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ramya reddy

@ramyaredy

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visual storyteller. seeker. author:#soulofthenilgiris
building @coonoorandco @thenilgirisearthfestival

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𝗠𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗮𝗶, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 — 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻!

On the evening of June 12th, an eclectic gathering of art lovers, textile connoisseurs and culture patrons met with Toda artisans from remote Nilgiris and viewed their amazing artworks adorning the walls and spaces of Gallery 47A @47a.design

The two weeks that followed this heartwarming opening brought readings, embroidery demonstrations, workshops, and so many beautiful conversations — with collectors, friends, and those who came simply to look, and stayed for hours.The Mumbai audience acknowledged this event with deep sensitivity and discernment. We, at Coonoor & Co, and our extended Toda family, will take back wonderful memories that will stay with us for a very long time.

This exhibition would not have happened but for the amazing Srila Chatterjee @srilachatterjee who understands this unique artform with depth and nuance, and her Gallery 47 team-led by the wonderful Kāshyapi & Mitali.

Our deep gratitude to Nandita Das, @nanditadasofficial who joined us for the opening evening and generously gifted us her time, friendship and heartfelt recognition of our work.

Gratitude to the incredible team at Coonoor & Co, for holding this idea together from the first concept through preparation and during the three opening days of the event.

To our dear Toda friends and artisans: Seeta, Satya and Eanjal, who travelled all the way from the Nilgiris to be with us, demonstrating their craft and sharing their work directly with people encountering it for the first time, with gentle graciousness. This show belongs to you.

We take away a piece of this great city of Mumbai in our hearts and look forward with anticipation to where this journey takes us.

Warmly from the Nilgiris,
Ramya
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#todaembroidery #gallery47a #coonoorandco #textileexhibition #nilgirithreadsmumbai

[Toda embroidery, Nilgiris, Gallery 47 A, Nilgiri threads, coonoor & co, Indian textiles, Mumbai exhibition, textile heritage, Khotachi wadi] by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

To walk in the mountains is to surrender to the unknown. Guided by Ramya Reddy of Coonoor & Co.—photographer, chronicler, and custodian of stories from the Nilgiris, we set out to explore a landscape where van vaibhav, indigenous knowledge, and craft traditions continue to flourish.

“In the ancient shola forests of the Nilgiris, a low hum rings on the steep hillsides like a chorus of chants rising through the trees. The air vibrates with ancient lore, with seasonal cycles that reverberate with prayers to ancestors and the legends of bygones. Living, breathing entities made up of veins and blood, rhythms and histories, the mythical and the real. For the indigenous communities who have called this land home across millennia, the forest and their own life and soul are not separate things. They never have been.

Higher up, the mountains hold a different kind of unknown. A towering ancient presence that carries within it something that resists naming across every age. It is vast. A spiritual charge that arrives differently with every season, that deepens in the mist and sharpens on clear
winter days when the peaks stand stark against an impossible blue. You feel it rather than understand it. You learn, over time, to stop reaching for explanation and simply receive it.

This is what the Nilgiris asks of all who live within it. The monsoon arrives with a fierceness that cannot be timed or tamed, remaking the land in a matter of hours. The animals move through on paths and schedules entirely their own. The weather shifts without notice, and
the forests stir with presences you sense before you see. What the indigenous communities have always known, and what these mountains teach everyone who stays long enough, is that you do not overcome the unknown. You learn, slowly and with great humility, to harmonize with it. To let it make you more attentive, more patient, more alive to the rhythms of a world that was never yours to control.”

– Ramya Reddy
Founder, Coonoor & Co
Photography: @ramyaredy by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

To walk in the mountains is to surrender to the unknown.

Guided by Ramya Reddy of Coonoor & Co.—visual storyteller, entrepreneur, and custodian of stories from the Nilgiris—we set out to explore a landscape where Van Vaibhav, indigenous knowledge, and craft traditions continue to flourish.

“In the Nilgiris, the quality of light is its own language. Sought everywhere, found only here, at these mountain tops where it suffuses you with warmth and longing in the same breath. It lives in the many blues of this land. The bright, sharp blue of a winter morning. The blue that deepens with altitude. The blue that dissolves into mist over the shola forests before you have finished looking. It is the first thing you notice on arrival, and the thing you carry longest after leaving.

The mountains keep their own time. The gaur arrive at dusk on their own terms. The monsoon comes in sweeping and total, remaking the land in a matter of hours. The corner tea kadai has not changed in decades, and does not intend to. Here, the small certainties matter as much as the grand landscape, and both ask for the same thing: your full attention.

