Three Homelands, One Handmade Story: Brazil, India, and Israel

Every CHAÏA piece comes from somewhere. That has been true since we began, and it is truer now than ever. Today our collection is built around three places: Brazil, India, and Israel. Each one has its own craft, its own colors, and its own way of making things by hand. Together, they tell one story.

Brazil: Crochet From the Coast

Our hand-crocheted resort wear is made by artisans in coastal villages in Brazil. Every dress, top, and pair of shorts is made stitch by stitch, with an open texture that is made for warm weather. The pieces carry the names of places: Ipanema, Trancoso, Bahia.

You can meet the collection in the Brazil Collection, and read more in From Brazil to Your Wardrobe and Behind the Stitch.

India: Beadwork by Hand

Our beaded bags are made in India using Adda embroidery, a traditional technique in which beads are worked onto fabric one at a time. It is slow, precise work, and the result is a surface with a depth and richness that cannot be printed.

To learn about the craft, read What Is Adda Embroidery? and The Art of Adda Embroidery. To browse the bags, visit the beaded bag collection.

Israel: Symbols Worn Close

The newest chapter is our Holy Land Collection: ten handmade necklaces with chai and hamsa pendants, named for cities and seas of the Holy Land. These are small, personal pieces made to be worn close, and they carry symbols that people have worn for generations.

You can read about the symbols in Chai and Hamsa: What These Two Symbols Mean and meet all ten in Introducing the Holy Land Collection. To browse them, visit the Holy Land Collection.

What the Three Have in Common

The places are different, and so are the crafts. But three things stay the same:

• Everything is made by hand. Crocheted, beaded, or strung, there is a person behind every piece.
• Everything is made slowly. We would rather make fewer pieces well than many pieces quickly.
• Everything carries the warmth of the place it comes from. That is not a slogan for us; it is how we choose what to make.

Why It Matters

We believe fashion should honor the hands that make it. That means naming the places the work comes from, and telling the stories of the crafts behind it. It also means making things that are worth keeping, which is the most sustainable thing we know how to do. We wrote about that in What Slow Fashion Really Means to Us.

Where to Start

If you are new to CHAÏA, start with the thing that speaks to you most: a crocheted dress, a beaded bag, or a necklace you will wear every day. If you already know us, we hope this gives you a little more of the story behind what you are wearing.

Thank you for being part of it.