Two hands move in rhythm; one holding the fabric taut, the other guiding a needle through it. A single stitch puncturing the material begins the movement, the thread pulled into place, knot by knot, as an intricate pattern slowly takes shape. What starts as a blank canvas, with time, transforms into a design held together by careful twists and ties, each stitch bringing the artisan’s work closer to life.
This Aari embroidery is now finding space beyond homes on larger and impactful platforms such as the Art of India Exhibition 2026, curated by Alka Pande and presented by The Times of India and Standard Chartered, held earlier this year. The human hand behind the artwork is Kala Viswanathan, a local tailoring teacher from the city, who became a guiding force in shifting livelihoods.
Kala has been instrumental in introducing Aari practice to the Irular community (Scheduled Tribes) residing in community centres across hamlets in Kunnappattu, Anna Nagar, and MGR Nagar near Mamallapuram. She presented her embroidery work to C John Degler, an American philanthropist, who has been working with this indigenous community since 2012 to create alternative livelihoods.
In late 2012, he started Project Kanimar, named after Kanniamma, a deity associated with snakes worshipped by the community. It explored ways for women from these centres to generate income using sewing machines, but with limited success. That is when Kala and John joined hands, marking a turning point that would reshape the initiative’s approach and almost fifteen years later, the project still continues to thrive.
From here, the idea of adapting chikku kolams into embroidery took root. “We began experimenting with glass beads to represent the dot patterns. The first products were simple Christmas decorations,” shares John.
Margins to mastery
The Irular women demonstrated strong aptitude for the technique, drawing on their previous experience with Aari work. Over time, this evolved into a distinctive embroidery practice that now engages nearly 150 artisans. They taught each other under John’s guidance, “under regular direction, urging, criticism, praise, and assistance and also willingness to pay them.” John adds, “They soon started creating really fine pieces of museum-quality work that casual observers insisted was done by machine.” The appreciation has since proved to be a source of self-confidence and self-esteem.
They work on two kinds of embroidery. One, introduced by John, the hand needle style and the other is Aari needle — which was a regular practice in some settlements. “They were doing this (Aari embroidery) as child and bond labourers, especially in Tiruvallur side. From a very young age, they got into the work and were paid less,” says Dr Dalia Ghosh Dastidar, associate, Project Kanimar and an independent consultant.
The members primarily earn through daily wage work such as agriculture, wood cutting, construction, or roles in domestic and service sectors for `400 a day. Kanimar provides them with an additional income ranging from `500 to `20,000 per submission, depending on skill, complexity, and output. “This income has become a major source to run the family,” says Manjula U from Kunnakadu. Adding to the conversation, Valliyammal R from Kadambadi, shares, “Apart from regular income, this project has helped us with our emotional well being. It has changed the lens with which people in society view us.”
One of the major setbacks of the tribe is not engaging in commercial street-level transactions. John says, “They are entirely reluctant to pursue entrepreneurial endeavours and self-employment as well as employing other Irular to work under their direction. This has been a major obstacle, perhaps the largest one, to their achieving financial independence. They are very reluctant to engage in the exchange of their products for cash with customers.”
On the bright side, this principle of earning finances on their own terms, along with constant efforts of Dalia, these artists have received sewing machines and artisan ID cards under the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts (Ministry of Textiles), marking an important step toward formal recognition.
This drew the attention of other stakeholders. Since the past year, Kanimar has extended its arm with Club Artizen, the home of handcrafted Indian products. Under this collaboration, Kanimar’s artisan women train to recreate chikku kolam on cloth through embroidery. In the process, they translate the squiggly lines and dots of kolams into pouches, bags, stationery items, and other decorative accessories.
Club Artizen and Kanimar have co-designed a line of diaries that highlight these embroidered kolams, blending Tamil heritage with utility. Meera Rajagopalan, communication specialist from Club Artizen, notes, “We see the kolam as a living art form — tracing dots and lines, yet always in motion. With Kanimar, we want that motion to live on beyond the courtyard floors and into people’s hands and homes.”
John notes that with the growing recognition of the Irular artisans’ creative work, the project plans to expand product lines by creating marketable products from their embroidery swatches, such as zipper purses, sling bags, totes, and cushion covers and access both domestic and international markets through artistic platforms like fine arts and handicraft exhibitions enabling them to retain ownership of their work and achieve long-term financial stability.
Skill first, stability next
The project, at its core, aims to develop a sustainable, artisan-led enterprise rooted in a decentralised non-factory production model in which Irular artisans can eventually self-organise into a cooperative with independent financial and operational systems. “The focus is on quality, innovation, and the use of biodegradable, locally sourced materials,” John affirms.
Their foremost plan is the development of an effective on-line sales system and perhaps also a retail shop. Dalia adds, “Direct interaction (with the customers) doesn’t happen much other than a few exhibitions where we accompany and guide them through the process of interaction with customers, product sales, etc. Though extremely talented, the Irulars are not very mercantile and we have seen them being exploited in the past.” Hence, the team’s immediate goal, as John puts it, “is to have the women and a few men produce larger pieces with original designs of a more expressive abstract suitable for framing and starting with public exhibitions at schools and colleges, government offices, libraries, etc.”
“We have become self-sufficient and have grown to start our own venture by ourselves. It would be very helpful if the government could help us by providing us with easy to use machines to make our lives easier and increase our standard of living,” notes Valliyammal. And Manjula concludes saying, “For our lives to develop, we need a permanent place, a home to grow.”
Unique diaries, pouches, bags, stationery items, and other decorative accessories co-designed by Club Artizen and Kanimar are available at Club Artizen’s website: www.clubartizen.com