Seated on the grasslands in distant hamlets, normally underneath the shade of a big tree, the Toda ladies of the Nilgiris interact of their artwork — a particular, Geotagged black and crimson embroidery — singing full-throated songs that speak of damp grass, heat daylight, and mountain air. Deeply impressed by Nature, this intricate pukhoor (motif) embroidery meticulously follows the warp and weft of the bottom fabric, creating a shocking visible impact. Artisans rely threads purely by contact, gently stretching the material as they sew — a testomony to their extraordinary ability and instinct.
Ramya Reddy, writer of the e book Soul of the Nilgiris and founder of Coonoor& Co
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
On August 29, Aadhyam Handwoven, a social enterprise that helps craft and weaving clusters, and Coonoor & Co, showcase a curated line of Toda shawls, scarves, home textiles, and linen saris, handcrafted by artisans at an intimate gathering in Hyderabad. “We have a full range of stoles and shawls on luxury fabrics. We are also unveiling an expanded home collection — a range that includes new designs on cushions, lumbar pillows, runners, and throws in soft cotton,” says Ramya Reddy, writer of the e book Soul of the Nilgiris and founder of Coonoor& Co, a gradual life impressed journal and on-line retailer. Ramya can be in dialog with Anuradha Gunupati of Saptaparni and Dr Reddy’s Foundation, as she holds forth on the evolution of the beautiful geometry of Toda embroidery — it’s measured rhythms and lineage of arms.
The artisans are inspired to embroider their initials or names immediately into the items
| Photo Credit:
Ramya Reddy
The first look of the Khadi line, a work-in-progress developed particularly for Toda embroidery, and one other that includes block prints impressed by Nilgiris botanicals may even be showcased. “These prints, designed by our in-house designer, will appear across khadi and linen bases, and are envisioned to sit synergistically alongside the Toda work in future collections. We have been working with an indigenous community in West Bengal for our khadi and our block printers belong to an artisan community in Udaipur,” explains Ramya including that one other key element is artwork providing. This is a set of hand-embroidered wall artwork, created by means of shut collaboration between artisans and design staff, showcasing each basic motif-based items and extra summary, conceptual expressions of the embroidery. One of the compelling examples is the reinterpretation of the puthukuzhy, the ceremonial cloak, as textile art work.
The assortment as a complete displays a deeply collaborative course of, one which respects lineage whereas making house for experimentation, she explains. “Three of our Toda artisans will be travelling with us to share this journey and also demonstrate the work.”
Residing in distant settlements within the Nilgiris, an ecologically wealthy UNESCO Biosphere Reserve within the Western Ghats, the Toda group is an historical, pastoral, indigenous group. Here, amidst lush biodiversity, the Todas have maintained their cultural traditions over generations. With fewer than 1,700 Todas remaining and solely about 500 artisans actively practising, preserving this embroidery is crucial to sustaining their cultural identification.
The basis of The Toda Project, Ramya remembers, lies in a long-standing relationship with the Toda group, going again over a decade, in the course of the analysis for her e book, Soul of the Nilgiris. “When the book was published, I felt so strongly about the community’s imprint on the project that we embroidered each spine (2000 unique spines!) with a unique, hand-stitched Toda motif. That gesture of letting the book carry their thread deepened my connection. I became particularly close to an elder named Mutsin: a wise, forward-thinking woman with a quiet but visionary outlook. Before she passed, she nudged me to think about what more this embroidery could become,” she explains including that after Mutsin’s passing, her daughter-in-law Seeta picked up that thread — fairly actually — and started to actively pursue methods to evolve the craft. Along together with her sister Satya and artisan Anbu Lakshmi, they turned the primary collaborators. “They were curious, open to experimentation, and brought in a small group of seven women to begin our first round of work,” says Ramya, reflecting upon the genesis of the model.
Linen stole
| Photo Credit:
Ramya Reddy
What started with seven ladies has grown right into a collective of practically fifty artisans — many of whom now contemplate this their major supply of livelihood. “The nature of embroidery is like inheritance, an astonishing geometry that is so perfect. Done entirely by hand, with a humble needle and thread—anchored in touch, repetition, and a kind of inherited intuition that borders on ancestral muscle memory. Both sides of the cloth can be used or displayed, something quite rare among global embroidery traditions,” explains Ramya. She started a protracted course of of experimentation, testing numerous materials, consulting with weavers throughout the nation, and iterating on weave buildings that would accommodate the distinctive calls for of the embroidery. One of her early breakthroughs was with a cotton-merino wool mix, which supplied the proper construction and a delicate hand-feel. She launched the primary vary of shawls and stoles in 2023 and later expanded into home textiles and saris on these materials.
Senior artisan Anbulakshmi together with her wall panel
| Photo Credit:
Coonor and Co
“Each piece carries the imprint of place and memory. The Toda embroidery language is entirely rooted in the landscape, the mountain ranges, specific flowers of the Shola forests, butterflies, elements from sacred rituals, and even the clay lamps used in temple ceremonies. The motifs are passed down, but always interpreted anew. We now encourage artisans to embroider their initials or names directly into the pieces,” says Ramya and pauses to debate the challenges. As Toda ladies reside in distant, dispersed hamlets throughout the Nilgiris, some of which aren’t even accessible by automobile, it impacts each side of the work — from high quality management to course of design. To add to this, there are erratic cellphone and web connectivity, sudden climate occasions that block routes or delay journey, and the rhythms of group life. Weddings, funerals, and different massive gatherings usually draw total hamlets collectively, making it unimaginable to maintain a strict manufacturing calendar.
Home vary assortment consists of new designs on cushions, lumbar pillows, runners, and throws
| Photo Credit:
Ramya Reddy
“That’s also why the work is so meaningful. The embroidery continues to happen in situ — within the hamlets, surrounded by the Shola forests and the sacred mountains. The women work communally, sitting together under trees or on verandahs, and the work holds the spirit of that land: its light, its rhythms, its stories. The process is slow, layered, and deeply human,” she says, including, “The joy lies in watching the work take root in the way they live —not by imposing external timelines, but by finding a rhythm that allows the embroidery, and the women behind it, to truly thrive.”
The Art of the Toda is going on at Saptaparni, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad on August 29, 6pm. The exhibition stays on view until August 31. Visit coonoorandco.com
