Spanish rug designer Nani Marquina has announced the re-opening of a school in India’s ‘Carpet City,’ Bhadohi. The event was made possible through the sale of her Kala rug, which was designed by and for the students of the school.
When Marquina moved her production to Northern India nearly eight years ago, she partnered with Care & Fair, an organization that fights child labor within the carpet making industry in developing countries. She organized a competition in India’s schools for a new carpet design – and the colorful geometric petals of Kala (which means both ‘art’ and ‘morning’ in the Hindi language) won.
Contributing 150 Euros of each sale to the school fund, Marquina has raised enough to save the Amita Vidyalaya school from immediate closure through lack of funds – and future sales of Kala will help keep it running.
Last November, Marquina and her team visited the school where she and the Kala Project were honored. “It was a very emotional moment for me,” she said. “Until then the Kala Project had just been a dream, and at that point it started to become a reality".
