Bring some North Karnataka vibes to your home with sarees, dupattas, accessories and home furnishings from Kale Nele. If you're all about handlooms, we point you to Kale Nele in HAL 3rd Stage. The studio, founded by Janhavi Kulkarni in 2012, houses traditionally handcrafted sarees, dupattas, stoles, accessories and home furnishings. The idea of the space with 'Kale' meaning 'art' and 'Nele' meaning 'shelter' (in Kannada) is to put together a space that nurtures fabrics and handicrafts from the state. In fact, most of their fabrics and collections are sourced from small pockets in North Karnataka like Ilkal and Guledgudda.
You'll find Khunn fabrics (traditionally used to make blouses) woven into saris, thanks to Janhavi’s decision to increase the width of the looms. Besides saris, they're turned into dupattas, cholis and stoles. There's also gubbi-making, an old Karnataka tradition where sparrows fashioned out of cloth were used to make playthings for babies. Other than these, check out their home accessories like torans (decorative door hangings), potlies, cushions and beautiful tribal-style jewellery pieces. The best part is, each piece has a fascinating little backstory to it, which Janhavi will be happy to run you through. From stories of working with weavers to tales about the history of each kind of fabric, your visit to Kale Nele will be unlike any other saree retailer's.
Visit the studio with an appointment, when you have some time on your hands, so you can explore their large collection at leisure and get a crash course of sorts into the different weaves, crafts and lives of artisans from North Karnataka.