When we think about the word “sustainability” today, we generally understand it connoted to mean something ecologically friendly. However often forgotten is the social aspect that comes with the principles of sustainability. Sudha’s designs not only embody this ecologically aware notion of the word but also reach one step further into the realm of social sustainability. Each of her designs is carefully hand crafted by artisans in India. Sudha works directly with these master craftsmen to take the crafts that have been passed down in their family for generations and adapt them to creating works of art for American consumers.
Thus when an American woman steps into Bergdorf Goodman to purchase one of Sudha’s exquisitely hand embroidered zardozzi tree skirts, an ornament from Saks Fifth Avenue or an Indigo dyed, hand block printed duvet cover from The National Geographic catalog, she not only purchases a work of art, but she is recognizing that these items have been especially and uniquely crafted by some artisan and that by purchasing it she is helping support them and their families. House of Pennathur forges these global connections by delving into markets that would otherwise remain untapped in an increasingly technological world. Rather than distancing the consumer from the production process of her works, Sudha strives to imbue each work with the meaning, feeling, and warmth of human connection.