One of the greatest embroideries to have ‘walked’ this planet has to be Chikankari, which I have now learnt includes thirty-six different stitches, though most of us are aware of just a few! Can you imagine our joy when we crossed paths with Tanzeb, a
‘ ‘Jhini jhini bini chadariya,Kaahe ka tana, kaahe ki bharani,Kaun taar se bini chadariya?‘ – – Kabir, 15th century weaver-poet These words were so apt back then and ring true to Ramji bhai and a lot of other weavers even today. Kabir, the legendary poet
Empowering women creates a positive impact on families is a fact well known and, practicing this, nestled in the hills of Nilgiris is Sunita Suhas. Sunita, founder of the social enterprise, Indian Yards is changing lives with the age-old craft of sewing, creating patchwork quilts,
“Every quilt tells a story. You write it with your needle and you read it with your heart”, reads a line in the book, ‘The Elephant Quilt’, by Susan Lowell. Quilts to most of the world are simply layers of fabrics, put together with a
Rewind back a couple of decades to life in Northern India and you would find that it was the good ‘old razai’ that came to the rescue on a cold, cold night. It’s been only in the last 15-20 years that we were introduced to
Channapatna craft has been around since the 18th century. While it has had some glorious years, it seems to be losing its sparkle. It’s not just the glory of Channapatna that is fading! Several other crafts, embroideries and traditional skills appear to be on their
How often do you feel intrigued, inspired and joyous after a conversation with a person you don’t know at all? I don’t know about you but it certainly is ‘rarest of rare’ occurrence for me. This is what I experienced while speaking to Hema Kannan,
How often have you looked at a particular fabric or art and exclaimed in excitement on identifying it? It is probably the style of painting, design or the motifs that make them easily recognisable by us. The Oxford dictionary defines the word Motif as ‘a
If you like me carry a little bit of Old Delhi within you, then you will love Lai’s latest collection of jewellery. Old Delhi to me is synonymous with history, food, cacophony, tradition, culture, jewellery, fabric, books…what I could simply refer to as ‘life’. Have
Once while having a conversation with a weaver in the cold winters of 2013, three youngsters found themselves questioning the weaver about why his sons weren’t taking up weaving and were wasting their ‘hunar’ aka skill. The weaver replied with a rhetorical question…”why are you yourselves
