Karimabai is the eldest of 8 sisters. Karimabai grew up in Mankuva, where she lived on her grandparents’ farm and helped tend the cattle til 1999. Though she never attended school, she learned Gujarati from Patel neighbors and, once she moved to Sumrasar Jatwali, in Kala Raksha classes.

After the earthquake of 2001 destroyed the village, Karimabai learned embroidery from a relative and earned through Kala Raksha’s matching grant rehabilitation program. She learned one pattern on a spectacle case and taught herself the rest. Through Kala Raksha, Karimabai participated in the 2005 Sharad Utsav mela, and in 2006 participated in a design workshop conducted by Reena Panchal. During the course she participated in a workshop with Thai artisans in Delhi. Though she has never embroidered the traditional churi, she enjoys embroidery. “If we do good work, orders come and the embroidery will increase,” she says. That’s why she joined KRV.