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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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Special Thanks

A special thanks goes to Stan Hoffman for believing in our cause and donating the prime corner real estate location for our store in the Corte Madera Town Center. Through their leadership and example, my dear friends, executive directors Cassandra Flipper of “Bread & Roses” and Barbara Solomon of “The Redwoods,” proved that any goal is possible when you believe in it and work hard enough. Thank you all for your love, support and generosity in making this annual Sudha Benefit sale a huge success.
Thanks to Peter Merts for the use of his pictures

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We had a spectacularly successful opening on Friday night with donors & volunteers contributing to the pre-opening event. The Benefit Store came alive with Gary’s magic touch. Jewelry was the center of attraction with large one-of-a-kind necklaces flying out of the door throughout the weekend. Wool and silk scarves were almost sold out, which is enabling me to bring in a fresh collection of jewelry & scarves for the coming weekend (Nov 14th and 15th).

Based on the overwhelming demand, we have added 4 bonus hours, 12 to 4 PM this Friday, November 13th!

Bring your friends and family and be part of this exciting event! Only 2 and a half days left!

Also, I want to take this time to thank all our volunteers for their hard work and dedication last week and through the weekend. The sale wouldn’t have been possible without you!

-photos by Peter Merts

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The holiday tradition continues…

As we approach this holiday season, we are gearing up for the 6th Annual Sudha Sale, to benefit Bread & Roses and The Redwoods on November 6-8 and again November 14-15 at The Corte Madera Town Center. Come join us for a special preview party Friday, November 6th from 5.30 pm to 8pm. Please mark your calendars for some early holiday shopping for friends and family.

What makes this year’s sale unique is that due to the challenging economic times I have made a concerted effort to bring extraordinary value in each product offering. Samples of collections carried in high end stores and museum shops are priced at wholesale or below! Many are from the private collection of The House of Pennathur and are on view for sale for the first time. Since most are one of a kind, come early to get the choice picks.

So many people are working to make this event possible. Gary Morgret will use his special visual talent to make the store beautiful for you. Some of you may remember that he volunteered to do the same thing, at The Embarcadero when I opened a similar benefit store for the Asian Art Museum in the early nineties. He has also now donated some fixtures and a cash register for the event! Barr Hibbs is working untiringly to move all these things to our store. Peter Merts, the acclaimed photographer will be on hand to photograph the evening.

Prices range from a few dollars to several hundred dollars for the one of a kind beautiful jewelry from Designs by Sudha. Silk and wool scarves are hand woven using indigenous hand looms with exquisite yarns. Jewelry once carried in the best museums and catalogs are for sale at a fraction of the price.

The best part of the sale is the personalized attention you will receive from the Board of Directors, staff and volunteers of these two fabulous organizations. When else can one hope to be waited on by such an illustrious group?

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Sudha Benefit Sale

I am gearing up for our 7th Annual Sudha Sale to benefit Bread & Roses, but this year the sale will also be for the benefit of The Redwoods. Please see the media release below:

Sudha Sale to Benefit Bread & Roses and The Redwoods, Sudha Pennathur, a celebrated international designer, brings us the Seventh Annual Sale to benefit Bread & Roses and The Redwoods. The store located at The Corte Madera Town Center will open for 2 weekends – November 7, & 8th and November 14th and 15th.
Sudha a long time friend of Bread & Roses is known for her original designs under the name of House of Pennathur, which she founded 24 years ago after a successful career at Levi Strauss & Co and other corporations.
Born in India she shocked the business community by trading in her six-figure salary to follow a dream to design and produce jewelry and scarves by reviving the arts of India.
Sudha has helped revive crafts, some of which were nearing extinction. Working with award winning artisans and hundreds of craftspeople in India, she uses materials available from nature and fabricates intricate jewelry, hand embroidered jeweled ornaments, or uniquely woven scarves, each a work of art and a keepsake that combines form and function.
Eco sensitive, her fabrics are often vegetable dyed, hand printed, and made with antique recycled materials to give it that unique flair. Her unique interpretation reflecting her distinct and rich cultural heritage enables her to adapt these pieces to the contemporary American woman.

She has employed thousands of artisans to produce her collections for prestigious stores, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, and museum stores such as The Smithsonian, The Art Institute of Chicago The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her creations can also be found in catalogs and online sites for National Geographic and Sundance and. Her collections give her a distinctive presence as she sells more than 1200 styles of jewelry, textiles, accessories and ornaments in some of America’s most famous retail institutions among others.

A rebel with a cause, Pennathur is committed to running a sustainable business, both with the use of artisans to revive crafts in her native India and in the community she lives. Sudha stepped forward seven years ago to help raise funds for Bread & Roses by opening a store for one weekend a year. This year another Marin nonprofit, The Redwoods, will also benefit from the sale. A labor of love, 100% of the proceeds are distributed to the non profits and the artisans who produced them.

The Corte Madera location will provide Marinites and friends from San Francisco & elsewhere around the Bay a chance to purchase these unique gifts, as seen in major museum shops and specialty stores around the country at prices at wholesale prices or below. You will be delighted in her treasures from exotic India.

The Benefit Sale has something for every budget starting from a $1 gift item to for a one of kind $800 necklace. Each piece, regardless of the cost, is a work of art…perfectly wrought……crafted by hand, to delight a connoisseur’s heart.
Sudha Pennathur, Bread & Roses, and The Redwoods are examples of how concerned private sector individuals are taking positive action to offset the ravages of a down economy.

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