⎯⎯   Our Artisans   ⎯⎯

The hands behind the card.

No one person builds a Vonderly card. Each artisan specializes in a quilling technique, and several work together on every card before it leaves our Jaffna studio.

The craft

Specialists in technique.

Our artisans specialize in quilling techniques rather than in any one picture. One is exceptional at placing fine lines. Another is fast and even at filling a shape with paper. Another runs chains and scrollwork that hold a design together. The skill lives in the method, and the method carries across every flower, bird and border we make.

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Technique

Line placement

Setting fine quilled lines straight, evenly spaced and true to the design. The control here decides whether a card reads as precise or loose.

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Technique

Filling

Packing a shape with coils and scrolls at an even density, so color sits flat and consistent with no gaps and no crowding.

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Technique

Chains and scrollwork

Running the linked scrolls, vines and borders that frame a design. Consistent rhythm across a long run is what makes scrollwork look effortless.

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Technique

Coiling and shaping

Forming the base coils and shaping them into petals, teardrops and curves. Every other technique builds on the quality of these shapes.

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Technique

Combing and husking

Complex shapes: loops formed on a comb, leaves and petals husked over pins on a board, fringed flowers, and strips run through a crimper.

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Technique

Assembly and finishing

Bringing the separate quilled pieces together on the card, then a last pass over color, edges and depth. The final hands before a card goes to inspection.

An artisan is not locked to one technique. Most are strong across several, and the mix on any card depends on its design. What stays constant is the model: two to three artisans collaborate on every card, so no single person builds one alone. You can see the full sequence in how a card is made.

The team

The women who build them.

These are the artisans whose hands are on your card. We work as a studio, not a line, and the techniques each person is strongest in are listed beside her.

Nishanthy T.

With Vonderly since 2024

Line placement
Assembly and finishing

Priyanka K.

With Vonderly since 2024

Line placement
Assembly and finishing

Sharmila S.

With Vonderly since 2024

Line placement
Assembly and finishing

Nishanthy T.

With Vonderly since 2024

Line placement
Assembly and finishing

Nishanthy T.

With Vonderly since 2024

Line placement
Assembly and finishing

Nishanthy T.

With Vonderly since 2024

Line placement
Assembly and finishing
Vonderly's women-led team of specialist quilling artisans at their workspace in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

The Studio

Built by women artisans in Jaffna.

Our studio sits on the northern tip of Sri Lanka, and the team is made up of women artisans. This is steady, skilled work, with a craft that takes months to learn and years to master.

We train within the studio. A new artisan starts on one technique, learns it properly, and grows from there. Specialization is what makes that training realistic. It is far easier to bring someone to mastery on one method than on all of them at once.

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Skilled, steady work

A craft that takes months to learn and years to master.

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Trained in house

New artisans start on a single technique and grow into the studio standard.

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A team, not a line

Two to three specialists collaborate on every card, depending on its design.

The work, in numbers

Time and hands are the whole point.

A printed card takes seconds. A Vonderly card takes a studio. These are the figures behind a single 5 by 5 inch piece.

2-3

specialist artisans collaborate on every card

~120 mins

minutes of hand work per card, on average

90%+

of each design is built by hand, in quilled paper

All women

artisan team

Made to be felt

See what the studio has built, or talk to us
about stocking Vonderly in your shop.