Weaving Dhurrie

I have been in the market for a Dhurrie rug for quite some time and since I know that its predominantly made in northern India I decided to source mine direct from an artist/weaver...
So, during my India trip I asked my dad to use his connections and set up a meeting with dhurrie weavers so I can make a purchase and photograph them in action.

One hot summer evening while the air was so heavy and stagnant that I questioned its ability to carry sound waves, we stepped into the narrow lanes of the old city. The streets were so narrow that a small car wouldn't fit through even on a one way street and so we parked the car, abandoned the comfort of air conditioner and set out on foot. We were guided by my Dad's car mechanic, he lives in the weavers community and a lot of his extended family is still in the business of weaving canvas and rugs.

Do I have a business plan?

I get that question a lot and my answer? Well, no. Not really!

Long time ago when I posed my idea about bringing artisans closer to their patrons and helping them find a sustainable livelihood, many of my friends loved the idea, encouraged me and then asked me to put together a business plan so they can fund it and my ‘business’ can take off…

As much as I loved the idea it was difficult for me to communicate it to my friends that it is not a business in the traditional sense and yet it’s not charity either.

Side story: I think charity is not sustainable and unless someone has a skin in the game and there is sweat involved, it’s very hard for people to value it. 

Wraparound Sari skirts… Etsy product update

If you are a regular blog reader then you are perhaps already familiar with my love of saris, the unstitched fabric. I have a huge collection of it despite the fact that I don’t get to wear them on a daily basis. I have shared my passion for saris with my other friends who are not of Indian origin through sari parties and it has always been fun.

Chanderi… Handloomed silk saris

Last month as we were travelling through various cities in India, I made it a point to scout out artists in local markets and buy directly from them. During one such quest I met a family of weavers from the town of Chanderi where the famous saris with the same name and gossamer glow are handmade on looms. Chanderi sari is now protected by the geographic indicator (GI) and can only be called so if it’s produced in the region as defined under the GI and is recognized by World Trade Organization. Further demarcation for these Chanderi saris is that they can only be hand loomed, so if you are buying a real chanderi you can rest assured that it is handmade and not woven on a power loom.

Eri Silk Infinity Scarf

I am so happy and excited with the little successes I encounter each day with my new venture. And I am so thankful for your support and encouragement. Through craft sales, Etsy (Craftiste) and other personal sales, the venture is slowly inching towards being self-reliant. When I took this first step, my main goal was to be sustainable, not just for my business but for all those indigenous artisans that I wish to support. The idea is for all the artisans to be able to create a livelihood for themselves and in the process preserve the art forms and the cultural traditions.

My Etsy shop...

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."      -MLK, Jr.

So, I've talked a lot about, mindful decor, and conscientious approach to making choices, and it feels like it's time for some action in the form of my own Etsy shop where you can find one-of-a-kind pieces for your personal use or for gifting to others.

Over the years, during my travels  I've collected some articles which to me looked good and functional and which instead of being mass-produced, were hand-crafted artifacts, to which the artisan could personally relate to, and not as a cog in a giant machinery but as the creator. This would become obvious in the these wabi-sabi pieces, which bear the imprint of the craftist's hand as it shaped the piece.

The craft forms, that yielded these articles, have been practiced for centuries, with the techniques of giving form to the article and then giving it visual appeal, having been passed down generations. It would be rare for any two pieces to look alike, even though the designs maybe similar.

At present my shop barely scratches the surface of indigenous art and craft forms out there, and presents a mere glimpse. But this little shop, kitty corner from your abode on the internet, holds a promise - that of bringing to fore art form that are in need of patronage. 

This shop represents commerce not for its own sake but in aid of crafts that may not make it on their own. The profits from the sale from this shop would be reinvested towards the betterment of artisans, mainly the women folks pursuing art as a means for livelihood. 

This holiday season instead of buying mass market products, go for artisanal gifts - its a win win all around...

Antler wine rack...

Do you remember my post about ‘knowing your Artisan’?

Well, I have a personal story to share which highlights the importance of buying direct from the artist or at the very least knowing who is the artist behind your beloved piece...

So we were driving towards Crater Lake and while passing through a small town close to Bend, OR we spotted a canopy tent with antlers displayed under it, in an empty school parking lot and we stop to take a look. A little girl about the age of my older one greeted us and then left promptly to get her Dad to attend to us.

We looked around and realized it was a Taxidermy shop and once the person came, he showed us things, explained the processes and answered some curious questions from my girls.

