It all starts with a piece of wood...
Block-printing, the age-old printing technique we use to create Beastly textiles, is a beautiful, labor-intensive, multi-stage process. It is the ultimate example of slow fashion. What does block-printing look like? Let’s start with the hand-carved wooden blocks.
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The Incredible Effort to Save the Jaguar
The Jaguar is the largest big cat native to North America and the third largest cat in the world. It has played an important role in North and South American religion, mythology, and art due to its beautiful spotted coat, ferocity, strength, and elusiveness. But being revered for millennia has not spared the jaguar from the effects of habitat loss, hunting, and conflicts with livestock. Northern jaguar numbers have dropped dramatically over the last 100 years. To ensure the survival of this extraordinary animal, the 55,000 acre Northern Jaguar Reserve was established in Sonora, Mexico in 2003 to provide a safe place for jaguars to roam, raise families, and hopefully, grow in population.
We asked Turtle Southern, Northern Jaguar Project (NJP) Coordinator, to tell us more about the northern jaguar, the NJP reserve, threats, and ways for us to help.
The People Behind Beastly
Simply put, Beastly Threads exists thanks to the extraordinary talent and effort of many people, several of whom live in Jaipur, India. A few years ago, I started working with Sonia Jain who helps brands like Beastly get their products developed by the amazing artisans in India. Along with being a wonderful person, Sonia's help in coordinating the block-printing and sewing of the latest Beastly sarongs was invaluable. And wow are those sarongs beautiful! I recently asked Sonia to give us a better sense of the block-printing community in India. Enjoy!