Our Story

I am so glad you have landed on Natyamama website and are curious about my journey to start Natyamama. My name is Srija, I am a Bharatanatyam dancer who was born and raised in Beijing, China but have been living in the US for the past 20 years. I graduated in 2010 with a degree in graphic and web design, and was working as an UX designer for the past 10 years until I was laid off and burnt out from my last job at a start up.

Haven gone to India many many times to train Bharatanatyam in the heart of Chennai, I fell in love with the culture and Indian clothing. When given a chance, I would opt to wear Indian wear versus western attire. It has been a fantasy for me to get into the textile business and I had finally gathered the courage to start my own business after working in IT for just less than a decade.

My goal is to find a way to produce sustainable fashion that’s eco-friendly and at the same time promotes India’s unique cultural heritage and handicrafts. I source all my fabrics directly from artisans and produce these clothing in our small factory in Rajasthan where we provide people from poor villages employment opportunities. There is NO SWEAT SHOP labor as we believe in treating our employees with equality and respect no matter their social statuses.

 

Natya means “the theatrical dance art of India originating in the temple and still devoted largely to the enactment of divine epics and embracing an elaborate system of body postures, hand gestures, and foot movements”, it denotes my passion for dance, and mama is an universal word that its meaning cannot be missed. My goal is to share my love for Indian textile to the entire world and I can’t wait to see your little ones happily wearing Natyamama designs that’s kind to our mother earth!