There are 18 million deaf people who live in India so Smitri decided to do something about it.
Coming from a family where hearing impairment affected her older siblings, Smitri became fluent in sign language and was the youngest news anchor for the deaf community. At the age of 23, she began Atulyakala, a company that celebrates creativity and talent in that community, after talking with a deaf artist, Amit, from New Delhi. Amit loved the art history of the city and was distressed at the lack of opportunities for those with hearing loss and impairment so he asked Smitri to do something about it. Atulyakala now makes clothes and fashion, working with artists to create jackets, dresses, shirts and tops.
Incidentally, one of the people who works with the label is David Swift, a British artist who lives in Italy. The art collection at the Gospel Hall in Greymouth has two of his watercolours (shown below). This is his witty and slightly surreal design for Atulyakala.
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