A natural and sustainable lifestyle collection has been born through the collaboration of two great Indian families with a combined 120-year history of design innovations steeped in heritage. Suparna Handa of Sarita Handa and Sri Hari Prasadh of The Kadri Mills introduce The KA&SA Collection | Circular by Design, a unique luxury home textiles sustainable collaboration that marries fabric innovation with elevated hand crafted and hand guided design details. This expansive collaboration of bed, bath and home goods approaches sustainability from materials to fabrication to aesthetics and beyond. A greater good in sustainability and Indian innovation has been born from the strengths of the individual principals with their entrepreneurial and creative spirits and their family companies that are highly respected, known globally, and sought after.
The Kadri Mills known for its innovative technology in textiles has numerous path breaking fabric patents, and this new collection utilizes their sustainable product line Ethicot (certified under Global Recycled Standard) and fabrics with other textures that have certifications for being environmentally friendly – Oeko-Tex, the Higg Index, among others. Fabric innovation has always been in the forefront. They craft core fabrics with passion focused on innovating for the customer’s experience.
What started as a conversation at a vendor meet has evolved into both companies coming together to launch this sustainable collection. It is the importance of producing luxury style and quality that is mindful to the impact on the environment that both felt was the need of the hour and beyond, moving into the future. The Nest Sealed Ethical Handcraft Program is also an integral part of the product line so that consumers know the products have been ethically hand- crafted in a home or small workshop, implementing procedures for production under safe, lawful, and human conditions. With every product from The KA&SA Collection, there is certainty it is of the highest quality of recycled raw materials, conserving energy, and water usage through recycling and innovative packaging, which are a vital part of the sustainable design equation today. The KA & SA Collection takes it one step further.
Sarita Handa has always been an advocate of Women Empowerment. “We are committed to sustaining the livelihoods of our home workers and their families,” says Suparna Handa. Her company empowers women by training them in hand quilting techniques that create a source of income while they continue to work in the comfort of their homes. The contemporary aesthetics are further rooted and springboard from the rich heritage of Indian craftsmanship. Sustainability has many forms. The KA & SA Collection brings the craft of the artistic world from the hand-quilted product and hand-guided machine embroidery, all at the grass-roots level, to recycling and reusing materials (even the remnants that are left in postproduction) as they gradually are put to better use. Sustainable materials and textile waste are even utilized to create many of the hand crafted, heirloom worthy products. This is even evident in the patchwork quilts and decorative pillows, using only sustainable methods of indigo and natural dyeing with artisanal hand and hand guided manual embroidery. Suzanis and antique hand applique Kantha quilts are just a few of the pieces from the product line that reflect KA&SA’s philosophy of reinventing and reintroducing “heroes” from the past – something old, something borrowed, something new”—and transforming into a Modern Contemporary product. Evident throughout is the relationship of heritage craftsmanship with future innovation in fabrics and materials.
Sri Hari Prasadh of The Kadri Mills and Suparna Handa of Sarita Handa are joined in vision, values, and purpose with the creation and collaboration of The KA&SA Collection | Circular By Design. They are entrepreneurial innovators for the future who each have a rich Indian family heritage. It speaks for itself: Innovation and luxury with global contemporary aesthetics rooted and inspired by the rich heritage of Indian craftsmanship. Sustainability is in their DNA. “Being socially responsible,” Suparna and Hari say with passion, “We are accountable for our impact on the planet!”