Pettah Market

Colours, shapes, fruit, clothing, pool toys, scissors, pencils, fabrics, needles, rambutans, wool, thread, roti, people, carts, tuk tuks, noise, chaos, horns, mosque …. lively, dynamic and wonderfully inspirational …. Ahhh we love pettah markets

This is the colourful and exotic appeal of Sri Lanka’s famous Pettah markets, nowhere we’ve experienced feels quite so alive with human activity, so large and filled with oddities, you can literally buy anything with seemingly no order to the chaos … except for our beloved 2nd cross street for wacky fabrics, quirky buttons and unbelievably cute prints – from flowers to spaceships to umbrellas to apples - which cemented the way forward for our print based label, KissinCussin.

Hope you enjoy these intoxicating images xx

Talalla Production

So we thought we’d bring you up to date with a little insert on our lovely Talalla ladies and how very proud of them we are.

To paint the picture, manufacturing as we do is unique and wonderful but also defies all odds in an already stressful industry … arriving in a village for each production period with no prior contact, having to source primary needs such as workforce, sewing machines, someone to make lunch packets … as well as secondary interruptions to the schedule like frequent power cuts without notice and village parties, then there’s tractor hire and the village politics that we have to stay on the right side of … the list can go on and, to say challenging is a massive understatement.

Needless to say at this stage in our growth there are moments, at the height of stress, where we may think “it would be so much easier to use an established factory” then some of these pressures would be their concern not ours … but the reason we don’t, and what makes KissinCussin’s ethical ventures intensely worthwhile, is to see the beaming happy faces of the Talalla ladies whenever we arrive, to know that we are providing them with a much needed income - which in turn provides them with security and increased confidence - and what seems to be a happy, thriving industry, growing right in the heart of this unassuming little village on Sri Lanka’s Southern point.

We are very proud of the Talalla ladies, in 3 years they have grasped an absolute understanding of what we are about, from our tight production methods and quality control checks fit to the western standards of manufacture and an integral understanding of our style guide … but moreover they are so very respectful of what KissinCussin has been able to provide for them, and so in turn they manufacture each and every piece with love, care and pride for you … just another reason that explains why KissinCussin is completely ‘made with love’

Here are some happy moments in and around Talalla where we work …

Kindred Sisters of Jodhpur

KissinCussin has often been cited for it’s creative use of colour and for this there’s nowhere more abundant for inspiration than India … it’s a treasure chest of intoxicating imagery and an exotic, natural sense of ‘cool’.

One morning we came across a group of women sitting by the side of a road, so enchanting, their vastly colourful saris and happy charming faces all blended into a delicious feast for the eyes. These ‘sisters’ had gathered together for no other reason than an early morning sing-a-long and to be together before continuing with their day. We were delighted when they invited us to join them - at first a little shy - before 3 claps of our hands we were beaming and singing out loud with our new Hindu ‘sisters’ … another treasured experience for us to take from Jodhpur.

We’re always captivated by the mystery, the desert, the colour of Jodhpur and as mentioned above an inherent sense of ‘cool’ that just oozes out of the people … here are some images to tie up our ‘Rajasthani’ stream of posts and to show you something more of what we love xx

"Blinky"

When we say that KissinCussin is ‘made with love’ it spreads through the whole tapestry of our label, hopefully our posts will begin to show you why. This post is focused around our adorable fabric supplier who we affectionately nickname “Blinky.”

Each year we make a pilgrimage to our Mecca in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. We worship this place because we get to spend a whole day locked with multitudes of fabric and prints to sort through for inspiration.

We also go to check on current fabric production and develop future ideas along with “Blinky” and his factory’s capabilities. He uses old-fashioned screen-printing processes, which are then touched up by hand. We love that we support these traditional methods and they further complete the domestic, hand-made appeal of our label.

We stumbled across “Blinky” during our first visit to India, on a fabric reccy in Jodhpur, and since then we’ve all held a deep affinity for each other. He decided to take a chance, to help two young girls with a lot of passion and vision, by allowing very small fabric runs. In many ways he made it possible for us to go forwards and to find an edge of unique identity through our prints. It’s always encouraging to see that “Blinky” believes in us in his proud grandfatherly way … after work and meetings he will always arrange a ‘family program,’ which can mean anything from a trek through the desert to camels or visiting an ancient palace to join in a private wedding party, who knows, it’s always a ‘surprising’… and of course each morning we join “Blinky” and his friends at their sports club for butter filled toast and sugar infused chai while he tells them proudly of our progress.

We always leave Jodhpur with a warm fuzzy glow, reasserting the sense of love that we feel and which pours through our label … our minds and souls are filled with ideas and inspiration for the next round of designing and our hearts are smiling because we have someone in another corner of the world who really believes in us ….

We love our visits to Jodhpur