The Ark

Sudha in the new edition of The Ark (click here)
7th Annual Sudha Sale For Bread & Roses And The Redwoods
Take advantage of the generosity of Tiburon philanthropist and internationally renowned designer, Sudha Pennathur, who annually offers her collection to benefit two worthy causes, Bread & Roses, a nonprofit that provides live music to isolated audiences, and The Redwoods, a local elder community. Sudha’s jewelry, scarves, holiday ornaments, decorative objects and one-of-a-kind gifts, normally sold at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, museum stores, and Sundance and National Geographic catalogs, are offered at 50 to 70 percent below retail. Stop by from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, November 6, and Sunday, November 7, 23 Throckmorton Avenue, Mill Valley. Info:www.pennathur.com

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Seventh Annual Sudha Sale to Benefit Bread & Roses and The Redwoods

Launching the Seventh Annual Sudha Sale this year has been a special labor of love. I am grateful to Harriet and Tom Kostic for donating their prime retail property in down town Mill Valley for the Sudha Sale this year. Amidst all the production we encountered the worst monsoons in 50 years and riots in Kashmir that brought the state to a total stop. Rivers overflowed under flood conditions and artisans had to flee their homes. We could not get goods out of the country for several weeks. Through the diligence of my staff and a lot of hard work by the artisans we were able to complete production for our customers and managed to stock the Sudha Store with precious merchandise. This has provided much needed employment to the displaced artisans.
People often ask me what percent of the proceeds goes to the non- profits. I am happy to say that for the last 7 years I have been able to donate a 100% of the sales shared equally between The Redwoods and Bread & Roses in the USA and the artisans in India. I will also personally bear much of the expenses of bringing the products to the US.

What I love best about this sale is I can personally help customers pick the right piece of jewelry or scarf and give them fashion advise on what looks good and how things are made. This is the only opportunity for me to interact with the final consumer since I sell directly only to high end retailers.
Once again I will be able to offer beautiful master crafted jewelry, scarves, Christmas ornaments and gifts for the holidays at 50 to 75% off retail. Prices range from many items at a dollar to some at several hundred!
The Sudha Store brings together my products from the world of the artisan to the supporters of these two wonderful Marin non profits! Seeing this pairing has created a compelling reason for me to carry on this tradition. It allows philanthropy and marketing philosophy to merge for a couple of weekends every year. In addition customers can get a sample of what is offered from my collection at such stores as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Museum stores and catalogs across the country.
This year TV personality of the famed “Bay Area Back Roads” and a good friend, Doug McConnell has graciously agreed to host the auction at the Sudha Sale. As always through their generous support, Peter Merts will capture the sale through his lens and Gary Morgret will transform a bare building to a beautiful and glamorous store!
I am grateful to the two executive directors Cassandra Flipper of Bread & Roses and Barbara Solomon of the Redwoods who tirelessly scouted for retail space and organized the volunteers to make the sale come alive. Also Jim Prigoff, Barr Hibbs, Ed Messerly and Craig Potter who put in their time to make this sale a success over the last 7 years, the Board of the two organizations (past and present) and the many volunteers who give their time joyfully to make this a roaring success! What started as a small sale at a home of a friend, the Wolfe’s, to benefit Bread & Roses seven years ago, has taken a life of its own.
In addition to the Sudha Store at 23 Throckmortin in Mill Valley for the weekends of November 6-7 and 13-14, we will also launch a web store with a few special items for our east coast and other friends who can’t make it to the store.

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2010 Neiman Marcus Collection Starting to Appear

The first of my 2010 Holiday collection is starting to appear at Neiman Marcus online, click here. This is the first of a series of four collections in gorgeous silky velvets and shimmering tissue embroidered by master craftsman of India.

We will keep you updated as each new collection is released online through this link to my website. We can’t, obviously, link to all our products online, but will do our best to point to the significant ones.

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National Geographic Fall 2010

Designs by Sudha has had the great honor of featuring our designs in The National Geographic Catalog. Many of you know National Geographic through their magazine, but their Mission aligns with one of our basic Missions, cultural preservation.
National Geographic has just released their Fall 2010 catalog and their amazing richness and taste is reflected here. In case you have missed it, you can view their catalog here.
Master printers in Jaipur created this skirt using an age old printing technique of “Khadi” in gold. “Ghagra” a staple in Indian women’s wardrobes was the inspiration for the skirt I did exclusively for National Geographic. Made with printed cotton in the tradition of homespun
fabric. Lightweight and flattering, the crinkle finish adds to the richness of the look.

