There is a buzz of excitement in the region of Kutch as Somaiya Kala Vidya prepares for the convocation and fashion show of this year’s design graduates on 9th January in the village of Bhujodi, just 9 km from Kutch’s capital, Bhuj. In my previous post I wrote about the jury. The awards the jury decided will be presented during the convocation, and select pieces of the graduates’ final collections will be modelled on the runway. The graduates also got the chance to mingle with the Bombay craft and design enthusiasts and potential new clients at Artisans’ Gallery in Kala Ghoda for an exhibition of their collections from 21st –…
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Kalamkari and Mata ni Pachedi painting in Ahmedabad
This post moves away from the peaceful, rural villages of previous craft profiles, onto the bustling, polluted and noisy city of Ahmedabad. This city has been named the ‘Manchester of the East’ because of its rich and ancient history of textile production. The city is well-known for its block printing, and was the home of the trade of saudigiri printed textiles for the Thai market which began about two hundred years ago, reached its peak at the turn of the century, but declined during the Second World War. The saudigiri motifs share more similarities to those of the malir, jimhardi and haidharo block prints for the skirts of women in…
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Batik!
I dug out this piece of batik from my pile of Indian fabrics, and it took me back to its origin – a tiny crumbling building nestled in the warren of narrow streets of the majestic city of Udaipur in Rajasthan. While the building seemed modest from the outside, it was home to the internationally renowned Batik Art Research and Training Institute (BARTI), founded and run by Dr Abdul Majeed. Dr Majeed has taught under-privileged women the craft of batik as a way to support themselves economically for the past four decades. The charismatic Dr Majeed told us the history of this craft – thought to be 2000 years old,…
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The Ajrakh block printing of Kachchh, India
Against the dull canvas of the Kachchh desert the rich and bold colours of the textiles are strikingly displayed. The millennia old tradition of weaving and dyeing textiles originated in this Indus Valley region in the North West of India, and is still in abundance today. For a typical Kachchhi man or woman, their cloth is an essential everyday commodity and decoration as well as a symbol of their identity. Whether woven, embroidered, printed or tie-dyed, the textiles worn by a person in this area can reveal a multitude of details about their caste, gender, age, religious affiliation, marital status and economic standing. The highly skilled and patterned ajrakh block-printing…
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Kanga – communicating cloths
A recent exhibition at the British museum displayed and documented a rich Africa textile tradition. In a previous blog post, I wrote about an exhibition and symposium entitled ‘Social Fabric‘ in which fabric was used as a metaphor for society, and often a symbol of colonial power. On the other hand, the recent exhibition at the British Museum – Social Fabric: African textiles today displays cloths that directly and graphically express the wearer’s political, social, religious, sexual and emotional views and concerns. The textiles on display were kangas – textiles I recognised but knew very little about. I immediately remembered a picture I had cut out of the Guardian, of Masai…
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A beginner’s guide to block printing… at home or in the studio
I said at the end of my post about the process of Ajrakh block printing that I would write a post on a more accessible process of block printing that you can follow in your own home, on a smaller scale and when you don’t need endless hours of sun or litres of water. I’m sorry it has taken so long, but here is my guide to simple fabric block printing using wooden blocks and silk or cotton, using both natural dyes and chemical fabric paints. Materials needed: A few bowls or trays Sponges (washing up sponges or ones used for car washing will do) Table for printing Carpet underlay…
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Indian block-printed textiles in the English countryside
The long jubilee weekend was the first that I’ve spent outside of London since I moved down just over a month ago. While I’m sure the river pageant and all the jubilee events in London were very exciting, escaping the crowds for some countryside air was much more appealing to me. So, along with a group of friends, I went camping to Cirencester in the Cotswolds. The campsite was chosen by my friend Laura, and as chance would have it, without Laura knowing, the owner of the campsite (on an organic farm no less – http://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/), also owns…
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The process of ajrakh block printing according to Ismail Mohammed Khatri, Ajrakhpur
I have discussed the ajrakh block printing of Kutch, India in a few of my blog posts but have not yet written a post containing the details of the process (for details on the general background, read this post). In traditional ajrakh cloths, local artisans and clients could recognise the maker through the appearance of the cloth and process he had used. Each ajrakh artisan uses his own variation on the process. I learnt the process below from the renowned Ismailbhai of Ajrakhpur, who along with his sons Sufiyanbhai and Junaibhai, I am indebted to for their continuing help with my MA research. 1. The cloth is washed in water to…
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Block printing article for The Quilter
I was pleased to see my piece on the wonders of block printing in Kachchh in The Quilter magazine this month, and I actually enjoyed reading it again!
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Pracheen: Block printers of Mumbai
As usual I’ve been back home for a week now and while looking back through photos and videos I’m already wanting to be back in India. Because I flew into Mumbai this time, I decided to spend a couple of days there to go to museums, galleries and meet people I had been e-mailing about my research. Unfortunately I hadn’t planned it that well, as arriving early on a Saturday morning meant lots of places were closed. One of these places was Paramparik Karigar which I was really disappointed about missing out on. However I was lucky enough to receive a lot of help and contacts from Neela who works with Paramparik. I…
