Aranya Natural & Athulya at Srishti Welfare Centre in Munnar

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Toothpicker

Before visiting Munnar, I was not aware of the health issues related to tea plantation workers in India. Often foreign media would focus on the working conditions of garment factory workers, yet the problems related to tea plantation workers (primarily female) are largely ignored. Although they are not stuck inside cramped factories, tea plantation workers have to deal with other serious safety and health issues. Locals told me that workers not only have to work long hours at low wages, they also have to live together in communial dormitories with poor sanitation at the tea estates. Health awareness among the tea plantation workers is poor, and often they give births to children with various health conditions and disabilities, yet they receive hardly any government support.

In 1991, the Srishti Trust was formed, backed by Tata Tea Limited, to support differently-abled children of the estate workers. Founded by Ratna Krishna Kumar, the Trust launched two major projects: Aranya Natural and Athulya, aiming to rehabilitate local youngsters in a safe and fair environment. Later, Nisarga (the strawberry unit) and The Deli (a bakery and confectionery) were added to make preserves, breads and cookies using locally-grown ingredients.

Most visitors to Munnar would head to the main tourist attractions, but few would seek out the Srishti Welfare Centre. Well, they are really missing out. In 1996, the Srishti Welfare Centre moved to an abandoned shed in Tata Tea’s Nettimudi estate outside of the town centre. Their beautiful site is open to the public and visitors can meet many happy workers who are trained at natural dyeing and paper-making. What started out as an experiment has paid off for Ratna and her all-female team’, now even big corporations have employed the Trust to make paper and textiles-related products.

Aryana Natural is the natural dyeing department at Srishti. All the textiles here are created in a non-toxic environment and all the dyes are azo-free. Many dyes are locally sourced, like eucalyptus, Nilgiri kozha (eupatorium), tea waste, pine cones and other leaves, petals, roots and bark are harvested from the forest nearby. Some specific dyes are sourced elsewhere, like indigo from South India, lac from Jangir Champa, and myrobalan, from traditional medicine shops in Coimbatore. Only natural fabrics such as cotton and silk are used as they work best with natural dyes.

Every newcomer would receive training by volunteered trainers for about six months on skills particular to their aptitude and interests. Each artisan would specialise in at least one technique i.e. shibori or traditional block printing. World-renowned Japanese textile artist and researcher, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, regularly visits and acts as mentor to the young learners. She introduced many traditional Japanese shibori techniques to the trainees, which enable them to develop the skills further. Most of the artisans I spoke to told me that they really enjoy their work, and it was amazing to watch them work – they are fast and very skilled.

Athulya is the handmade paper unit that creates handmade paper from recycle waste paper, cut boards and other stationery waste. It is committed to use only natural additives in their paper, most of them are found around Munnar like tea, eucalyptus leaves, lemon grass, pineapple leaves, onion peel, flower petals, elephant droppings and water hyacinth (which is a weed affecting our back waters).

Now around thirty people work in this unit and they produce over 52 eco-friendly, azo-free, biodegradable recycled paper products by hand. It is also encouraging to see Starbucks hiring the unit to produce their shopping bags.

At the back of the sheds, there are a line of greenhouses growing organic vegetables and plants. Seasonal vegetables are picked and used in the Srishti canteen where nearly two hundred employees have lunch every day. There is also a playground for the staff’s children to play, and an award-winning flower garden that features a wide variety of flowers.

One cannot come here without stopping at the shop. The Aranya Natural shop has to be the most beautiful shop in Munnar. It sells one-of-a-kind handdyed scarves, clothing and home accessories made by the artisans next door. The prices are extremely reasonable and you would not be able to find them elsewhere. If you purchase here, you are directly helping the centre and the artisans, thus making a bold statement supporting sustainable textiles and fashion.

The Srishti Welfare Centre is not only a beautiful site, it is also an inspiring organisation. Before my trip, I knew little about this place, and I am flabbergasted that few people outside of the textiles world have heard of it. If you have only one day in Munnar, make sure that you spare time to visit this centre because it is well worth it.

