India, Aeshaane, ‘The Diamond’ Eri Peace Silk Kaftan

Product name: ‘The Diamond’ Eri Peace Silk Kaftan

Beyond fair wages, each purchase positively impacts the livelihoods of artisans that made your product.

Type of product: Slow cloth – Kaftans, robes and loungers

Description (story of the item): Blending the best of traditional and contemporary, our robes are hand crafted in the finest eri silk. Inspired by the Japanese kimono, the silk is soft, luxe and fluid, and drapes around effortlessly. Our kaftan robes can easily be donned as coats or an overdress with a basic pair of pants and tee or even thrown over a simple linen dress. They scream high fashion but are yet minimalist and edgy. This light-weight drape, hangs loose with drop shoulders and wide billowy sleeves. Slow fashion at its best, these robes are timeless, and great for lounging or lunching by the poolside. Available in a one size fits all, with a relaxed silhouette, this is a perfect separate for travelling. 

• Wide-cut body with a relaxed silhouette
• Short robe, front open
• Drop shoulder with oversized sleeves 
• Side slits
• The hem around the neckline/front is crafted in contrast black

Textile Story - I get my inspiration from regular everyday objects; like a fallen leaf in my backyard to a potato in my mother-in-laws kitchen or for that matter a puzzle in my daughters play sack. Confused, well ever heard of a tangram? It’s a deceptively simple set of seven geometric shapes, mostly triangles which are put together to form a square. The only challenge this time around was, that I didn’t have to do the math, I simply had to undo it! And that my friends was child’s play (pun intended)! I’ve seen my daughter dabble for hours on end with these bright coloured geometrics, creating innumerable figurines and animal patterns. But my vision here was, not only to have fun, but create drama with a deconstructed tangram by using repeat pattern synonymous with block printing. The process itself was wholesome and meditative, almost like a departure from reality! It’s like hugging yourself with a deep intimacy that’s inexplicable. Looking for more riddles to solve? Well, the answer’s right here!

Artisan story - The network of silk farming is made up of mothers, grandmothers and sons, thereby making cocoon farming a family affair! There is an entire army of rural artisans behind creating this piece of art. Our Eri silk silk cloth is a completely handmade artisan product, crafted by Kaushik, a third generation of rearers, who hails from the tribal 'Borah' community, nurturing his small dreams in a remote village called 'Phalpur' in Assam. Twenty women from a self-help group gather around post noon, to do the 'Chunai', or sorting of these empty cocoons, from which the worm has exited. After this, they are spun by hand using the time-honoured 'Charkha' or the spinning wheel and woven on a traditional wooden loom. The methods used by the locals are environment friendly and sustainable. The indigenous women in the Assamese household are willing to invest their time in making these timeless beauties, as a way to embrace their culture, to follow the pace of life and to pass on the craft to the younger generation. Each piece has taken at least a week to produce, excluding the harvesting and printing. Each piece is ethical, produced in a small batch and truly a fabric with a soul! Besides earning a fair income from their work, all our artisans have a sense of belonging, a place that they can call their own, that gives them a life filled with love, pride and dignity, where they can benefit from being together as a community. 

At Aeshaane, our artisans

- have a safe and flexible working environment

- Encouragement to use their own creativity

- Ability to work around their children

- Integration into an uplifting community

- Dignified work where their voices are heard

- Options to participate in workshops and other leadership activities 

Workshop - Each scarf is handmade at Aeshaane's in house workshop in a small village in Bengal, where our artisans share our values and produce in a fair way. We celebrate all that is slow, ethical and does not harm the people, animals or the planet. 

Materials: 100% Natural Eri Peace silk 

Colour : Fuchsia, orange and black

Variation in printing & color are hallmarks of hand block printing and dyeing in small batches. Here’s to celebrating blemishes, flaws, faulty and irregular.

Dyes - Azo-free non-toxic dyes

Handfeel - Lightweight, airy, incredibly smooth and soft. When draped, its fluidity is unmatched!

Properties - Eri silk is strong, dense and highly durable wild silk. The silk from this natural fibre is readily biodegradable after serving its full lifecycle and has low environmental impact. Besides being 100% hypoallergic and antibacterial, due to its thermal properties, eri silk is cool in summer and warm in winter. 

Origin - North east India, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Karnataka and some parts of China and Japan

Measurements / size: One size relaxed fit, fits XS – XL comfortably

Length centre front 82cm

Cross body chest 112 cm 

The Model is 5’7’’

Measurements taken on a flat lay

Availability / stock level: Dispatched in 30-45 business days

In a world flooded with fast fashion merchandise that are discarded as quickly as they are purchased, we invite everyone to slow down and cherish garments that are made slowly and deliberately by artisans. At Aeshaane, we have put a lot of thought into handcrafting each piece with utmost care, dedication and patience. Incredible things are done simply by hand because we believe there is value in what we are trying to achieve. It’s very organic and slow, but that's our core strength. After all, 'Things of beauty have no fear of time'! Each piece is specially handcrafted for you, thereby reducing waste, since items are not produced in advance. Hence, we would be unable to accept returns, unless the piece is damaged or defective.