Ahimsa (Non Violence) Silk

Silk might have been first discovered in China but once it entered the land of Buddha, it took on a new journey and a totally different perspective. Few people know that production of fine silk essentially requires the death of all the moths that form the cocoons which is unraveled for its silk strand. But there is an alternative, the silk can be produced without such violence.

A Kanjivaram sari from my collection

Although it is said that the making of silk was a secret in Chinese court till about 5^th Century, there have been archaeological evidence from over 5000 years ago from the exploration at the Harappa Mohenjo-Daro civilization site of the presence of wild silk cocoons and perhaps of their use for making fabrics.

According to Chinese legend, silk was an accidental discovery around circa 2600 BC when XiLingJi, the wife of China's third Emperor also called the "Yellow Emperor", found a silk cocoon in her tea cup. She happened to be enjoying tea under in the garden under the shade of Mulberry when a cocoon fell in her tea and the warmth of the water made it unravel and the silky strands were discovered. The queen had all such cocoons collected from the palace gardens and spun into threads for weaving which were then loomed to make fabric for king’s robe. Silk instantaneously became the symbol of ultimate luxury and a guarded secret in the Chinese court; only the highest of the royal subjects besides the king and queen were allowed to wear it. 

Eventually, the art of sericulture traveled along the silk route and reached the land of Buddha, modern day Bihar. Co-existing and respect for living creatures and the surroundings is one teaching of Buddha that monks and laity followed unquestioningly. So when the weavers who weaved fabrics for Buddha’s disciple took to rearing silk cocoons, instead of killing the caterpillar, they waited till the moth left the cocoon before unraveling and spinning the threads.

This special art of sericulture is tedious and requires a lot of patience and isn’t as profitable as the fast and quality controlled version. A handful of weavers are still pursuing this art form, but largely it’s on the path of slow demise. Since the cocoons are raised in the wild and are matured till the moth leaves the cocoon, the silk made from these strands are not as fine and the quality of final product is not uniform; it is something that can be described with the Japanese word, wabi-sabi.  

Here’s a visual journey of the process…

Raw silk, photo courtesy: Monica Harvey

Isolating stands from cocoons; photo courtesy: Monica Harvey

Spindle Wheel

Charkha for making silk threads

skein of silk; photo courtesy: Monica Harvey

Threads being prepared for the loom

Hand Loom

Here is a small video of the making of threads from the silk strands. This video was shot and shared by my friend, Monica. She is also sharing some of her travel experiences to Nalanda through her blog: Nalanda Journey.

Sujuni- Fabric craft of colors and story-telling

Sujuni is a distant cousin of Kantha stitch, in the sense just like Kantha it involves a cluster of running stitches. Though they developed in close corners but over the course of time have emerged into two distinct crafts. Kantha is characterized more by its radiating patterns while sujuni usually flows in soft curvilinear lines emulating the meandering edges of the fields which are often the walking paths in the villages as well.

It was traditional developed in homes where women would layer up old worn out cotton saris and then sew them together with vibrant colored threads usually pulled from the contrasting borders of the sari's edges.  Layers of cotton fabric were sewn together mostly through running stitch and occasionally embellished with chain stitches. Old Bihari sujuni's depicted religious themes as well as geometric patterns. It was a means of expression and showed local flora and fauna along with everyday life. Of course such depictions made them ideal gifts for births and marriages, and keepsakes for the family members.

A typical sujuni is made with about a hundred stitches per inch. And for me personally they reminded me of pointillism style of painting. Running stitches of various colors in close proximity plays with the mind and give the impression of various shades of colors where none exists, the parallax of duality between reality and illusions.

Meet Savitri ji. She is a Sujuni artist and supports herself through this art and her style is refreshing and tells stories close to heart. All the other women in the village tease her that none of her embroideries is complete without a drop of her blood and so it is really easy to tell apart her work from the others in the cooperative.

DH posted this picture of us on Facebook and I got a lot of comments about the sujuni hanging in the background and so I decided to talk about it here. This sujini depicts the deforestation problem and its impacts on the villages where life flourishes very close to nature. And guess who is the artist who created this piece, yes its Savitri ji; and knowing the artist and the inspiration behind the piece brings special meaning to the art and to my home where it hangs.

There are others who treasure the art just as much and so there has been efforts to revive it and make it accessible to the buddhist tourist who visit Nalanda and its vicinity. Scenes from the life of Buddha that are relevant to the area are depicted through colorful threads running through stitches keeping a tradition alive and retell the stories from the past.