The Story Behind the Craft
Vallika's Vastra began as a search for what got lost when handcraft met mass production.
Himaja Ghantasala
Himaja is a trained fashion designer who grew up surrounded by the weaving and dyeing traditions of Andhra Pradesh. After years working in the fashion industry, she returned to the craft she loved most — kalamkari.
Vallika's Vastra started as a personal project to document the kalamkari motifs she encountered growing up. It became something more: a line of wearable craft that puts the artisan at the centre of every piece.
The brand is named after her grandmother Vallika — a woman who wore only handloom, every day, all her life.
Kalamkari & Handloom
Kalamkari — literally “pen work” — is one of India's oldest textile traditions. Using a bamboo pen (kalam) and natural dyes derived from plants and minerals, artisans in Srikalahasti draw mythological and nature scenes directly onto cotton fabric.
The pen kalamkari process takes 10–14 days for a single saree. The fabric is treated with mordants, drawn free-hand, dyed with indigo and myrobalan, and sun-dried repeatedly. No two pieces are ever the same.
Our handloom sarees are woven on pit looms in Andhra Pradesh using cotton, silk, and Kota Doria. Kalamkari motifs are block-printed or painted onto the finished weave.
The People Behind Each Piece
Every product at Vallika's Vastra is made in direct partnership with artisan families in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. We work with master kalamkari artists who have inherited the craft across generations.
We pay artisans for their time at rates set by them, not by market pressure. For pen kalamkari — the most labour-intensive work — each artist is credited by name when they agree to it.
Vallika's Vastra does not export. Every piece is made to order or in small batches — there is no warehouse, no overstock, no pressure to scale faster than the craft allows.