We are KAL - INDIA
“We are KAL is a slow textile company working exclusively with hand-spun and handwoven textiles. The teams are located in two regions across India: Assam and Ladakh. The focus is on a source to stitch concept with a transparency in the making steps. KAL mixes the traditional with the modern and creates timeless design. The artisans in Assam work on fly shuttle looms with Eri silk and the artisans in Ladakh with yak and sheep’s wool and on traditional backstrap looms. Each year the team of KAL hand-picks their wool from the nomadic community of Kharnak in Eastern Ladakh.
After this, the wool is processed in a natural way and only the carding process of the wool is done by machine - all at the KAL studio and home in Ladakh. The collections range from garments and accessories to home textiles, carpets as well as hand-spun yarn and cocoons for crafters, weavers and knitters across the globe to use in their own projects.
KAL’s approach to textiles is holistic. The value of hand-made textiles is unique, timeless, and includes an entire ecosystem: The maker, the material, the tradition, the livelihoods and the environment form the context within the creation of any textile.
Catherine Allié and Tsering Angtak are currently managing KAL from their home and studio in Ladakh.
Catherine has been living in India since 2012 and found the teams of KAL during her 9-month research in early 2014. She is responsible for the processes, product development, administrative work and communication in India. She learnt Ladakhi and Hindi and can connect well with the team. While studying business in Paris, she had the continuous thought in mind to do something where social and economic concerns could co-exist.
Angtak takes care of production in Ladakh and, with his patience and calm nature, adds a very pleasant element to KAL. He grew up in the nomadic region of Kharnak. At the age of 9 he moved to Leh to study and since then he traveled and lived all over India returning to Ladakh, where he met Catherine during the first wool harvest of 2014.
From then on, their journey continued together. When Angtak is not crossing sitting and chatting with our team he reflects on the change indigenous communities are facing and is learning about materials he has been surrounded by trhoughout his childhood – yak’s, sheep’s, and lamb’s wool from his native place of Changthang in Ladakh.
In total we work with more than 20 artisans and nomads who you can get to know through our website. We work between India and Germany with our base in Ladakh.”
-Taken from ‘We are KAL’
