Our Team
Our Team
The Evangelists of Change
At Parvai, we believe change doesn’t require grand revolutions—it begins with small, intentional acts of care. A carefully woven thread. A conversation with a weaver. A choice made with awareness. Each of us here is simply a steward of this change, walking alongside artisans, patrons, and creative collaborators to build a more thoughtful and connected world of craft.
We are not a large team. But we are deeply aligned in our purpose. Each of us carries a different strength, a different lens—but we are united by one shared belief: that handmade matters, and that the people behind the making deserve to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
Effie Thomas – Courage
Effie Thomas
Founder • Visionary • Patron‑Evangelist
Effie’s journey began not in the weaving villages of India, but in the boardrooms of global corporations. After years of success in the corporate world, she began asking deeper questions:
What does it mean to give back?
To honour tradition in a world rushing toward convenience?
To rebuild a culture that values the handmade, the human, the honest?
These questions sparked the Dubai Saree Pact, an early grassroots movement encouraging patrons to wear and understand handloom saris. It evolved into the Ambassadors of Heritage and Crafts Foundation (AHC Foundation), focused on educating patrons about discerning heritage weaves from imitation.
Through these efforts Effie met India’s master weavers and loom activists, shaping her deeply personal philosophy of patronage, justice, and preservation.
From that space of awareness, Parvai was born—named after the Tamil word for “vision.” It is not just a name, but Effie’s unwavering clarity in action. Her courage to ask hard questions, demand authenticity, and stand with artisans when few others would—that is the vision Parvai lives by.
Effie brings a rare blend of intuition and strategy. She speaks the language of the patron—because she is one: deeply invested, emotionally connected, and always asking,
“If I were buying this sari, what would I want to know?”
Every collection begins with the same compass:
What does the patron deserve?
How can we show the truth and beauty behind each piece?
Effie is our seeker—she doesn’t stop until the story is right, the weaver fairly compensated, and every fabric carries deep meaning. Her courage is quiet but consistent, compassionate, and uncompromising.
Family & Shared Vision
Effie’s husband, Phinu Phillip, while a fuel‑oil trader in Dubai’s oil and gas sector, shares her passion for Indian art, vintage objects, and heritage preservation. Together, they curate a private collection of antique textiles, vintage automobiles, and artworks—and dream of building a private museum in India to showcase them .
As a family, they intentionally immerse their daughters in Indian culture—visiting heritage sites in India annually, preserving traditions at home, and nurturing classical Indian arts. Their shared belief is simple yet profound: preserving craft and culture is not an abstract ideal—it is lived daily, through what they collect, wear, and pass on .
Ane Thomas – Strength
Creative Lead, Artistic Vision, Production Anchor
If Effie is the soul of Parvai, Ane is its spine. A visual artist, researcher, and meticulous planner, Ane brings strength that is both gentle and formidable. She is the nurturer—the one who holds space for every artisan, every idea, and every challenge that inevitably comes with handcrafted work.
Her journey is rooted in a love for process. Ane believes that behind every beautiful sari is a hundred quiet acts of devotion—from the selection of yarns to the carving of a wooden block, from mixing natural dyes to finishing the final tassel. She immerses herself in each stage, learning from the artisans, guiding them with care, and never losing sight of excellence.
In an organisation like Parvai—small, intimate, and incredibly hands-on—Ane’s role spans across departments. She conceives design ideas, drafts detailed briefs for weavers and printers, coordinates the creation of blocks or adais, and personally follows through every project until its final form. Her studio is the crucible where concepts take shape and where heritage techniques are reinterpreted with contemporary aesthetics.
Every sari you see at Parvai has passed through her hands—often more than once. Her eye for detail is unrelenting. She notices a slight inconsistency in a border weave, a millimetre off in a block alignment, or an imbalance in colour tone. Her commitment to quality isn’t just about perfection—it’s about respect: for the artisan’s labour and for the patron’s trust.
Ane’s strength lies in her ability to hold complexity with grace. She listens deeply to both ends of the chain—what the artisan needs, and what the patron hopes for—and finds the bridge in between. In the pressure cooker of seasonal collections and bespoke orders, she remains grounded, quietly moving things forward with focus and humility.
Nikhil Kumaran – Moderation
Finance & Operations Head, Systems Thinker, Balance-Keeper
When Nikhil first encountered Parvai, he was sceptical. A Chartered Accountant with international experience, he looked at the numbers and asked the hard questions: Can this ever be sustainable? Is there a business model that can honour artisans without compromise and still survive?
But numbers are only part of the story. What Nikhil witnessed—at loom clusters, in artisan homes, in the hands of Effie and Ane—was something beyond spreadsheets. He saw meaning. He saw resilience. And he chose to be part of it.
Today, Nikhil anchors Parvai’s financial and operational backbone. He tracks procurement, manages payments to weavers, optimises timelines, and ensures that artisan wages and production cycles are fair and feasible. But more than that, he brings moderation—a calm, balanced voice that holds the creative ambitions of the team within a structure that makes long-term sense.
It’s rare to find finance professionals deeply involved in grassroots craft ecosystems. But Nikhil visits our weaving centres. He sits with artisans, listens to their concerns, audits not just accounts but conditions. This gives him a rare vantage point—he understands the cost of craft, not just in rupees, but in hours, in hands, in heritage.
His contribution is invisible to most patrons—but absolutely essential. He ensures we keep doing this work with integrity. He guards against burnout, impracticality, and financial fragility. His moderation is what allows Parvai’s idealism to flourish.
Together, We Weave with Intention
Ours is a tiny team, but every thread of Parvai carries our collective fingerprint. We don’t operate with volume—we operate with value. We are bound by a shared devotion to authenticity, a fierce love for handmade, and a commitment to co-creating a better future for craftspeople across India.
At Parvai, we believe that it takes more than artisans to keep crafts alive. It takes patrons who care. It takes team members who believe. It takes courage, strength, and moderation in equal measure.
We are not the heroes of this story—the weavers are. We are simply the messengers.
And we will keep telling their stories. One sari at a time.