIPA monitors production to ensure that its artisans generate a minimal amount of waste. SIPA also takes an active stance on the environment by regularly planting trees and using eco-friendly packaging material.
"Kalamkari," the process of hand-painting or printing upon cotton textiles with carved wooden blocks, literally means "Pen-work." In Persian, ‘Kalam’ means Pen and ‘Kari’ means Craftsmanship or Work. However, the process is referred to by a variety of different names throughout the world, including pintado in Portuguese, calico or chintz in English, sits by the Dutch and toiles paintes in French. The process of Kalamkari is rather tedious and time consuming. The complete process of producing a bolt of Kalamkari fabric takes about 40-45 days, as there are at least 12-15 stages involved in the process; and nature can easily disrupt the work-flow because of the number of steps that must take place outside.
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