Deepa Mathur Email & Phone Number

In 2002, I established an export company—Saarvantam Exports—which manufactures readymade clothes and handlooms made in traditional Rajathani design aesthetics. Through this work, I met female artisans from all over Rajasthan. Working with them exposed me to the harsh realities that they and their families experienced—financial struggles, subpar housing, and limited access to medical care and education for their children. At first, I helped these women on an informal basis. Eventually, this experience inspired me to establish my NGO, Quality of Life Improvement Society (QUALIS), in 2008. By creating the NGO, I hoped to provide more systematic assistance to female artisans. Currently, QUALIS has been tackling the problem of poverty among Rajasthani female artisans and their families by providing female artisans with free artisan and handicraft trainings, a wage, and other forms of social and educational support (medical care, legal aid, education for their children, etc.). Although QUALIS thrived during the early years of its operation, I realized that I could not keep its doors open by solely relying on donations. Thus, in 2016, I launched Studio Fair Trade, a sister organization of QUALIS and a social business that serves as the marketing initiative of QUALIS. Female artisans’ products, which include accessories such as purses, journals, scarves, and handicrafts, are marketed and sold in Studio Fair Trade. Studio Fair Trade’s profits fund QUALIS’s operational expenses such as those associated with the artisan trainings. Through Studio Fair Trade and QUALIS, the QUALIS team and I continue to empower female artisans in a sustainable way. Today, I stand proud to have grown QUALIS into an organization that is associated with over 2,000 female artisans and weavers in Rajasthan. QUALIS regularly collaborates with volunteers from all over the world. Messages are welcome. Check out my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/deepa.mathur.7?ref=br_rs