LCW 19: Blue Innovations: Contemporary Czech Indigo Prints

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Toothpicker

Ever since I became interested in indigo dyeing a few years ago, I noticed that the resurgence of natural indigo is also taking place around the world. The art and science of natural indigo dyeing is an important world heritage that connects us all, and its timely revival reminds us that this ancient art/craft is universal as it has been practised in different parts of the world for centuries and even millennia.

The Blue Innovations exhibition at the Czech Centre London that showcased the established craftsmanship of indigo textile-printing production in the Czech Republic. Prior to the visit, I did not realise that traditional indigo printing techiniques have been integral to Czech culture for centuries and are listed as UNESCO‘s lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that contemporary Czech fashion designers are now using traditioanl indigo printing techniques to produce beautiful and high quality handmade clothing and soft furnishings.

The small exhibition was curated by Alice Klouzková, a Czech fashion designer and curator who has collaborated with many Czech indigo craftsmen, and is determined to revive this ancient craft in her country and introduce it to audience abroad.

Sadly, there are only two remaining wood block printing workshops in the Czech Republic, in Olesnice and Straznice. Their techniques and formulas were inherited from father to son and were kept as family secrets. Now younger Czech fashion designers are working with these workshops and incoporating indigo dyed patterned prints into their designs to produce more sustainable and unique items. These designers include Monika Drapalova, Martina Dvořáková (MADE BY ORDINARY), Adéla Součková, and artist Petra (Gupta) Valentová etc.

The revival of natural indigo dyeing around the globe is far from a coincidence. It is part of the sustainable fashion and slow movements that are driven by designers, artisans, craftsmen, curators, and many consumers who are rejecting the fast fashion industry. Now is the time for all of us to reflect and go back to the basics, and I salute all those who are swimming against the tide to make this change happen.

Kutch textiles: Ajrakh & blockprinting in Ajrakhpur

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Toothpicker

Ajrakhpur – the land of Ajrakh

Before my trip to India, my knowledge on Indian textiles was minimal, yet the textiles workshop at Somaiya Kala Vidya (see my earlier post) completely opened my eyes. I did not realise that block printing is such a complex and time-consuming process, especially when only natural dyes are used. The ajrakh printing techique is an ancient craft with a history of over 4000 years, and it is believed to be originated from Sindh along the Indus River (now Pakistan). Since it uses natural dyes only, the process would require weeks of work which includes multiple times of dyeing and washing. Sadly, the introduction of chemical dyes from the West led to the decline of this ancient craft at the end of the nineteenth century.

In recent years, the revival of ajrakh printing has been credited to a 10th generation master craftsman, Dr. Ismail Mohammed Khatri. Originally from Dhamadka (about 50 km east of Bhuj), a famous ajrakh village where artisans of the Khatri community resided, Dr. Ismail Khatri and many of the artisans had to leave their ancestral homes and relocate to Ajrakhpur, 15 km SE of Bhuj. The reason for this migration was due to the the drying up of the river caused by the earthquake in 2001 (since water is an essential element of this craft).

With the help of the Maiwa Foundation from Canada, and orders from India’s most renowned ethnic collection studio, Fab India, Dr. Ismail Khatri‘s workshop started to thrive after the resettlement. Not only he was awarded an honorary doctorate from De Montfort University in Leicester in 2003, he also won the UNESCO Award Seal of Excellence for handicrafts in 2008 and 2012 for his dedication to this craft. Now he still runs the studio with his two sons, Sufiyan and Juned.

Now the Ajrakh Studio has become a popular destination for foreigners who are interested in ajrakh and Kutch textiles. The new spacious studio, designed by Indigo Architects, opened in 2017 and has a retail shop and a hall where visitors can view a film on the ajrakh craft.

We met Juned and he led us to the printing workshop and explained the process involved in ajrakh printing. The un-dyed fabric is first cut into 9 meter lengths, then washed to remove starches, wax and impurities, followed by dyeing it with myrobalan. A wooden block hand-carved with traditional designs is seleced, coated in lime and Acacia gum (as a resist) and pressed onto the cloth at regular intervals. The artisans continue the process with different blocks and coating them in dyes, aligning them with previous prints, then pressing them onto the fabric. After each colour of print, artisans have to rinse and sun-dry the cloth. This process would be repeated with each layer of colour, hence it is extremely arduous and time-consuming.

