You cannot expect a hall with around 100 people to be quiet by any measure. But the one I walked into on a Saturday morning was relatively quiet, except for a buzz. A group, all of them women, sat there engrossed in embroidery, some on the floor and others on chairs. They were busy creating intricate designs on the fabric attached to the hoop they were holding. That was an event by Thiruvananthapuram-based hand embroidery e-commerce brand Alika to celebrate its artisans.Alika boasts a legacy dating back to the 1930s, when Sophie Sathyasandhan, a homemaker from Thalassery, learnt embroidery from the visiting Christian missionaries. She passed on the knowledge to her daughter Ramola Francis and daughter-in-law Pearly Manohar. Sophie opened Sathya Thayyal Centre in Thalassery in 1958, and went on to train many women. Pearly carried forward that tradition, which she passed on to her daughter, Deepthi Jewel S.
Deepthi Jewel S with husband, Sarath Kiran
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Once Deepthi moved to Thiruvananthapuram post-marriage, Pearly too came along. That was when, in 2013, they introduced hand embroidered clothing in the capital city through an exhibition. The brand, christened Alika, meaning noble, named after Deepthi’s daughter, is now managed by Deepthi’s husband, Sarath Kiran, while she divides her time between the brand and her corporate career.Alika has a huge customer base spread across India and abroad for its hand embroidery done on pure linen, cotton and silk fabric. “With 120 artisans, all of them women, working for Alika in Thiruvananthapuram alone, we decided to bring them together and acknowledge their work. Among them are divorcees, widows, survivors of domestic abuse, and those who are economically backward. We have been able to change their lives for the better and felt that their stories needed to be told,” says Sarath.
