TYNGKAI: Vianney Nongrum Is Weaving the Lost Patterns of Ri Bhoi's Sub-Tribes Back to Life

My name is Vianney Nongrum, and I run TYNGKAI — a handloom brand based in Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya. I have been doing this for eleven years.

I studied design, and when I finished, I knew I wanted to work with something natural, something eco-friendly. Eri silk was the answer. Everything about it — the fibre, the process, the product — is rooted in the land of Meghalaya. It became my calling.

We weave eri silk products: the Ryndia jainsem, stoles, and traditional garments. A jainsem takes around a month to complete, depending on the design and the availability of raw material. A shawl takes about a week. Each piece is made to order — we customise colour, design, and pattern according to what the client needs.

We have our own artisans who do their own spinning. For jainsem fabric specifically, we source yarn from Assam — and that is also our biggest challenge. The cocoon is available in Meghalaya, but we cannot spin it here; it has to go to Assam for processing. That adds time and uncertainty to every production cycle.

The other challenge is awareness. People see a handloom jainsem and ask why it costs what it costs. They do not always understand what goes into it — the months of work, the skill, the rarity of the material. That gap in understanding is something we work to close, one client at a time.

But what drives me most deeply is something else: Ri Bhoi has multiple sub-tribes, and each of them has its own patterns, its own visual language. Many of those patterns are at risk of being forgotten. At TYNGKAI, we are actively trying to revive them — weaving the motifs of sub-tribes that the world has largely overlooked. Our culture and our environment are inseparable. The next generation deserves to inherit both.