About Us

Alimur village, Dibrugarh, Assam

Water hyacinth, woven into a livelihood

Asama began during the pandemic, when the weavers of Alimur had the skill and no market at all. It now runs as a working enterprise inside the village.

An Asama artisan in a pink mekhela weaving a basket frame at a wooden door in Alimur village
The Asama artisans of Alimur village standing together with the baskets they wove

Beginning

It started in the pandemic

The pandemic affected everyone, but the artisan community was worst hit because it lost all access to a market. Asama brought the weavers of Alimur contemporary designs, better raw materials, tools and a route to buyers.

Richika was born and brought up in the village and chose to build the business there rather than in a city. An industry that runs inside a village keeps the work local, and a village that has work does not have to send its people elsewhere.

Women of Alimur village dancing together in bright saris under areca palms

Growth

From training camps to a working unit

The weavers were skilled but needed training to reach the finish a retail market expects, so Asama ran a series of camps. The first drew few takers. As the early trainees improved and began earning, more of the village came forward.

Asama now employs ninety artisans, with separate teams for logistics, raw material preparation, accounts and finance, and digital marketing. 95 percent of the artisans and staff are women.

The name and the mark

Asama means unparalleled, and is drawn from the name of the state, Assam. The mark is a bird and a leaf set inside an incomplete circle: the bird for reach, the leaf for staying rooted to the land the fibre comes from. The circle is left open for the self doubt the artisans have worked past.

What the weaving has changed so far

Pulling hyacinth out pays local workers and lets light back into the water. Weaving it pays a village.

Artisans, 95 percent of them women
lakh kg
Water hyacinth pulled from Assam's water bodies
Large water bodies cleared this year
Village youth given steady work

Water hyacinth, bamboo, cane

The fibre comes from the village

Wicker is the process of weaving natural fibre. These are the three fibres Asama weaves.

Women of Alimur pulling water hyacinth out of a water body by hand

Water hyacinth

A weed pulled out of the water

A weed that spreads as a green canopy with purple flowers until it harms the biodiversity of the water below. Asama plucks it, dries the stem under the winter sun and stores it for the year. It grows in plenty within 5 km of the village, and five large water bodies were cleared this year.

  • Soft
  • Flexible
  • Braids easily
Lengths of bamboo slivered and laid side by side ready for weaving

Bamboo

Slivered thin, then woven

Bamboo grows in plenty in the village and the male artisans have been weaving it for a long time. It is slivered into thin strips and woven into lamps, kitchen baskets and other pieces for the living room.

  • Lighter than cane
  • Holds its shape
A bundle of cut cane stems in green and straw tones stacked upright

Cane

The structure inside

Cane is procured from the nearest village haat. Asama uses it as the support structure in some pieces, so a hyacinth basket holds its shape and stays sturdier.

  • Strong
  • Smooth

How a piece is made

From a water body within 5 km of the village to a finished basket.

How to care for what you buy

  1. Waste to treasure

    Every Asama product is made from natural fibre, primarily hyacinth, with bamboo or rattan worked in. Hyacinth is a beautiful aquatic plant but it is destructive to the flora and fauna of the water body, so removing it is a service to nature.

  2. Soul of fibre

    The hyacinth is plucked from the water bodies, dried, and processed at the Asama facility. The fibre is then ready to be woven.

  3. Weaving a dream

    Artisans are trained and re-trained and equipped with design and technical aid. They weave at their own pace, as their day allows, because creativity and art can never be forced.

    A part of the production takes place at a central facility in the village, where the tools and support materials are kept. The rest of the weaving is done by the artisans at home, allowing them to tend to their households while earning a living.

Take a piece of Alimur home

Every piece is handmade from natural fibre. Buying one pays a woman artisan for her work and takes another armful of hyacinth out of the water.

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