Hand-stitched Kantha

SHOP the Collection

Cultivating Craft

CULTIVATING CRAFT - Hand & Cloth from Zach Neal on Vimeo.

Upcycled Saris
Vintage Saris are purchased from markets in Bangladesh
Dignified Work
Vulnerable women are offered dignified work sewing the saris into kanthas
Beautiful Textiles
Purchase a time-honored textile that will grace your home with beauty and dignity
  • The Kantha Story

    The Kantha Story

    It begins with the sari vendors. Kitchenware peddlers by day, they travel to rich women's homes to trade cooking pots and spoons for old saris. At night the kitchenware peddlers become sari vendors, spreading their wares in deserted markets and dimly lit alleys. 
We once believed that sari-vendors were part of West Bengal's charming folklore. But then we went to the sari markets.

    The Kantha Story
  • Traditionally the poor woman's craft

    Traditionally the poor woman's craft

    The Kantha blanket: six layers of vintage saris sewn together by a kantha stitch. Every mother teaches her daughter the kantha stitch and how to make her stitches small and straight. Every little girl, in turn, becomes a mother and makes kantha blankets for her children to keep them warm. No mother dreams that her daughter will suffer poverty and exploitation; yet many women and girls in Bangladesh are highly vulnerable to exploitation without access to dignified work.

    Traditionally the poor woman's craft
  • Now a time-honored tradition

    Now a time-honored tradition

    Hand & Cloth is a team of textile enthusiasts partnering with talented artisan groups to bring you authentic, one-off textiles. By purchasing our handmade textiles, you help offer dignified work to vulnerable women.

    Now a time-honored tradition