Our Story
Sarla is about reviving the dying crafts. Sarla is ethical and empowering. Each piece has a story of revival to express. 100 miles from the nearest metropolitan area, on a patchy, broken road, lie quaint villages in Madhya Pradesh where a community of artisans are slowly carving magic with wood, weaving love . Sadly, their traditional craft is under threat of disappearing completely, with only a couple of families surviving in their profession and even fewer scions who will take this craft forward. We are working closely with the kaarigars in the villages to relearn the styles of carving from elders and maybe one day develop a new weave of the new age.
Our name carries a story as sweet as the products we offer. “Sarla” is an ode to my grandmother, whom I never met but her legacy lives on in every corner of our home. From her cherished handicrafts to time-honoured recipes, from her beloved garden to her gentle way with everyone and everything around her, her spirit infuses our family's traditions.
Our name, 'Agro,' speaks of our deep connection to the earth. We work hand-in-hand with local farmers and artisans, sourcing ingredients that carry the essence of our land. Our artisans craft each product with care, preserving age-old techniques that connect us to our roots.
Here at Sarla, we believe in the beauty of simplicity and the strength of tradition - a beautifully crafted wooden accessory, a perfectly ripe fruit, a handwoven basket, a family recipe passed down through generations. We invite you to explore our offerings, each one a testament to the timeless wisdom of those who came before us.
Mission and Vision
We are on a mission to organically grow our community by travelling to different parts of the world, collaborate with independent artists to create authentic experiences and workshops that take our community on an unforgettable journey.
Connecting our global community to our roots and culture back home via thoroughly designed themes, marketplaces, and workshops.
With our workshops, we aim to inspire our community and the youth to learn ancient crafts of our land, and carry knowledge passed down to us over generations. Pushing for artisans and community to be our teachers will be the most authentic form of learning and a way to revive dying crafts of our own countries and around the world.
Our Impact
Equity
We believe that systems are only healthy if they are built on an equitable foundation. We work very closely with our farm partners to understand the specific needs of the land and people through the following ways:
We are committed to paying farmers living wages so they can afford to grow naturally and regeneratively along with us. Since both commodity and Fairtrade prices are not enough to sustainably support this kind of growth, we establish fair pricing directly with our farm partners.
We also work with farm partners on building lasting infrastructure such as irrigation systems, solar dryers, and mills.
Transcending norms
Working with a small team afforded us the liberty to break away from conventional handicraft paradigms rooted in capitalistic ideologies that perpetuate overconsumption and overproduction, leading to resource exploitation in the East.
Instead, we consciously allocated resources to travel to villages and towns where traditional crafts flourish. There, we fully immersed ourselves in the stories, homes, cultures, and lifestyles of the women there.
While we also worked with existing artisan collectives, our true love lies in finding, exploring, discovering new places where we can work with women out of their homes, and give them resources to produce crafts.
We supported those who drew inspiration from their surroundings to weave simple concepts into exquisite textiles.
Resistance through artisanship
We collaborate with various crafts from around the world, building bridges between art forms and finding common ground in ancestral practices.
Each craft illustrates ancient motifs, patterns, and stitches to embrace the past while also telling stories of the present. In doing this, we also want to highlight global injustices. Today, while few initiatives weave new designs to tell contemporary stories, we embrace these crafts to connect with their roots and narrate our present.
Through Sarla, we envision a movement toward collective freedom, using artistry and handicraft as identity, voice, and weapon to improve broken systems and forge a united future.
WHY SHOP HANDMADE?