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For Art’s Sake: An Afternoon at the India Art Fair, Delhi
You could have been excused for mistaking it for an amusement park. Toddlers running amok and families sitting about munching fast food on a Saturday afternoon is a very atypical introduction to an Art Fair, especially one that has become in its young (seven year) life India’s biggest art event of the year. The India…
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Treasures from Nagaland
The Nagas have a rich tradition of art and craft rooted in a lifestyle that has always been in harmony with the environment they live in. Their utility items, weapons, costumes and textiles for the home are all created by deft craftsman of the tribe, with each having a ritualistic or aesthetic value. All the…
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The Embroidery of Life: Needle Crafts and Colors of Kutch
Amidst the barren desert landscape of the western border towns of India, smatterings of color are a representation of life, appearing as adornments on the bodies of the beautiful tribes. Embroidery, here, is not a glorious vocation but part of the daily fabric of how a day is spent. It isn’t uncommon to walk among…
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The Vankars of Bhujodi
The festive vibrance of embroidered textiles is the natural show stealer within Kutch textiles, but the subtler, elegant outcome from the rhythmic clacking of Bhujodi’s Vankar family of weavers is not far behind in appeal. The Vankars or weavers of Kutch weave colorful threads on the loom, with the yarn coming from Bhujodi, Ludhiana, Rajasthan…
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Exploring Kutch, Solo….
Opportunity often comes disguised as an ordeal. That’s exactly how a solo trip to Kutch fell into my lap, as an ‘individual’ college assignment. There was more. It came with a deadline, and I had to be back in college in 5 days! I had no clue how or where to begin, for student-days meant…
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Commitment to Kashmir: Nature Bazaar’s Winter Mela
In between our love for handicrafts and the Delhi winters, we decided to explore the flavor of the month- the Kashmir Festival at Winter Mela, Dastkaar Nature Bazaar. Brought to Delhi by the people of Kashmir to celebrate the spirit of the valley, the colorful and vibrant bazaar saw various handicrafts of India on one platform…
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The Royal Atelier: Preserving the Legacy of Miniature Paintings in Kishangarh
Kishangarh is an erstwhile princely state founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609. Located at the centre of this now bustling town is the Kishangarh Fort, enveloped by the Phool Mahal Palace and the Gondulav lake beyond. The Fort, built in 1649, is an epitome of the Rajput and Mughal styles of architecture.…
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The Nomad Lyric: Embroidered Textiles from Kashmir’s Gujjar Bakarwal Tribe
The river Lidder that flows through majestic mountains and meadows near Pahalgam in Kashmir had earlier this year taken on a ferocious form, threatening all life that breeds alongside its banks. But before nature played truant, perhaps in just retaliation against man, a community of nomadic tribesmen began to migrate southwards from their camps at…
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Purkal Stree Shakti Samiti: Empowering Lives in a Himalayan Hamlet
In a rural village outside Dehradun known as Purkal, located in the foothills of the Himalayas, a society has dedicated their resources to enhancing the lives of the disadvantaged women of the Community by empowering them. Purkal Stree Shakti Samiti (PSSS) defines itself as ‘an organisation for empowering the women of Purkal’. Many families in the area lack basic…
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Mashru Project by Raw Mango: Celebrating A Lost Legacy
The word ‘mashru’ comes from the Arabic word ‘shari’a’ that means ‘permitted by Islamic law’, an allusion to the prohibition of wearing pure silk fabrics by Muslim men, citing laws in the Quran that restrains luxury in their lifestyle. Mashru is a mixed fabric composed of a smooth silk surface and soft cotton backing, thus making…
Storytellers of Wonder 