Needlam Padte grew up surrounded by artisits in Mumbai, India. When she was young, she also developed an interest in history in traveling with her father on business trips to ancient Indian architectural sites. Naturally she developed a creative spirit and a keen interest arts, crafts, and things historic.
Padte earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Sophia Polytechnic, a school of Bombay University. After graduation, she freelanced illustrating children's publications for a few years. In 1984, she moved to the United States, where she volunteered her artistry to several non-profit organizations. She then worked as a computer graphic designer, learned programming, and worked for a large telecommunications corporation. For an emotional release from the digital world, Padte painted on glass, wood, fabric, metal, walls and canvas.
She discovered floorcloths in 1997 when searching for options for her own living room. She found that hand-painted canvas rugs—floorcloths—were a centuries-old European artform adopted in early America that allowed her to make functional artfor her floor. She began a business to sell work, Design Village, and later launched floorclth.net as an online store. These businesses have been her fulltime occupaton since 2001.
The deadline for applying to enter the 2022 Directory of Traditional American Crafts has passed. Applications are now in the hands of the jury, who will select the best artistry to include in the Directory. When the judges have completed their selections, we will individually notify each participant whether he had been selected. Please refrain from contacting us during the jurying process. It will only slow things down.
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BACKGROUND