Another National Geographic Exclusive, the Mughal Garnet Hoop Earrings are crafted from vibrant red garnets on a hand crafted silver hoop in the Mughal style. They were crafted in the northern Indian city of Jaipur, which remains an artistic center to this day.
Last that I’ll feature from this exciting catalog are the Jaipur Garnet Earrings. Known as balis, the earrings often combine a flat front surface with gems. We have crafted this offering for National Geographic using master jeweler’s techniques with a simpler shape that lets the faceted garnets sparkle against a gold-vermeil hoop.
To see all Sudha items from this catalog, click here.

We are finishing last minute prepartations for some special customer meetings in New York where we hope to bring more innovative and lush designs to all of you through our network of retailers. Supporting the cause of preserving hand craftsmenship has been an integral part of our mission for the past 25 years ago. We are proud of retailers for supporting our mission.
Following New York, we head to India where we continue to find the best artisans to create the most elaborate and intricate designs using time honored traditions. Thank you all for your support, I will follow up from India soon.

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Inspiration from the Bazaars of India

Tradition has been an important back drop in the way arts and crafts are viewed and practiced in India. This is because it forms the foundation for new art forms! Unlike the arts, crafts are things we use in everyday life.
All tools are essentially an extension of the hand in the craft movement. The tools help the artisan to finish an object with quality and perfection. Decorative elements are added and it becomes an object of beauty. Form and function merge!
In this series I want to explore the various crafts that are present in “Designs by Sudha”.

People often ask me how I get my ideas for new designs. The Indian “bazaar” is a formidable design play field. One discovers colors and patterns that are not
normally seen in the city life. Driving through rural India, there is this harmony between people, animals and nature. They all seem to co-exist without conflict. The inherent chaos provides rich fodder for design ideas.
The artisan was also the trader who plied his wares after making them in his village. With people like me in the midst, he is allowed to practice his craft with the designs given by me. I am then responsible to market his hand work and he is free to practice his craft without the challenges of the marketplace!

It is a fantastically exciting, rewarding, and sometimes a frustrating endeavor. We have an excellent staff in India and outstanding artisans – the true cream of the crop; so, obviously, our experience after 25+ years is very streamlined and reliable. Many of the functions are fully automated and runs seamlessly. Customers and competitors who try to work directly with India often revert back to us. We are able to succeed where others fail, because of our unique understanding of both the crafts and the families that do them. We also have a 24/7 presence in India.

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Amritsar and the Ista Hotel

On my last trip to India to work on Fall 2010 production, Ed, Craig and I took a few days off to visit Amritsar and see the famed Golden Temple, the Memorial at Jallianwala Bagh and the ceremony at the Wagah Border, which is the only open border between Pakistan & India. All three locales were special and incredible in their own way, and really made for a fascinating weekend journey.

While in Amritsar, we stayed at the Ista Hotel and the service was phenomenal. The rooms, service, and restaurant were first rate. Ista provided us with a car and driver at a reasonable rate for the 1st day, and the driver was courteous and very knowledgeable of the area. The hotel also offered a shuttle service, free of charge to the Golden Temple for the night ceremony. Unfortunately, we were late arriving back from the border ceremony to catch the shuttle, but the hotel sent us in one of their vans, when we were ready to go, at no charge anyway!

Then a minor tragedy occurred. We realized that my husband’s wallet was pick-pocketed in the huge crowd at the border. We had consolidated everything into his wallet and were left without cash or credit cards for the rest of the weekend! Luckily, our passports were in another pocket that was not pilfered, so we were not completely hapless.

Back at the hotel, we needed to check out but had no money to do so. The credit card we had used to check in with had been cancelled by Amex (due to the theft) so they were not able to run the charge on there. The staff quickly told us that it was no problem and that we could send the money once we returned back to Delhi, or when we had a chance! Unbelievable! They even gave us some money so we had some cash if we needed it for the rest of the trip.

They really handled what could have been a nightmare situation for us with great caring and understanding that made what could have been remembered as an awful weekend, an absolutely delightful one.

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Spring Sundance Back Cover

Hand-hammered and beautifully inlaid wtih Sterling Silver on wood, these bangles are featured on the back cover of the latest Sundance catalog. The artistry is reminiscent of gold inlay work that Maharanis wore in India. They are at once classic and contemporary.

See these in the Spring 2010 catalog, as well as many other designs by Sudha.

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2009 – Great! Somehow…

We have just come off of a fantastic holiday selling season. Sell through numbers from major retailers carrying our collection has been very encouraging. It was good news for us in an otherwise down economy. Our quality and design stood out in an otherwise ho-hum environment. Personalized products and value based pricing gave us an edge as well. Our best performers were our high end stores, which were out of many items well before Christmas!

2010 promises to be an even better year. Fresh ideas and new avenues will all help make this year fun and productive.

2009 – Great! Somehow… Read More »

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