After I recently posted about our beloved ahimsa silk, a lot of you asked why did we choose silk. What made us pick silk, amongst all the other materials that are relatively easier to source and work with?

I share my maternal great-grandmother’s love for silk. She loved the opulence- the sublime lustre, the grandiose decadence, the sheer genius of the soft yet strong material; a perfect representation of her personality.

Silks were her favourite and through narrating countless childhood stories and life adventures, she and her magical storytelling passed her fascination down to me. Even her name was the Urdu namesake of silk.

Called Resham Rani Varma, her first name Resham is the Urdu word for silk and her middle name Rani literally translates to queen. For the first couple of years in her life, she truly lived like a princess and was only dressed in silks at home. She started wearing other materials only after she was a little older.

Badi Nani* was one of my favourite humans and shaped who I am today in countless ways. Even though she was 70 years older, she loved and inspired me beyond measure.

Each time we create something out of our beautiful silk, it’s an ode to our emotional connect threaded together with a celebration of her remarkable love and legacy.

📸: My maternal great-grandmother and great-grandfather, Mrs. Resham Rani Varma and Mr. Amar Nath Varma in 1966 🤍

{ * Badi means big in Hindi and Nani translates to maternal grandmother }