Category: Profiles
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A Beautiful Yarn: The last ply split braider’s journey from designer to artisan
With a lush ponytail and what seem like a dozen gold rings, Erroll Pires Nelson certainly has some serious style. At 6 feet 3 inches, he also towers over almost everyone. That persona evaporates the second he starts talking in his gentle, dulcet tone, telling the story of how he, an ex-National Institute of Design […]
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Resurgence of ‘Shakti’: Shamlu Dudeja’s Kantha Crusade in Bengal
Each piece of work is a labour of love, in its patterns, the story of simple women, their joys, sorrows and aspirations. The origin of Kantha can be traced back to the Buddhist era when devotees had to seek alms for their daily survival. The ‘bhikshus’ often received old fabrics which they layered and tacked […]
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Katna’s Kantha: Crafting Lives in Murshidabad, Bengal
Slowly one stitches together the layers of frayed fabric Slowly, step by step, does one tread the path Slowly and steadily one scales the mountain – Sanskrit shloka; oral tradition Kantha embroidery is a distinct style applied to the creation of coverlets. Traditionally the Lep kantha of old, involved poor village women sewing together layers […]
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A Sari Draping Workshop with Rta Kapur Chishti
We had a whale of a time hosting the Sari School Workshop with Rta Kapur Chisti in Delhi recently, to celebrate the six yard wonder…Participants learned a few of the more than 100 styles of draping, realising how fun the six yard drape can be! Here’s a peek of all the fun… (and just in […]
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Designer Dhvani Behl’s ‘Flora for Fauna’ on Jaypore
Growing is “having or showing life”. Deeply inspired by nature, Dhvani Behl of Flora for Fauna brings to Jaypore an interesting range of digitally printed and wood-cut hand-printed textiles, that showcase her unique design language. The pieces also carry a pretty sprinkling of hand embroidery, that gives the compositions an added dimension. Apart from nature, Dhvani […]
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“All forms of Art are born from one’s roots”
The name Maqbool Fida Husain has become almost synonymous with contemporary Indian art, and deservedly so, for no single artist has popularised Indian art, within the country or internationally, as Husain has done. His endless quest for his cultural roots and a fearlessly open-minded willingness to absorb diverse influences has made M.F. Husain one of […]
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Raja Ravi Varma and The Royal Gaekwad Collection
The Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum, housed within the Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, India, carries some of the most unique European and Indian art works, that were collected by Maharaja Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III during his numerous trips out of India. The Museum was constructed as a school for the Maharaja’s children. It was established […]
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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 