This is an ancient land, home to indigenous communities who have lived within its rhythms for millennia and understood, long before the rest of us, what it truly means to belong to a place. Their knowledge is not written down. It lives in practice, season, story, passed hand to
hand across generations.

To come home to the Nilgiris is to come home to a reflective, spiritual self that only these mountains seem to awaken. The light finds you first. The land does the rest.”

Ramya Reddy-
Founder, Coonoor & Co

Photo credits: @ramyaredy by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

STORIES AND THREADS
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Ramya Reddy’s book reading this weekend. It was a privilege to hear the stories behind Soul of the Nilgiris in the presence of Toda elders whose traditions and lived experiences have shaped this exhibition.

NILGIRI THREADS: THE ART OF THE TODA
Presented by Coonoor & Co.

13 to 28 June
Daily, except Mondays.
at 47-A, Khotachiwadi, Girgaum

#FYP #designgallery #mumbaigallery #khotachiwadi #Indianart
[Toda embroidery, Nilgiris, indigenous art, textile art, women artisans, handmade textiles, South India, artisan stories, cultural heritage, embroidery tradition, contemporary craft, Indian textiles, craft revival, textile exhibition, handcrafted, heritage craft, artisan collective, traditional knowledge, living traditions, master artisans, Toda communit taken in 47-A: Design Gallery by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

The doors open tomorrow. June 12th, 6–9 PM, Gallery 47-A, Khotachi Wadi, Mumbai. Join us for the preview.

We hope to see you there.

Illustration by @athulyapillai

#nilgirithreads #todaembroidery #coonoorandco #artofthetoda gallery47a taken in 47-A: Design Gallery by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

COME JOIN US
For Book Reading, Toda Embroidery Demonstration and Workshop
On June 13 and June 14.

Free and open to all.
RSVP via link in bio.
Materials will be provided.

NILGIRI THREADS: THE ART OF THE TODA
Presented by Coonoor & Co.

13 to 28 June
Daily, except Mondays.
ar 47-A, Khotachiwadi, Girgaum

#designgallery #mumbaigallery #khotachiwadi
#coonoorandco #toda by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

Our story found its way to The Hindu this Sunday. @sumanamukherjee wrote about the Toda women, their embroidery, and this long journey with a depth and sensitivity that we are truly grateful for. Thank you, Sumana ♥️. And thank you Rosella Stephen @rosella.stephen for making this possible.

Nilgiri Threads: The Art of the Toda opens June 12th at Gallery 47-A, Khotachi Wadi, Bombay and runs until June 28th. Full article and show details in bio.
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#nilgirithreads #todaembroidery #coonoorandco #soulofthenilgiris #gallery47a

[the Hindu, Toda embroidery, Nilgiris, soul of the Nilgiris, 47-A design, Indian textiles, Todas, textile tradition, mumbai exhibition] by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

UP NEXT

NILGIRI THREADS: THE ART OF THE TODA
Presented by Coonoor & Co.

13 to 28 June
Daily, except Mondays.
at 47-A, Khotachiwadi, Girgaum

#FYP #designgallery #mumbaigallery #khotachiwadi #Indianart
[Toda embroidery, Nilgiris, indigenous art, textile art, women artisans, handmade textiles, South India, artisan stories, cultural heritage, embroidery tradition, contemporary craft, Indian textiles, craft revival, textile exhibition, handcrafted, heritage craft, artisan collective, traditional knowledge, living traditions, master artisans, Toda community] by @ramyaredy

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4 months ago

Two weeks ago in Kochi, our ongoing work with Toda embroidery unfolded across the heritage spaces of @onezeroeight.stl — a long-standing partner, and one that allows this work to be placed with beauty and sensitivity.

Following the conversations at ABC Art Room @abc_artroom @kochibiennale, this exhibition brought together our evolving collection of art panels, documentation, and textile work that trace the journey of the Toda women artisans — from ancestral puthkuzhys and motif banks to newer material explorations. The panels on view carried layered histories of land, memory, geometry, and women’s labour, expressed through a living visual language.

Ramya Reddy spoke to the longer arc of the work — how her book, Soul of the Nilgiris, opened a way of listening, and how story, material, and design continue to inform one another through Coonoor & Co. Senior Toda artists Seeta and Pudhumalli led a demonstration and dialogue, speaking directly about their practice and presenting select works. The exchange that followed was thoughtful and unhurried, reinforcing the importance of artists speaking for themselves, and of audiences meeting the work with attention.

Alongside the exhibition, we shared ongoing experiments in khadi and Nilgiri-inspired floral block prints drawn from the Toda landscape — work still in progress, shown as part of a larger inquiry into material and place.

A wide selection of our core offerings, developed through long-term collaboration with the Toda artisans from the Nilgiris, is available at @onezeroeight.stl in Fort Kochi.

