Herbal Cloth

Working out of Sree Villa in Chirakkal feels very different from a standard business park. We are based at Mudappathi Balakrishnan’s place, right near Pallikulam. It’s a quiet area, and being under the P.O. Chirakkal means the mail actually gets delivered to the house. We deal with cloth that has a more natural feel to it. It’s not the kind of stuff you find in every big city shop. Most of our days are spent checking the fabric and making sure it’s stored properly in the villa. The humidity can be a bit of a problem here in Kerala, so we have to be careful with how the textiles are kept. We don't have a big staff or a fancy front office. It’s mostly just us handling the day-to-day tasks. Sometimes we sit out on the porch when the work is slow and just watch the rain. People who come to visit usually know us or have heard about the cloth from someone else in the village. It’s a very personal way to run things. We don't follow a strict corporate schedule. If the sun is out, we might be busy with certain tasks, and if it's pouring, we do others. The house is old but it stays cool inside, which is good for the fabric. We just like working with materials that feel right in our hands.