Legacy
Where It All Began
Vimor, meaning ‘pure’, is a brand born out of love for India’s handloom heritage. We have been around for nearly half a century, working towards designing and creating exquisite, authentic, unique, exclusive handwoven sarees. Along the way we have worked towards documenting and reviving design from heritage textiles so that women of today can own a piece of our woven heritage and create connections with their history, human stories and memories.
We are a brand that stands for the revival of the time-honoured art of designing handloom sarees. Our focus has been on creating and supporting the handloom saree weavers through revival of old designs. All our revival sarees are either from Vimor’s own collection or from our customers’ own sarees. We do this by documenting the designs, techniques and stories and use them to inspire traditional handloom weavers to continue their craft and by finding buyers for these heritage designs.
Inspired by their study and documentation of antique weaving techniques, Mrs. Chimy Nanjappa and her daughter, Pavithra Muddaya established Vimor in 1974. We started off by encouraging and training small-town weavers to produce traditional, marketable sarees. Pavithra continues to be actively involved with documenting design, motifs and weaving techniques. Apart from motivating weavers and training them, we also help create sustainable livelihood options and guide weavers by building their confidence. The weavers’ expertise at the loom has ensured long-term financial returns for them.
We are a brand that stands for the revival of the time-honoured art of designing handloom sarees. Our focus has been on creating and supporting the handloom saree weavers through revival of old designs. All our revival sarees are either from Vimor’s own collection or from our customers’ own sarees. We do this by documenting the designs, techniques and stories and use them to inspire traditional handloom weavers to continue their craft and by finding buyers for these heritage designs.
Inspired by their study and documentation of antique weaving techniques, Mrs. Chimy Nanjappa and her daughter, Pavithra Muddaya established Vimor in 1974. We started off by encouraging and training small-town weavers to produce traditional, marketable sarees. Pavithra continues to be actively involved with documenting design, motifs and weaving techniques. Apart from motivating weavers and training them, we also help create sustainable livelihood options and guide weavers by building their confidence. The weavers’ expertise at the loom has ensured long-term financial returns for them.
The Family
Vimor was started by Chimy Nanjappa who was the first manager of Cauvery Arts & Crafts through the 50’s and 60’s. She was selected by Mrs. Pupul Jayakar to handle the saree section at the World’s Fair in New York and Montreal in the later 60’s. Her love of textiles started in Cauvery and grew over the years; after her husband passed away she started Vimor in 1974 in partnership with her 16 year old daughter Pavithra, as a means of livelihood. They started by selling old temple sarees and when these weren’t available easily, they began recreating them and this is how the business was born.
Pavithra Muddaya was studying in Chennai when Vimor was born. While she went on to study law, she continued pursuing her passion in creativity. Pupul Jayakar and Kamaladevi Chattopadyay were great influences on her. They are the ones who asked her to train at the Weavers Service Centre and Design Centre - this hugely impacted her design sensibility and technical know-how. Vipra Muddaya is a part of the third generation running the business. She spent a lot of her childhood looking at beautiful sarees and learning along the way. With her background in textile design and the knowledge she gained working at an international buying house and Fab India, she joined Vimor formally in 2011. Today she manages the store and handles the business aspects including sales, accounting and developing the brand. Arup joined Vimor a few years ago with his range of colourful Lungis/Sarongs. |
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Vimor Handloom Foundation
An extension of Vimor, the Foundation was set up in 2004 to deepen and institutionalise impact with a vision of empowering weavers through conservation of handlooms, educate citizens on handloom inheritance, research, document and innovate environmentally friendly sustainable products. We have established Vimor Museum of Living Textiles in 2019 at Bangalore.
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