Divine Arts Company

Thank you to everyone who visited ARTISAN MADE, our annual exhibition celebrating traditional crafts from South Asia. Your support helps artists and artisans maintain their livelihoods and keep their cultural traditions strong.

We were grateful to welcome so many friends—long-term supporters and many new faces. Your enthusiasm made this year’s event a real success.

Thank you for showing up, spreading the word, and standing with the makers whose skills and stories continue through your interest and care.

Hosted by Divine Arts Company.

RaasLeela Textile

Designer: Hetal Shrivastav, graduate of the National Institute of Fashion Technology

RaasLeela began with one designer and a small group of women artisans — skilled in traditional stitching techniques, working with very limited resources. Together, they built a brand that has grown organically into an international presence.

Their formula:
Limitations = Opportunity.
With little money and no equipment, they relied on what they had in abundance — creativity, design vision, and extraordinary hand-stitching skills.

Resilient, authentic, ethical, and hardworking, they are tenacious and deeply supportive of one another. Playful yet serious about their purpose, they have built something remarkable and wonderful.

RaasLeela is committed to:
– Hand-stitching unbleached, undyed handloom cotton
– Upcycling waste from the fashion industry
– Maintaining a zero-waste studio
– Creating capsule collections not driven by fashion, but by art and intention

Each piece is 100% hand-stitched, thoughtfully made to tread lightly on the earth.

We proudly present a selection of their work — from buttonhole jewellery, handkerchiefs, samplers, and meterage to art garments, quilts, and books — all shaped by their story.

🪡 ARTISAN MADE 2025 – Divine Arts Company
📍 Richard Randall Art Studio, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
📅 12–17 November 2025

INDIGO
Plant-based and loved across cultures for centuries.
At Divine Arts Company, we focus on artisans and designers who choose natural dyes over chemical ones — and what’s not to love about a lively vat of fermenting indigo?
Many pieces in this year’s ARTISAN MADE Collection are naturally, deliciously blue — created by artisans from India and Bangladesh.

🪡 ARTISAN MADE 2025 – Divine Arts Company
📍 Richard Randall Art Studio, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
📅 12–17 November 2025

Acknowledging "Indigo - The Colour that Changed the World" by Catherine Legrand, a Thames and Hudson publication

L. Bala Subramani — Karumba Artist, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu

Meeting L. Bala Subramani, a Karumba tribal man, visual artist, and keeper of knowledge from the tiny village of Vellerikombai in the Nilgiri Hills, was heaven-sent. His art, religion, rituals, and culture are all intertwined and deeply connected to the natural environment surrounding his village and mountains.

The harvesting of honey is a vital activity for the community — still collected in the traditional way. The experience of it remains unforgettable, as does the fine lingering taste of the honey itself.

Bala paints in the traditional way, depicting rituals and daily life in the village and forests using natural colours made from plants, berries, resin, and soil. His artworks on canvas and handmade paper reach collectors in Europe and the United States.

The ancient rock paintings of his people, Eluthi Parai — sacred pictographs of stylised human forms — are messages from their ancestors. Their locations are carefully protected. A series of seven drawings he shared record the landscape and these ancient figures — a precious memory of this encounter.

🪡 ARTISAN MADE — Divine Art Company’s 2025 Collection
📍 Richard Randall Art Studio, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
📅 November 12–17, 2025

Hand-stitched and naturally dyed Kantha Quilts by MiAA artisans, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

I first met Mishael, the founder of MiAA, over ten years ago when he was working with CARE International, helping bring Living Blue and the indigo of northern Bangladesh to the world stage. Together they had a big impact and now, through his own brand MiAA, he continues that journey — working with artisans in northern Bangladesh to create kantha, shibori, and naturally dyed textiles in silk and cotton. His work bridges community, design, and sustainability.

A fine addition to Divine Art Company’s 2025 Collection — ARTISAN MADE.

📍 Richard Randall Art Studio, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
📅 November 12–17, 2025

GOOD TO GO!
Our Barefoot friends from artisans of Sri Lanka love being the centre of attention at ARTISAN MADE.

📍 Richard Randall Art Studio, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
📅 Wednesday, November 12 – Monday, November 17
🕤 Daily 9:30 am – 5:00 pm | Monday 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Shop for Christmas! Bring your friends! Make a day of it — and please feel free to forward this post to others.

The Richard Randall Gallery will be filled to overflowing with treasures — vintage, contemporary, and tribal textiles; hand-stitched, hand-spun, handwoven, embroidered, hand-painted, block-printed, and naturally dyed fabrics; clothing, accessories, quilts and covers, art, jewellery, homewares, toys, gifts, and collectables — all rich in story.

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Vintage Kanthas for sale at ARTISAN MADE
📍 Richard Randall Art Studio, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
📅 Wednesday, November 12 – Monday, November 17
🕤 Daily 9:30 am – 5:00 pm | Monday 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Shop for Christmas! Bring your friends! Make a day of it — and please feel free to forward this post to others.
The Richard Randall Gallery will be filled to overflowing with treasures — vintage, contemporary, and tribal textiles; hand-stitched, hand-spun, handwoven, embroidered, hand-painted, block-printed, and naturally dyed fabrics; clothing, accessories, quilts and covers, art, jewellery, homewares, toys, gifts, and collectables — all rich in story.

's2025collection