House of Wandering Silk

Vintage saris turned into one-of-a-kind quilted silk and cotton scarves with bright colours and wonderful patterns.

House of Wandering Silk was set up in 2012 by Katherine Neumann who, after years of working with humanitarian organizations responding to natural disasters, wanted to find a more sustainable way to support women in poor rural areas of India. House of Wandering Silk sources beautiful vintage fabrics and creates designs for their partner artisans to work with. The House of Wandering Silk artisans are a cooperative of 1,400 women – predominantly Muslim – from 40 rural villages of the Murshidabad district in West Bengal State. These women do the “kantha” stitching work from the privacy of their homes, allowing women from conservative families to participate. In addition to the improved economic status kantha has brought to many families, the cooperative takes 30% of the profit from the scarves to support the women by providing medical assistance, money for the poor and offering gifts during religious holidays.