The Weft and the Warp
Mirnalini had a wire chair made to replicate the one in her family’s childhood photos on which she, her sister and each of her 6 cousins had posed individually as babies. This time she wanted her own baby to be seated on it for a picture, to continue the tradition. “I wanted a photograph of my baby on one of those round-backed, wire chairs, and so I had it made. When many people asked about it I decided to add it to our catalogue. Now we have more orders than we can fulfil!”
And before the chair? The bags. And before that? Mirnalini’s venture into business began unexpectedly. A science graduate, she checked all boxes to get on track to go abroad to do her Master’s in Biotech. She had even done a year and half in cancer research, and decided to give it up because all of a sudden, it didn’t feel right. She wanted to do something completely different. And so began a checkered journey.
Spectrum of Volunteering Work
Mirnalini signed up as a volunteer and then interned at NalandaWay Foundation, an organization that aims to empower children and adolescents through art. She worked in Tamil Nadu’s government school camps applying the arts curriculum (Achieve through Arts). She then decided to do her Fellowship with Teach for India in Mumbai. After working with government-run schools for a year, she moved on to work on the product side of Teach for India. “I learned how digital products are made and then reached the final products to private schools for low-income groups.”
Both the places taught her hands-on work at the grassroots level. And learnt an important lesson from Sriram V Ayer, CEO of NalandaWay Foundation. “Sriram never behaved like he was saving someone. He always looked to empower people, be it adults or children,” she remembers. Mirnalini and her husband moved back to Chennai to take care of family. A stint with Flinto taught her the inner workings of e-commerce. Mrinalini’s path was once again at crossroads. There still seemed something else that beckoned her, some place else she needed to be.
A year and a half at The Hindu working on digital marketing and subscription apps, brought new gleanings, working under leadership. Covid hit and she decided to move on. Swym, a firm that helps deliver personalized, data-driven experiences to engage shoppers, was her next stop. E commerce beckoned. She worked on apps that were used inside of Shopify – work which was as taxing as it was rewarding.
A New Weave from the Classic
Tragedy struck when Mrinalini lost her mother to cancer, and was floundering. But her mother’s memory and family support soon brought her strength and inspiration. Rather than stay in grief, she took up various activities to keep herself busy. Unaware that her regular customer, Mrinalini’s mom, was no more, Pushpakka came bearing colorful koodais to meet her. She was crestfallen when she heard the news. Mrinalini assured Pushpakka that she would help sell her wares. Beautifully woven and colorful, the wire koodais had been a fixture in their house as far back as Mrinalini could remember. She decided to create an Instagram page and see how much she could market the baskets online.
Mrinalini explains, “I had learnt a lot about e-commerce, and selling without a website. And began thinking of going beyond the wire koodai. I didn’t want it to be just koodai, but a kadai, because I wanted to offer different products. Like the chair.” A relic of the past, the chair frame with a woven wire seat and back, was a common feature in many childhood photographs. Most of these had faded into sepia prints, but now nostalgia was ready to receive them. She watched the power of social media, as friends and friends of friends and then their friends began to buy and place orders. “I saw a business idea and an opportunity to give back to the community, and soon registered ‘Wire Kadai’ as a for-profit company,” she says.
Mrinalini was clear that Pushpakka and people like her, should have a steady source of income that stemmed from their hard work and handiwork. She enthuses, “These bags were far superior to what was available in shops at that time. Pushpakka has had years of experience. For example, small details like using a ‘varambu’ at the rim of the baskets, makes sure they don’t come undone. Or in the tape koodai, a tape runs like a skeleton, over which the wire is knotted and is made into a sturdy koodai. I was confident – here is a beautiful koodai, multipurpose, and native to our land. That’s where our tag line, ‘Made in TN’ came from.”
Expanding the Koodai network
There soon came a point when Pushpakka couldn’t keep up with the orders Mrinalini was receiving. Giant-sized totes take days to complete – and those were special orders from people abroad who found it most useful to lug around groceries. Slowly, and serendipitously Wire Kadai’s team grew. “My initial goal was to sell 50 koodais in 2024. And I reached that by April! I realised I had to find more makers.” Mirnalini’s neighbor suggested Cheshire Homes, a nonprofit organization that houses adults with mental disabilities. “Some of the residents are incredibly talented, and it so happened that four of them also made bags. So I teamed up with them and showed them Pushpakka’s designs. They asked me to give their designs a try, and we’ve been working together since. There are 40 adults with disabilities in Cheshire Homes, and of them, four women who supply Wire Kadai are contributing to their eco system.”
More women started reaching out to Mrinalini. One of them shared some incredible designs. “But she didn’t have money to buy the wire. I promised to buy the wire and courier it to her and now she’s part of our team,” she reminisces. Recently this team member sent a heartwarming message of how now she’s able to pay her child’s school fees without having to depend on anyone else. Another team member who works as a school van attendant, earns extra money making koodais after school, thanks to her skilled hands. Mirnalini proudly shares, “Now we have a Koodai collective, comprising a group of women who are highly skilled yet have social restrictions. This is a creative outlet and brings in a steady income. In fact, every time you buy a koodai or any of the other products from Wire Kadai, you will find a little card with the maker’s name and a story about them, their background. We are so proud of our artisans and want to share their journey with our customers.”
Crafting the next weave
Wire Kadai is constantly coming up with different designs to stay updated. And a lot of inspiration comes from the artisans themselves, but Mirnalini guides them to YouTube and other sources where they can learn and compare notes too.
Based on research and customer feedback, Mirnalini and her team experiment and perfect various types of weaves with quaint names: nelli kaai, mallipoo, Sivan kannu among others. The range spans rainbow colored koodais to totes in solids, to cheerful zippered bags to cool sling bags – with or without zippers, lining, wooden handles… it takes all kinds to keep the market engaged and active.
Getting a Handle on the Market
Mirnalini says, “My goal for this year is clear: to scale, take on bulk orders on repeatable designs, be active on social media spotlighting my team and their work, and yes to launch the Wire Kadai website complete with catalogue and shopping cart. I also plan to be more discerning with the events I choose to display our products in”.
Wire Kadai has work cut out for the founder. She will be seen in exhibitions, reaching out to event managers, and extolling the virtues of the humble wire koodai and other wire products. It’s so South Indian, only Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh weave these designs. From baby boomers to Gen X and Gen Y, the koodai is tightly woven into our childhood memories. Wire Kadai is bringing it back. In style.
