I recently visited Kota on my way from Jaipur to Maheshwar keen to learn about the Kota Doria sari weaving tradition. I was kindly helped by Victoria Singh, a local resident and founder of the Kota Heritage Society. After accompanying her on a few errands around town – she is involved in a lot of local charity and heritage work, she took me to the village of Kaithoon which is about fifteen kilometres from Kota, and the main centre for weaving in the region. Victoria Singh and Ritu Jain write more on the kora doria in an article for Hand-Eye magazine. We first went to meet Badrun Nisha, the secretary of the Women’s…
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Exhibition: Krishna in the Garden of Assam
Assam is one of the seven (or arguably eight) states in North East India, set in the Brahmaputra basin, tucked away just south of the Himalayas, attached to mainland India only by a thin strip of land. Textiles here hold more similarities with neighbouring North Eastern states and with other countries further east and in South East Asia, which they are geographically and culturally close to, than woven textiles in mainland India which have distinctly different traditions and cultural approaches. The tribal textiles of Assam are woven predominantly by women for whom learning to weave and becoming a proficient weaver is a rite of passage and a required attribute to be…
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Five P: Handloom Revival and Innovation in Tamil Nadu
This article is written by Uthra Rajgopal, who worked with Five P to develop their website and promotional material during a textile exploration trip around India last year. An art history post- graduate and currently a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, Uthra is conducting research into Khadi and Handloom in India, and will be presenting at the forthcoming Textile Society of America conference in October. Above Photo: Mr.Kandasamy on a jacquard loom in the Five P workshop. Photo: Ruth Clifford Chenimalai is a small town about 25 km from Erode, at the centre of the ‘cotton belt’ between the textile hubs of Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu. The area has a long…
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South India travels: Chennai and Kanchipuram
This post is part of a series on textile travels in the South of India, others include Hyderabad and Sircilla in Andhra Pradesh. Chennai has a lot to offer for the art, craft or textile lover. It is home to the Crafts Council of India that supports crafts through exhibitions, education, marketing and more. The Kalakshetra cultural foundation promotes the study of the performing and visual arts. It was founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale – ‘the Institution stands testimony to her dream of creating a space where the essence of Indian thought would find expression through artistic education,’ and standing in defiance with ‘vulgarity and commercialism’. Notably, as I later write about my visit…
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Contemporary Gadwal Saris by Vinay Narkar
Gadwal is a small town in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. It has long history of handlooms. The Gadwal sari has strong links to the Kornad saris of south India, which Kanchipuram is most well-known for today. Both share similar techniques and designs including the interlocked weft technique used for the borders. The kundi technique used in the Ilkal sari that I have discussed in a previous post, also shares close similarities, and as Vinay mentions below, belongs to the same group of saris as those from Solapur, Vinay’s home town. Gadwal saris, like many across India usually carry a temple design locally known as a reku. Local women often wear the…
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Review: Tang Ke Sang – Traditional and Contemporary Ply-Split Braiding
Two exhibitions are currently being held at Khamir in Kukma village near Bhuj, Kutch. Read about Rohi: stories of the shoemakers of Kutch here. The second exhibition is Tang Ke Sang which showcases the unique and characterful ply-split braiding technique traditional to North West India, in the form of both traditional items and innovative interpretations by renowned maker Erroll Pires. History and technique The ply-split braiding technique, locally called ‘guthna’ as the English name suggests, involves splitting the ply of wool or cotton chords and interlacing them to create a very strong fabric. This fabric is therefore perfect for camel girths, harnesses and decorations which are made using this technique chiefly in North West…
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Review: Stories of the shoemakers of Kutch
Above image: Artisans viewing the Rohi exhibition. Photo Courtesy of Khamir. Whilst I was in Kutch, I managed to see two excellent exhibitions at Khamir, a resource centre for the support and promotion of crafts in Kutch. Khamir’s serene and beautifully architectured campus which reflects the traditional buildings and village layouts of Kutch is situated at Kukma village 15 km from Bhuj city. As well as exhibitions on the local arts of Kutch which are easily accessible to the artisans involved as well as visitors and tourists, Khamir runs documentation and research projects, works with designers to create new craft based products and facilitates trade. The name of the current…
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Weaving in Kutch: a guide (part 2)
This post focuses on learning the different techniques used in Kutchi weaving and a bit about the traditional products woven for the local market. Part one looks at the preparatory stages of weaving in Bhujodi. Read it here. Once I had completed my muffler and cut it off the loom it was time to start learning new types of weave. This week Rajesh Vishrambhai Vankar was to be my teacher. Rajesh is the youngest son of the renowned master weaver Vishrambhai and brother of Shamjibhai – also a well-known and respected master weaver. He graduated from Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya in 2009, and now works for the family business in various different…
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Learning to weave the Kutchi way
For 21 days starting on the 28th December I learned the basics of weaving under the masterful and patient guidance of four skilled and experienced weavers from Bhujodi village in Kutch. The course was organised by Somaiya Kala Vidya whose primary aim is to teach design education to craftspeople of Kutch (find more information on SKV here and here). The ‘Crafts Traditions’ courses are a side project that aim to extend the awareness and appreciation of Kutch’s crafts further afield, welcoming visitors from all over the world to come and learn a new skill and also gain a deeper understanding of the crafts’ context. In three weeks I learned the whole…
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The 2015 design graduates of Kutch – continued
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 –…
