An essence of natural elegance and graceful sophistication comes from this set of six placemats by Papiya Das of India. The artisan works with traditional techniques to handweave these round pieces in a palette of purple and natural hues—all made from sabai grass fibers. Displaying a captivating pattern, the accessories are also sturdy.

Product Features: 

• Dimension: 0.4" H x 12" Diam.
• Weight: 3.78
• Color: Purple
• Material: Sabai grass
• Made in India

Story Behind the art:
Latest Update April 2023:

"Hi friends! I am Papiya Das from Mumbai, but I am a native of a rural area in West Bengal. I am a born leader, an artistic person, and I love challenges.

"My mission is to encourage women from less privileged backgrounds to acquire new skills; to give them the self-confidence and self-esteem required to earn by their own industry and initiative; and to enable them to carry this newly discovered skill and confidence into the wider world.

After completing my studies I have worked in various organization in different part of India. When I decided to leave the corporate world and start something of my own, the first thing came into my mind was to empower women. Since my native is in the rural area of west Bengal & I have seen daily life of rural women & their challenges, I decided to promote rural art and the rural women.

Now I work closely with hundreds of crafts persons and weavers from several rural areas of India. I have a small workshop with 20 women working with me to supervise and take care of the inventory and logistics in Mumbai, which is our work station. I wish to promote their work and show the world the beauty of our products. I personally visit them and provide them with various inputs including design, quality control, access to raw materials and production coordination. I try to suit the needs and preferences of today's customers, as well as motivate them to create amazing products and save their art from fading. Artisans should love the art form they are working in as without passion or love, artisans can't create beautiful art.

I understand the rich culture and traditions that these rural communities are steeped in and I translate this heritage into products by pairing traditional art with contemporary designs and modern processes. My workshop has been identified as a promising means of generating livelihood for hundreds of rural artisans. I believe I have made a significant contribution to the lives of the women artisans working with me, which has helped improve their economic as well as social status.

Original Artist Bio:

"Since my childhood days, I have experienced many difficult moments, and I am really very proud to have overcome them. As I come from a rural area of West Bengal, I had to struggle a lot to complete my schooling and college. After completing my education, I started working in Kolkata in the corporate sector.

"But I was not happy working there. That is when I decided to leave the corporate world and start something of my own. As I am from a rural area of West Bengal and have always seen rural art very closely from my childhood days, I decided to promote rural art. The beauty of Indian art actually inspired me to work on Indian arts & crafts.

"I would like to work with more and more artisans and different kinds of art.

The handmade touch of artisan skill creates variations in color, size and design. If buying two of the same item, slight differences should be expected. Note: Color discrepancies may occur between this product and your computer screen.

Imported