Open Threads - An Introduction
I’m Maithili, a connector and storyteller based between India and France.
Over the years, I’ve worked with artisans, designers, and small brands, listening, documenting, and weaving together stories that hold traces of place, purpose, and people.
Open Threads is for anyone curious about the lives behind what we make and consume. It speaks to designers and creatives building thoughtful brands, as well as readers who care about the social and material worlds that shape our everyday lives.
Here, I write about craft, culture, climate and everything that connects them. Some pieces look at the systems that influence how we produce and consume, while others linger on the small gestures of daily life: the rhythm of a loom, the colours of a street market, the quiet act of repair.
My journey began with Buno Behen, a small label rooted in Indian savoir-faire and women’s hands. It evolved into Craft Connexion, a collective and consultancy that brings together artisans and designers across continents to co-create and reimagine living traditions. Behind every collaboration were deeper questions about value, time, loss and continuity, and this Substack became a space to explore them.
At its heart, Open Threads is about connection between people, materials and ideas. It is for those who want to understand not just how things are made, but what they mean for culture, for the planet and for the way we choose to live.
If these reflections resonate with you, if you are drawn to the stories that move quietly beneath the surface of things, welcome. Let’s weave this tapestry together, one story at a time.Why subscribe?
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