Night Prowler!

Once upon a time in India... oh wait! nowadays we don't scare-off children with tiger stories. We have reinvented the tiger into the friendly prowler, protector of the nights, playmate for the day. At least that is what Tulasi feels about her hugsy buddy. The child in you would want one too. 

These pillow tigers are handcrafted by a self-help women's organization in Cochin. They use applique embroidery and hand-loomed cotton fabric in two colours to highlight the tiger strips.
These kutti pillow tigers are available at the Viakerala store, Thekkady and also at the Cochin Studio outlet. 

The Wild Side.

The Western ghats, one of the worlds richest hotspots for biodiversity, need a wee bit more awareness amongst people. Nilgiri and Anaimalai Hills, the end stretch of Western ghats separates Kerala from Tamil Nadu, giving Kerala its liberal rainfall. These highlands are host to a number of Wildlife Sanctuaries, Jungle Reserves, conserving many endangered and endemic species. 

A modest gesture to familiarize you with the Western ghat wildlife, we hand rendered in pencil colour illustrations, the standard set of 52 playing cards. They are divided in four suits of Mammals, Birds, Invertebrates and Amphibians. The most spectacular of the species being awarded the highest value cards and so forth. Each card carries the name of the species in English and the native Malayalam.

Grab a pack of custom illustrated playing cards at:
viaKerala Thekkady store, 
viaKerala Cochin store,
also available at Ananmalai Nature Information Centre, ANIC
and Last Forest, Kotagiri.

The jungle giants

The giants of Periyar, their life and ways is brought to life with more design in playful colours, few words and more talk. In a wall hung poster, which also could be pulled out into 6 separate posters, we talk about human idiosyncrasies paralleled in traits of a tiger and an elephant. 
Read out to know which is your favourite, the lazy wildcat or the intelligent ele.

Wild 5 FIve - the heroes of Periyar

It goes without saying that the location inspired the ‘Wild 5 Five’ range of awareness accessories. Featuring 5 iconic endemic species, diverse in their appearance and behaviour, Wild 5 Five is designed to raise awareness of the Periyar forest and its precious inhabitants. If you are in Thekkady, take some time out to get familiar with the Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Nilgiri Tahr, Lion tailed Macaque & the state bird of Kerala, the Great Indian Pied Hornbil.

Wild 5 Five - the champions of Periyar!

Photographs & text by Leyla Temiz

official, officially, finally

After so much planning and test runs, the Viakerala shop finally opens on Feb 5, 2012.  Yes the Kerala villaku made an appearance to honor the moment. (gave the designers some time to contemplate a new interpretation for the traditional lamp!)

Photography by Milo Inman

Deputy director Sanjayan Kumar, from Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary and Dr. Veeramani (who has been kind enough to be our research hotline for Wild5Five) joined us for a hot cuppa and some kappa! What started as an evening of dialogue has incredible possibility for knowledge exchange and a larger awareness model.