About
We met for the first time through common friends at a bustling restaurant in London. It was craft at first sight – a shared love of textiles, colonial history, Dhaka of the 80s and most importantly, a shared sense of urgency to do “something” in the crafts sector in Bangladesh. We wondered if we could partner up. But we lived in different continents and worked in different professions. We continued our separate ways over the next few years, while keeping track of each others’ activities.
Till one fine day serendipity brought us to the same city.
And Nobo was born. Nobo for us is a journey from the present to the past, from the old to the new. Through Nobo, we want to celebrate handmade, quality, traditional art, unique textiles and crafts. Created with love to reflect our core values, we hope you will treasure your Nobo for generations.
Click Here for Directors' Bio
Silmat Chisti is the co-founder of Nobo Designs Ltd., a company recreating heritage crafts and textiles. Prior to starting NOBO, Silmat’s entire career was in finance. Her early years were spent as a corporate finance specialist on Wall Street in New York City. Eventually, her position with a multi-national investment bank took her to Asia Pacific and finally back to Dhaka. Silmat traveled extensively both professionally and personally and discovered her passion for textile and crafts and the history of mankind that each weave and each stitch carried. After retiring from investment banking, Silmat started working with weavers of Bangladesh in her own capacity, mainly to facilitate their “access to finance” and “supply chain efficiency” issues. In 2017, Miti introduced her to National Crafts Council of Bangladesh (NCCB), where she got involved with the National Jamdani Festival, 2019. She continues to be a member of NCCB.
Silmat has an MBA from Yale University and BA in Economics and Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College.
Mitia Saleh is the co-founder of Nobo Designs Ltd., a company recreating heritage crafts and textiles. Previously she had worked at Shakti Foundation, one of the leading Microfinance Organisations as the Head of Marketing and Communication. Mitia also lead the business development team at Aranya Crafts Ltd., started a pioneer e commerce business and worked in advertising agencies namely Bitopi as a copywriter and creative supervisor. She is a member of Muslin Trust , UK, former Joint Secretary and present member of NCCB. Mitia has translated a bilingual book and coordinated the Jamdani Festival 2019 in recreating 200 years old textiles. Mitia has keen interests in heritage and textile. Passionate about traveling, she enjoys writing poetry.
Mitia has a Bachelors and a Masters in Economics from the University of Dhaka.