CULTURAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
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INITIATIVE®
AMODA ESSENCE OF INDIA
Amoda Essence of India is an Ahmedabad based fashion brand which sets a focus on promoting rural artisans and their traditional Indian textile craft skills connected to the handcrafted production of fabrics.
Vision
Amoda Essence of India was established by Meeta Solanki Jadeja with the passionate vision of working with artisans to promote their identity by giving them the respect they deserve within society.
The word ‘amoda’ means ‘fragrance’ in Sanskrit, which is related to one of our most delicate senses. The name represents the range of subtle scents in any hand-crafted apparels – a blend of aromas from the natural ingredients used to dye the fabric to the distinct fragrance associated with pure silk and khadi. At Amoda, this unique aroma is the ‘essence of India’.
Fashion in India has a fragrance, which is permanently present at Amoda through the naturally dyed fabrics. Amoda is a thoroughly family-run business, thus the brand's vision is carried by the whole family, with the son Yuddhavirsingh Jadeja as the creative designer and the daughter Aashka Jadeja, focusing on intangible cultural heritage and reviving of lost textile crafts.
Values
The values of Amoda are aligned with Mahatma Gandhi´s advocacy of preserving and encouraging the handicraft skills of the rural craftspeople in India by means of sustaining their occupation and livelihood.
The main focus lies on the empowerment of women, who have the possibility to earn their livelihood by working from home.
Support of artisans and rural economies
Amoda's customised products are produced by small studios and rural craftspeople, which consequently benefits the rural economies and helps communities of craftsmen and women to sustain their craft and livelihoods. Emphasis is placed on ensuring the creators receive the social recognition they deserve.
Preservation of traditional crafts
Amoda focuses on the revival and preservation of traditional handicraft techniques and the cultural heritage associated with them. Through the targeted support of artisans who master these techniques, high-quality, sustainable and natural garments are produced.
By means of promoting those traditional techniques, Amoda wants to raise awareness about India’s rich handicraft traditions and the sustainable way of living tied to them.
Natural and handmade
For the production, only natural materials are used which are dyed in a natural manner and processed with a minimum application of machinery.
Amoda also works with an environmentally friendly production process where the used water is getting cleaned and recycled several times before it gets released to the farmland and where waste is minimised and up-cycled to create new products.
Addressing cultural sustainability
Amoda is addressing cultural sustainability through the promotion and use of traditional craft techniques for their products.
Through the inclusion of artisans who still have the skills and knowledge to apply those techniques, their livelihood is ensured what consequently gives them the opportunity to stick to that occupation and to pass it on to younger generations. Only in this way traditional handicraft techniques can be kept alive.
Additionally, by raising society's awareness of these traditional and vanishing craft techniques as well as of the value of the craft knowledge and the craftspeople, the consumer is given access to a crucial part of India's cultural heritage and by means of that increasing their appreciation for it.
