MOTHER EARTH – Preserving Art & Heritage

Mother Earth is a leading brand of domestic retail into apparels, home décor and furnishing.

Started under the name Industree in 1994, Mother Earth has grown over the years and has provided support to thousands of skilled artisans across India. They always believe in keeping with their social mission: “To enhance and create secure artisanal livelihoods through socially, economically & environmentally sustainable production.”

Industree PT believes in providing you with great quality goods while nurturing the environment and building on the strengths of marginalized rural artisanal communities to create sustainable livelihoods and overall prosperity.

Industree is a social enterprise, building an eco system for the development of India’s Handicraft and Handloom sector, we call, the Creative Manufacturing sector, which comprise about 40 million producers, the majority of which are women.

Industree primarily works with women owned producer companies. Women are trained to be leaders and run their business. Encouraging Women Leadership has helped women not only to take better decisions at work but also make her take right decisions in running their households.

Indus Tree PT has promoted two producer owned collective enterprises, Green Kraft and Ektha, which directly impact 600 artisans in rural Tamil Nadu, Karnataka.

Industree is a for-profit organization that manufactures and sells products under brand name ‘Mother Earth’.

www.motherearth.co.in has 8 of its own stores and over 50 Shop in Shop counters across India.

Mother Earth started with a 11,000 sq ft large flagship store in Bangalore. It is a social brand that offers the consumers the best of the Indian natural hand crafted products while simultaneously providing livelihoods to the rural artisans and laborers of India.

PARTICIPATE at Mother Earth – Every time M.E. spends, they make a choice in how it will impact the community around. When clients like you shop at M.E, you choose to give back and create an impact that goes far, preserving art and it’s communities. Every time you shop at Mother Earth, you participate in preserving the heritage of centuries old art and craft; sustaining it for the future and nurturing the livelihood of the artisans.

Collections by Mother Earth

-Athangudi

In 2016, on Gandhi Jayanti, Mother Earth in association with Ethicus, an organic fashion brand, launched a new collection in Bangalore – ‘Athangudi’ a collection of the finest hand-crafted organic cotton saris, stoles and dupattas inspired from the rich Chettinad heritage. The event was also conceptualized with a vision to promote Indian-ness and to pay respect to the traditional handloom craft.

The collection ‘Athangudi’- a beautiful and contemporary looking, is made by skilled weavers on traditional handlooms in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu. The use of contrasting and vibrant colours, floral and geometric motifs, traditional yet contemporary looks make the collection sought after and perfect for daily wear and for special occasions.

The designer Tanvi Kareer, a graduate of the National Institute of Design, adds, ‘the collection is festive in its look and is best suited for the comfort, style and confidence of the modern woman of today.’

-Bagru

At Mother Earth, you can also find – the Bagru Collection. Developed by ‘Chippa’ community in the village of bagru, this printing technique has come to signify the cultural heritage and vibrancy of Rajasthan.

–Kalamkari

The signature style of the artists community in Machalipatnam and Pedana districts of AP, Kalamkari owes its root to India’s rich tradition of storytelling, when musicians and artists used dyes from the locally available plants and roots to bring their stories to life. Patronised by the Mughals and Golconda dynasties, Kalamkari is among the most ancient and complex inspirations for printing with natural dyes, representing art that’s as unique as it is rich in its heritage. Today block printing in Pedana is preserving the age-old art of Kalamkari.

-Dabu

Mother Earth’s Dabu collection revolves around the oldest known dye, Indigo. Though most of the indigo used today is synthetic, at Mother Earth they’re still preserving the age-old technique with the use of 100% natural Indigo dye, giving you an authentic and superior quality product. The intricate art of Dabu printing involves caking the fabric with mud, natural resin and sawdust in the desired pattern before dyeing. Each piece can take up to one week to develop with the process being repeated several times for every color in the design.

Neelam Chhiber 

The co-founder of Industree.

She is an Industrial Designer from National Institute of Design and alumunus of Social impact International, as well as Global Social Benefit Incubator , Santa Clara University, USA. Neelam won the Schwab Foundation’s Indian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2011.

Neelam planted the seeds of her entrepreneurial journey in rural India in 1994 and has never looked back. Through her undertakings Industree and Mother Earth she has created a flourishing handicraft manufacturing and retail business effectively closing the gap between rural artisans and the retail market. She believes that Mother Earth will provide a strong marketing platform for Food, Fashion and Home which will augment producer incomes, increase the potential of ownership and will drive efficiency.

She is of the firm view that Design education has been key to 360 degree thinking. Neelam believes Mother Earth’s biggest challenge and reward has been to facilitate and enable producers to manage themselves in changing scenarios.

In the last two decades, for her outstanding work in social livelihood sectors, she has received various awards such as The Indian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2011 from Schwab Foundation and L’Oreal Paris Femina Women Awards 2012 for Social Impact.

Keeping in mind the concerns raised in past year’s Social Accounts, there has been a change in the framing of the MVOA. The mission statement and objectives have been modified to incorporate improvements that were to be made, more activities have been added to reach the objectives listed. There has been fresh brain storming on the values that MOTHER EARTH stands for.

Objective 1: To strengthen the domestic and global market for Indian artisanal producers
Objective 2: To assist artisans with production and market access
Objective 3: To build socially, environmentally and economically sustainable production

Industree’s professional supply chain team, manages all the collectives professionally, enabling 100% social and statutory compliance, as well as best practices, signified by 6 sigma approach. Its Process Management ensures delivery on time with quality enabling the team to grow 100% year on year.

Mother Earth / Industree strives hard to cater to the needs of their clients or customers as well as, preserve the beauty of art and heritage and nurture it for the future. Do not forget to Participate at Mother Earth!

~Ifrah Tanweer