Swallows is a co-operative of 60 women, many of them the wives of fisherman, who live in the slums of northern Chennai (Madras).  About 50% of members depend entirely on income from handcrafts to support themselves.

The co-operative has been managing its own affairs since 1978: the members describe themselves as being illiterate and belonging to poor families.

The society’s members elect a board and officers every three years, and these people run the business, and employ non-member office staff with skills in accounting, English and preparation of documents.

Women do batik, tailoring, and hand finishing.

The batik patterns are created by hand painting or block printing the designs in wax onto the material.  The material is then dyed to give the background colour, and then boiled to remove the wax, revealing the original colour of the background material.  The cracked effect can be gained by cracking the wax before the dyeing is done.

Production is often hindered by acute water shortages which have affected Chennai in the last three years.