Moala Longchar blends traditional Naga craftmanship with contemporary storytelling
The contemporary textile and craft brand Kintem, from Nagaland, grew out of the Wapangla Weaving Unit, an initiative by founder and creative head Moala Longchar’s mother in the 1990s. Though Moala grew up around textiles, she didn’t initially plan to pursue the craft. However, while working as a PR consultant in Delhi, she began assisting her mother with social media, marketing, and trade fairs. This experience sparked her appreciation for textiles, while her background in public relations ultimately shaped Kintem’s storytelling, design, and brand identity.
Kintem means ‘communities’ in the Ao Naga dialect. How is that reflected in the brand’s designs?
For us, Kintem is about communities in every sense. We work with artisans from different Naga communities, draw inspiration from the diverse design languages of our communities, and always acknowledge the cultural context of a textile before reinterpreting it. We aspire to take what our communities create to communities beyond our own. In doing so, we hope to build a community of our own, one we call Kintem Kin.
How does your minimalist colour palette reframe traditional Naga motifs for a contemporary audience?
Traditional Naga textiles are visually powerful because of their geometry. We realised that reducing the colour intensity allows the motifs themselves to become the focus, and moving away from the dominant traditional colour palette of blue, red, white, and black could also be a refreshing change.
Patterns like the Züngijang (cucumber seed motif) possess remarkable graphic qualities that are contemporary when presented in subtle tones.
Why does Kintem continue to use natural cotton and Eri silk over synthetic fibres?
As of now, we don’t make apparel, so silhouettes are not part of our design language. Our mekhalas, shawls, throws, and other textiles are woven as whole cloths, with our focus instead on the material, texture, designs, and colourways. Cotton offers breathability, structure and year-round comfort, while Eri silk provides a soft matte texture, natural drape, and excellent thermal properties.
If Kintem’s debut collections were about grounding the brand in community and heritage, where do the new edits, The Sü Archive and FORME ’26, position Kintem?
The Sü Archive is an ongoing initiative dedicated to the research, documentation, preservation, and continuity of historically significant Naga heirloom textiles. While we reinterpret certain textile traditions through contemporary design, some ceremonial heirloom pieces remain intentionally untouched because we believe they belong within their original cultural and ceremonial context.
Through the archival edit, we aim to document as many of these rare textiles as possible before they disappear from living memory. This is not a closed collection but an evolving archive that will continue to grow as we gain access to heirloom textiles that have become increasingly rare and, in some cases, are on the verge of disappearing.
FORME ’26, on the other hand, represents our exploration of contemporary textiles through the lens of traditional craftsmanship. The collection reinterprets heritage by exploring new possibilities in design, texture, and material while remaining rooted in the traditional loin-loom weaving technique. It is an exploration of shapes and elements that surround us, be it structures, tassels, architectural lines, and everyday forms translated into weaving.
The Sü Archive is about continuity, while FORME ’26 is about experimentation.
What are the non-negotiable criteria for something to make the cut?