Serendipity with Yoga Mat weaver

16th September 2026

Shriniwas, Lakshmi, Satyamma..

We met these three wonderful weavers in our wanderings around Warangal, thanks to Alankrutha and Meher of ‘Elephant in You’ , Telangana, India. Some meetings are serendipitous. This was one, there was a language barrier but our eyes and bodies were speaking to each other smoothly. There was a trust in the way we were received and the way we connected to these artisans.

Probably in their 50’s, this family of husband, wife, mother and a few other outside women who came to work, were working out of an open rustic home studio on the roadside we crossed. It was serendipity that Alankrutha stopped to ask me if I would like to stop by and check out the weaver’s home studio. It was so personal and yet such a welcoming space that we decided to get down. Meher was still checking if he was curious but he sweetly accompanied us, two women versus him, he had no other option.

A sweet, open, smiling pair of eyes greeted us, she had her grand child in her hand and was waiting till her daughter in law finished cooking, so she could start weaving. It seemed she loved the craft. Her welcome got us more interested to explore and connect. And this is what we discovered..

Shiniwas is a yoga mat weaver from generations, he is known as the Padmashali and he is responsible to get the yarns from the market, order to make mats, then delegate these women to start on beam making, warping, hanks to cones, cone to spindle making, and then weaving. He also weaves after his procurement and management is taken care of. He is truly a caretaker and his women team are respected and join the orchestra.

His son is a pujari and he does not weave even though he knows weaving, as he grew up around it right? Why? Because he would not have got married if he continued to be a weaver and would never make enough money to be credible enough to run a household. For Shriniwas, this is what he knows, this is who he is, a true Artisan, he does not know what else he wants to be or can be. However he does not wish his son to follow his dream and has his own, so theres a joint family living together, with such terms as every one does what they can and contribute to the family. His son looked like he was living the life he was asked to live by the society, I wonder what he truly wanted.

The son’s wife has two young children, a year and a half and another 6 months old who is lying on the makeshift swing out of grandmother’s old saree next to the weaving setup where he will be in front of everyones eyes to take care while he sleeps. She is a nurse and I asked her if she would like to do this someday and she said, she already knows, but she is a nurse, and that said it all.

What followed was an open conversation between us to explore if Shriniwas and his team would be okay to weave natural dyed yarns for the carpet they already did. And he said yes, he was okay with doing what his skills were, with a yarn that we dyed and gave him. It meant a lot for us, who were like children who receives gifts that he/she is not expecting and it’s an exciting gift that could lead to more ever lasting joy of a dream to may be launch a set of natural dyed carpets to sustainable enthusiastic consumers/ community.

So we asked for a sitting of warp and weft yarn to file, we bought two mats to sample. We bought 20 hanks to dye and send it to him to weave 10 sample mats in 10 different colors. We recorded each step, and they were very happy to let us do so and openly explained whatever we needed to understand.

This yoga mat can be used to relax, easy to carry under your arms, gift it, lie down on any earthy spot, make it your picnic mat, dance mat, meditation mat, community mat..the possibilities are endless.

The future holds a 10 shade mat collection in the dream and desire stage. Sounds like Sandman, yes it is so.