Gathaatales

Anyone who wants to learn kasabu gethun, or who has an old libaas, a photograph, or a family story about how a boavalhu was made. It is also the right page if you are looking for the person behind the craft writing, rather than a ready-to-wear boutique.

This is not a shop with a size chart. South Asian Salon (10 June 2025) says she is writing a book on the libaas and kasabu gethun, and asks people with material to reach her on Instagram.

• Documents kasabu gethun. Her Instagram bio, read 25 September 2026, says: documenting “Kasab Gethun” — traditional lace braiding and weaving practiced in the Maldives. The profile name is Naduha (Nadu). About 1,470 followers. No phone, email or street on the profile.
• Teaches. Her LinkedIn profile says she teaches basic and advanced braiding and holds sessions on the history of kasabu and the Dhivehi libaas. Maldives Correctional Service recorded her running a kasabu weaving workshop at Maafushi Prison from 14 July 2024, for staff who would then teach inmates (Prisons Story, 16 July 2024).
• Researches. A July 2025 essay in her own name for the South Asian Heritage Trust describes learning the craft in the COVID-19 lockdown, then spending time and money meeting artisans because the work was barely written down. Travelution (21 January 2025) describes her using X-ray, from her radiography training, on a ranrihi libaas.

In August 2025 she posted that she had joined Kiyavahi Pvt Ltd as an artisan. That is a separate workplace. This listing is Gathaatales.

South Asian Salon describes her as a former student of Hidhana (Kasabu by Hidha), and groups her with makers who also wear the libaas and try the braid on smaller pieces such as wristbands. It does not publish a Gathaatales product menu.

Prices: none published for a class, a braid, or a libaas from Gathaatales. A general market range in that Salon article is not her price list, so it is not repeated here.

• Instagram @gathaatales. That is the contact the book article and The Brand Magazine both give.
• The Brand Magazine (25 December 2025) says she is asking for photographs of traditional Dhivehi libaas, to keep a record.
• There is no public class timetable on the pages we read. The Maafushi workshop was for correctional staff, not a drop-in lesson. Ask on Instagram what she is teaching now.

No phone number and no studio address on the Instagram profile.

Her July 2025 essay says she was born and raised in “the concrete heart of the Maldives”, left for study, and came home trained as a radiographer. LinkedIn places radiography work at Central Clinic in Malé, Kaafu Atoll. We have not found a street for Gathaatales itself, so the listing area is Greater Malé and nothing finer.

The essay says she now works part-time in healthcare and full-time as a researcher and advocate for the craft, and that she also teaches it as creative therapy.

• Say what you have. A photo of an old libaas, the island it came from, or a question about a particular braid is more useful than a blank “hi”.
• Kasabu gethun is the braid; the libaas is the dress. If you want a finished dress made, say so — her published work is the documentation and the teaching, and a made-to-order libaas is not something these sources confirm.
• Kiyavahi is not this page. If you are looking for that studio, search it separately.

• A phone number, email, or studio address
• A current public class schedule or a fee
• Whether she sells finished libaas or only teaches and documents
• Which island she works from day to day

If you have studied with her or know the practical details, send them.