About Us

CHAYA Gallery, started on Feb 1 2013, is an initiative of the mother and daughter duo, Mrs. Champa Kumar and Mrs. Sowmya Kumar Arjun. In fact the name of the gallery itself draws inspiration from a combination of their first names.

Check out this short video about our gallery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wMyB95cWjM&t=2s

Mrs. Champa Kumar started this initiative of working with Tanjore artist's way back in 1988, from her home in Chennai. She was deeply rooted into the arts and was a graduate of fine arts from Stella Maris College, Chennai. Having her own gallery has been a passion for many years and after much encouragement from her many clients, this has finally been a dream come true!

Sowmya, also deeply rooted in the fine arts, holds an MBA in marketing from Thunderbird, Arizona -USA. After having lived & worked in both New York and California for a number of years in the corporate world, she moved back to India and has always looked to start something on her own. Her mother has been her main driving force in all her artistic ventures . Sowmya is also a Carnatic Classical Vocalist / Bharathnatyam dancer, having given performances all over the world.

She, along with her mother, combined their passion for the arts and started Chaya. Their dream was to

1. Have world class paintings by engaging traditional artists

2. Have a variety of paintings- from various levels of Tanjore artists

3. Have items that were also contemporary and useful, such as trays, keyholders, keychains etc. One could buy a piece of traditional art, without having to spend a lot of money.

CHAYA is also very proud to present the artwork of many female artists. whose work is showcased under "Other Beautiful Creations" on this website. These artists are extremely passionate about their art and have painstakingly brought in some really lovely work to CHAYA, such a smural art, kerala mural, pencil sketches and so on. Please view the link for more.

To get our daily product updates and information, please do like our FB / Insta pages. Do lookout for the links to these on our homepage too!

Champa passed away on Nov 25th 2023, leaving the legacy behind for the daughter, Sowmya to continue. Team Chaya continues to seek her blessings everyday.