About four months ago, I travelled through northern India, hearing stories of nomadic tribes or regions specializing in a certain craft. There were the gypsies, skilled in silver work, the block printers of Jaipur, and many others. These skilled craftsman are quickly being overrun by major corporations and manufacturers. Either robbing their trades by flooding the market with cheaply made mass materials, or stealing these skilled craftsman's labor for a next to nothing price.

Amba, located on S Hwy 101, seeks to protect, display, and continue the age-old traditions of these skilled artisans and crafts people. The gallery exemplifies the elegant but simple items made by labor-intensive practices and techniques. The owner, Nirmala Jagannath, is dedicated to offering a shared experience to shoppers. Explaining in detail how each piece is made, she connects the woman maker to the woman buyer, creating a mutual understanding and bond between two women. Once purchased, the proceeds go back to these makers, funding their traditions and century old crafts.

Nirmala helps these craftspeople fuse their traditional ways of making with modern day aesthetic and luxury, creating unique items for the modern day western woman. Old sari's are transformed into reversible jackets, the Indian women fuse disparate patterns together, creating one of a kind jackets that are the softest you will ever feel. All hand sewn, Amba takes pride in these unique items of display and luxury. Like a phoenix, Nirmala orchestrates transformation; from the ashes comes reborn items filled with the vibrance, passion, and traditions of old India.

Amba is truly a wonderful store. The items that are available for purchase from the gallery are all rare, one of a kind pieces that cannot be found without the eye of the curator, who does a phenomenal job of finding the pieces. Amba has textiles, artwork, clothes, jewelry and objects d'art that are all from India, from craftspeople who work in small villages. Amba has antique pieces as well as modern crafts. The only drawback is the store is not open all the time to the public because many of the patrons have formed special relationship with the curator and owner.‎