OUR STORY
Throughout our history, we have had a passion for fabrics and a dedicated commitment to craft.
BIHAR TEXTILES IS BORN
Bihar Textiles opened for business at Bhagalpur. The partners were - Satyendra Narayan, Binay Narayan, Mahendra Narayan, Jatindra Nararyan, Nand Kishore Agarwal and Jai Kishore Agarwal. The capital was invested equally by all the partners. In its early days the members of the Firm held their meetings at the Gaddi in our house, a couple of times a week.
WEAVING UNIT STARTS
At the outset, the Firm set up a unit with 25 Handlooms. They also setup a washing unit consisting of basic tubs (called Hauda's) for boiling and cleaning the impurities with soda & soap and a finishing unit where the fabrics were beaten with heavy wooden hammers (called Kundi's) which were used to set the weave properly & provide a sheen.
PAN INDIA DISTRIBUTION
Bihar Textiles started distributing these woven fabrics all over India to domestic customers like the Harilela's, Nanin Ram and Burlington's of Bombay, and B. Roy & Banku Lala from Calcutta. The partners used to leave for places like Varanasi or Patna, in the morning on the train, conduct meetings & business on the train, or at the station, and return on the same day by the same train.
THE SECOND GENERATION
The second generation of the original partners' join the firm. The new entrants to the business were Satyendra's son Himanshu Shekhar Agarwal, Jatindra's sons Pramod and Pradeep and Binay's son Vivek. After a few years with aging partners and multiple viewpoints the business starts to slow.
NEW BEGINNINGS
In a bid to re-invigorate the business the partners agree to restructure the Firm. The company was dissolved and a section was reorganized under Himanshu's sole ownership as SS Silk. A section of the house at Satyendra Bhawan at Naya Bazar, Bhagalpur is set aside to be the new office for the firm.
THE THIRD GENERATION
Himanshu's son Chirantan Garg enters the business. Chirantan is introduced to Sanyukta Jhunjhunwala, by his cousin who were classmates at a computer course.They are later married at Bhagalpur. Thereafter, Sanyukta joins the organisation as well.
PURE SILK STOLE
The Firm develops a pure silk stole for Issey Miyake. The stole is expensive to make. The pure silk stole craze catches on and soon the firm is supplying these stoles all over the fashion world in India and abroad.
TO DELHI
Chirantan & Sanyukta moved to Delhi in order to establish a sales office and the company was renamed Chandra Silks. It was a struggle to begin with but over a period of time they started producing fabrics for some of India's leading retail brands. The office in Bhagalpur continues to function from the house.
COTTON WEAVING
The Firm commences its association with cotton. The knowledge that India's biggest retail brand is looking for a cotton manufacturer, prompts the firm to start making cotton fabrics from Andhra Pradesh.
DESIGN STUDIO
The Firm established a design studio and Sanyukta begins to incorporate ideas and design direction from alumni of India's leading design schools.
BHAGALPUR RESOURCE CENTRE
Start renovations at the house, to make it the hub of our activities. A space was envisioned to study textiles in our archive. Designers and researchers can visit, live at the residence itself and create on the looms nearby. This initial idea further developed into The House Of Chandra Silk.
NOIDA EXPANSION
The Delhi Office is shifted to the current site in Noida in order to incorporate more space for the display of our ever growing design range and textile library, a larger working area for the design studio, an increased capacity for storage of stock and improved quality assurance methodology.