Our thanks to Ramesh, Alpi and Geethika at 108, Save the Loom @savetheloom_org, ABC Art Room Workshop, @blaisejoseph76 and to the Kochi Biennale Foundation for creating the conditions for this work to be shown, discussed, and engaged with deeply and with openness.

#todaembroidery #108kochi #kochibiennale #textilesofindia #savetheloom #soulofthenilgiris taken in One Zero Eight by Save The Loom by @ramyaredy

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9 months ago

Glimpses from yesterday's workshop, 'Stitches of Belonging: The Toda Embroidery Story', led by Ramya Reddy, at ABC Art Room, Bastion Bungalow, Fort Kochi.

About the artist:
Ramya Reddy is a visual storyteller, photographer, and entrepreneur whose work is rooted in narrative, place, and community. Her book, Soul of the Nilgiris: A Journey through the Mountains, emerged from nearly a decade of immersion in the landscapes and indigenous cultures of the Nilgiris, one of India’s most fragile biospheres. Each copy of the book features a hand-embroidered spine created by Toda women artisans, reflecting her long-standing collaboration with the community. Through Coonoor&Co, Ramya continues to work closely with indigenous makers, blending storytelling, design, and ethical practice to carry traditional knowledge into contemporary contexts.

#KochiMuzirisBiennale #KochiBiennaleFoundation #ForTheTimeBeing #NikhilChopra #KMB2025 taken in Bastion Bungalow, Department of Archaeology. by @ramyaredy

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9 months ago

Stitches of Belonging: The Toda Embroidery Story
Conversations and Q&A
Facilitated by Ramya Reddy

Rooted in Ramya Reddy’s Soul of the Nilgiris — a decade-long book shaped by walking, listening, and learning from indigenous mountain communities — this session looks at the Nilgiris as an interwoven world shaped by its ecologies, its people, and its older ways of knowing. Among the many narratives held in this landscape is the visual language of the Toda community, whose embroidery carries a deep sense of place and memory.

The conversation moves between the book’s wider narrative and the textile practice that grew from it, reflecting on how land, story, and women’s labor shape an art form, and how contemporary interventions can extend its life without loosening its roots. It brings into view the slow, continuous thread between story and craft, and how each has informed the other over the years of working in the hills.

The session will also feature two senior Toda women artisans Seeta and Pudumalli, who will speak directly about their practice, their relationship to the work, and what it means to carry this knowledge forward today. Their presence grounds the conversation in lived experience and brings the narrative full circle—from listening to making to speaking. The Toda artisans will demonstrate their embroidery following the conversation.

📅 Date: 5th - 6th January 2026
⏰ Time:
•5th January - 4 PM - 6.30 PM
•6th January - 10.30 AM-12.30 PM

📍 Venues:
•5th January - ABC Art Room Bastion Bungalow, Fort Kochi, Kerala
•6th January - One Zero Eight, Save The Loom, Fort Kochi

Free entry — no registration fee required.

Who can apply:
Open to participants aged 15 years and above.

🔗 Apply via link in bio

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Save The Loom for their invaluable knowledge sharing and for enabling this meaningful collaboration with the artist.

#ABCArtRoom #ArtRoom #KochiMuzirisBiennale #KochiBiennaleFoundation by @ramyaredy

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10 months ago

𝗛𝘆𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 — 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 ♥️

Last Saturday at Saptaparni was an evening that came together around 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢 — where craft, conversation, and community found their place. Each time we carry this work into another city, it feels like stepping into uncharted ground. In Hyderabad, we encountered an audience whose openness, sensitivity, and discernment gave the Toda women — and us — a rare sense of connection.

This evening could not have found a more fitting setting than Saptaparni. @anuradhagunupati Anuradha’s sensitive understanding of craft, her patronage, and her steady support since the early days of our journey gave it the ground to take shape here. Thank you, Anu! The Saptaparni team — Shiva, Sunitha, and Ramu — stood by us throughout, from the long days of preparation to the details of the evening itself. We are thankful to Sanjana @sanjreddy and Mallika @mallikareddyg for their thoughtful support and warmth.

It unfolded as a night of exchanges, artisans sharing their work and conversations flowing with ease among those who gathered. We also presented much of our new work and pieces still in the making, and the way they were received was deeply encouraging. It reaffirmed why this journey matters: to keep bringing crafts like these into the present, where they can continue to grow, evolve, and endure.

Reel @bhargava_netha
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#theartofthetoda #coonoorandco #todaembroidery #handcraftedindia #slowmade #saptaparni #hyderabad taken in Saptaparni by @ramyaredy

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a year ago