AWWA Economic Empowerment Circle

AWWA Economic Empowerment Circle was founded by Our President Farida Khan in 2006 as a resource for women designers and developers. The group originally consisted of about 15 women, specifically invited to join as each one was an expert in their chosen field of design - that when pooled together would provide a core of knowledge in order for the group to grow.

We have grown to a group of almost 120 women from every corner of the Karnataka, but we all have one thing in common…the desire to continue to learn and the willingness to share our knowledge with others. We have narrowed our focus to just women involved in design or development but members wear many hats. Farida is known to the list and has been learning and contributing since June of 1999; she vowed to keep the list going both for the women involved and for future entrepreneurs who will require support.

Request for support us to market linkag  We are a Ngo working in karnataka. Specialize in

intricate crafts in Kasuti and negi work and Zari Zardose work. we have more workers with us who do this work. We are interested in export order also. Please help in this regard. If any interested Persons or NGOs and Designers, Exporters other persons and please

help in this regard- AWWA TEAM

 What we do

As an organisation committed to fair trade:

create opportunities for poor Artisans and producers

ensure trading practices are fair, both in terms of payment and prices

ensure that children are not being exploited

ensure there is no discrimination ensure working conditions are safe

focuses on trading with poor and marginalised Artisans and producer groups, helping them develop skills and sustainable livelihoods through the trading relationship.

pays fair prices that cover the full cost of production and enable a living wage and other fair rewards to be earned by producers.

provides credit when needed to allow orders to be fulfilled.

encourages the fair treatment of all workers, ensuring good conditions in the workplace and throughout the supply chain.

aims to build up long-term relationships, rather than looking for short-term commercial advantage.

 ABOUT KASUTI WORK

Hubli city & Dharwar city is famous for one type of traditional embroidery called Kasuti.

 In Kannada, the word for embroidery is Kasuti . Kasuti or  Kashidakari is an antique embroidery form that goes back to the  8th century. Practiced in the villages bordering Karnataka and  Maharashtra, particularly in Dharwar, Kasuti work has traditionally  been and is still done entirely by women. After a day's hard  domestic work, women devote themselves to Kasuti work. The  threads of Kasuti embroidery speak of folk craft, its beautiful  geometric designs derived from temple sculptures, evoking images  of chariots, birds, animals and flowers, all done in the rangoli format. There is a great deal of similarity between Rangoli and Kasooti. There are some differences too. The Rangoli is afree-hand, stationary art-form, whereas Kasuti is predetermined, mobile, and an art-form based on needle and thread.

 The most frequently used colors are red, purple, orange and yellow, the brighter shades of these being preferred. Kasuti is done on both cotton and silk fabrics. The Kasuti worker does not trace the motifs to set the pattern. The pattern is in the mind and is built upon a net attached to the cloth. For extremely fine materials an embroidery ring is employed to help avoid wrinkles. The basic stitches used are cross and double running stitches. Once a languishing craft, Kasuti slowly became almost tint and owes its revival to few intrepid.

 NGO's and some women craft activities.

 A great variety of stitches are employed in order to obtain the  desired design. Frequently employed ones are Ele, Mente, Negi,  Gavanthe, and Marige. Each thread in the cloth is counted and  patterns are stitched in such way that the designs on both sides of  the cloth look very much alike. It is the tradition to have a couple of  embroidered saris among the bridal trousseau. The pallu (the  throw of the sari, which covers the bosom and the head) is very  elaborately embroidered. Motifs include geometrical designs, the  Gopuram, the kalasha, planted Tulsis, cradles, and chariots. Animals such as elephants,  cows, parrots, bulls and peacocks are also used. Sometimes, flowers and creepers are  interwoven with the animals.In Maharashtra and Karnataka, very elaborate Kasuti is  embroidered on a great variety of articles. Ilkal ( Irkal) saris are well suited for Kasuti work.