As Indians art has always held a center-stage in our lives. Our daily routines and rituals place art at a high pedestal. Indian painting has a very long tradition and history in Indian art.
The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphs as found in places like Bhimbetka rock shelters, some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are approximately 30,000 years old. One of such art form is Mithila Paintings.
Madhubani painting/Mithila painting traditionally originated from Mithila region and Madhubani district of Bihar became the major export centre of these paintings, hence, it is popularly called Mithila painting or Madhubani painting.
This painting as a form of wall art was practiced widely throughout the region; the more recent development of painting on paper and canvas mainly originated among the villages around Madhubani, and it is these latter developments led to the name Madhubani art being used alongside the name “Mithila Painting.” One startup that has truly utilized the beauty of Mithila paintings is iMithila.
Founded in 2016 and based out of Noida, iMithila uses these paintings on papers, walls, clothes and different décor items. Most of the iMithila apparels are also hand woven by weavers of Mithilanchal belt.
In modern times these are popularly known as Madhubani Painting and Tussar Silk. iMithila has been largely recognized as the fastest growing brand in Madhubani Painting category. Most of the imithila apparels are also hand woven by weavers of Mithilanchal belt. In modern times these are popularly known as Madhubani Painting and Tussar Silk.
The startup was founded by Ruchi Jha and Renuka Kumari and was named iMithila Handicrafts and Handloom Private Ltd. Ruchi Jha is an Investment Banker by profession, she has an MBA degree in finance and has over 6 years of corporate experience in companies like HDFC Bank, TCS and Syntel.
Took the entrepreneurship plunge to take the art of her native place Mithila to the world. Renuka Kumari is a professor from Darbhanga. Darbhanga is the place where still the art form of Mithila is practised. Since she belongs to the native, she had good connections with artists and was fluent in the local language(Maithili) which made her right fit for the team.
iMithila team is a unique blend of woman folk artists spread in over twenty villages of Mithilanchal, dedicated team and industry focused new generation visionary entrepreneurs. Their team also includes a Business Advisor with more than 10 years of experience in setting up businesses, helping us in go to market strategy and product lines.
iMithila focuses on bringing smile to the faces of all internal and external stake holders touching lives from big metro towns to small villages. They aim to reach every office and household with their auspicious paintings continuing to grow in different forms spreading joy and delighting customers in every nook and corner of the world.
Today, they sell their products at over 20 countries. In a short span of time, imithila has been largely recognised as the fastest growing brand in Madhubani Painting category with an expanding international footprint.
Each of iMithila’s product is Hancrafted, Handpainted and is hence unique. Bringing these Handcrafted products with the Brand assurance and a highly motivated team, iMithila is committed to provide great shopping experience to their Customers.
They plan to expand their product portfolio of Handpainted Madhubani art to modern Western wear. That will expand the market segment they are currently targeting. They also plan to increase their exports thus increasing our geographical coverage.
This two-pronged strategy of expansion in both product and reach shall fuel our growth even faster and firmly establish iMithila as the market leader brand in Handpainted Indian Folk Artspace.
