Our Story
Vaaso designs, manufactures and sells exclusive products, ranging from soft home furnishings and handcrafted tableware to unique women accessories. All the products are hand crafted and we work closely with extremely gifted artisans who are proficient in the traditional craft, thus ensuring livelihood for them as well as a varied range in our product category.
Vaaso was started by us three college friends, Anita, Leena and Surabhi, as we shared a common passion for traditional art-forms. Our fascination for conventional crafts in addition to a Post Graduate degree in Textiles from Mumbai University, inspired us to start a venture to explore the craft of hand block printing in a contemporary way. The name ‘Vaaso’ felt right for our venture because it means ‘cloth’ in Sanskrit and was apt for our product line. Till now we have dabbled in hand block print, ajrakh, dabu and blue pottery to name a few and wish to explore many other crafts in the future.
UPS AND DOWNS
Our journey was not always sunshine and rainbows and was filled with its share of despair and disappointment. Sometimes, after a few particularly dull exhibitions, we even had doubts about whether we were cut out for this or not. But ultimately we stuck by each other through thick and thin and over the years, exhibitions in a myriad of venues helped establish relationships and experience that gave us confidence to continue with renewed zeal.
- ARTISANAL PRODUCTS
Through 'Vaaso', we wish to promote many exceptional art-forms. This is what drives us to collaborate and work closely with local artisans to create a collection that showcases their skills to the maximum. Our products aim to not only be aesthetically appealing, but also functional and effective.
- WE LISTEN
We consider all critique as an inspiration to amend and create something new. We are open to inputs by our customers and our artisans to evolve ourselves. Although we have confidence in our ideas, we encourage our artisans, who are more experienced than us, to bring our ideas to life.
- OWNER DRIVEN
Vaaso is a self- funded, owner- driven venture. With a small team of women, we have had to balance our priorities as we all have families. We will forever be grateful for the support we have received over the years.
- SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
Since the beginning we have taken small steps towards sustainable practices. Using repurposed packaging, cloth bags, reduced plastic and making use of each part of the fabric to reduce our carbon footprint has always been a priority. In practice, we do not use leather and only use it if requested by our customers.