Ajrakh is traditionally worn by the pastoral Maldhari (meaning herdsman in English) community. Apart from pagdis and lungis, it is also used as bed covers and wedding costumes etc. Traditionally, the colours and motifs symbolise nature with symmetrical designs. Indigo blue (from the indigo leaves) and crimson red (from alizarin found in the roots of madder) are the two most predominate colours for ajrakh.

Before visiting Ajrakhpur, I told Judy Frater about our itinerary, and she suggested that I pay a visit to the studio of my ajrakh instructor Khalid as he is also located within the village. With limited time, I dashed off from the Ajrakh studio and headed towards Khalid‘s studio (his big signage was useful), which turns out to be only 5 minutes away.

Although Khalid‘s studio is much smaller than the Ajrakh studio, there were still at least 5 employees (including his son) printing and dyeing during my visit. I also met a friendly young textiles student who is working with Khalid on her graduation pieces.

Khalid spent 10 years learning his printing skills from his father, and he only went to study at Somaiya Kala Vidya after his son had done a course there. The course helped him to break away from the traditions and explore new ideas and techniques. Since I learned the basics of ajrakh printing from Khalid at the workshop, I know how talented he is and I wanted to support him somehow. The result was a shopping spree at his studio/shop, where I bought a few scarves and shawls for myself and my family. One of them is a combination of ajrakh print and bandhani (done by his wife), which I particularly like. He also offered to customise the fringes/tassels for me, and the finished scarves were delivered to my hotel by the kind textiles student 2 days later. The prices of his scarves are not only reasonable, they are also unqiue and more contemporary. You can check out his instagram account @ashk_by_khalid to see more of his works.

Khalid Usman Khatri’s studio

After we left Ajrakhpur, we headed to the nearby Living and learning design centre, a textiles and craft museum run by the Shrujan Trust that aims to preserve, revitalise and promote the craft heritage of Kutch. Upon arrival, I was very pleasantly surprised by the beautiful and Mexican/Pueblo Revival style contemporary architecture and lush gardens. Opened in 2016, the complex took about 5 years to build and comprises a museum with three galleries, an auditorium, a library, an outdoor cafe, a shop and three crafts studios for practitioners. Again, the architects behind this project was Indigo architects, whose chief architect Mausami had received her MA in architecture from University of New Mexico, hence both the Ajrakh studio and LLDC have a strong Mexican/Santa Fe influence.

Strangely, the vast complex was very quiet during our visit and we hardly saw any other visitors. If this museum was situated in London or New York, it would be jam-packed with tourists. And I think this museum deserves to be visited by more tourists because of its excellent contents. You really need a few hours to go through the exhibits as they cover all the textiles styles, techniques and fashion from different tribes within Kutch; you can even find out how to tie a turban in different ways. If you want to learn more about Kutch textiles, then this place is a good starting point. Photography is forbidden inside the upper galleries, but it is allowed in the lower gallery where there are paintings and textiles on display.

Natural dyeing & blockprinting workshop in Kutch, India

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Toothpicker

After my 10-day textiles workshop in Japan last year, I wanted to learn more about natural and indigo dyeing, so I did the Natural dyeing course for two terms at Morley College in London. The more I learnt about the subject, the more I realised that India had to be my next textile desintation. Despite wanting to visit India for years, it was textiles that made me set foot on Indian soil for the first time.

Since I had never visited India before, I was quite anxious about travelling alone, hence I decided to look for a group tour and workshop that focused on textiles. The task turned out to be harder than I imagined… many textiles-themed tours are either extremely pricey (and outrageously so), or the dates didn’t work for me, or they were already full. My original plan was to visit Rajasthan (like most first-timers), but somehow ended up spending more than three weeks in Kutch/Gujarat instead. Yet I had the most amazing time exploring this less-touristy region of India. I can also say that this region’s textiles are diverse and rich, which was an eye-opening experience for me.

As I was searching for a practical textiles course in India, I came across Somaiya Kala Vidya, an educational institute/NGO that supports local traditioanl artisans in Kutch founded by an American lady, Judy Frater. There wasn’t a great of info/review about the workshops for foreigners, but I contacted them anyway. Unlike other textiles workshops, the institute does not host regular workshops, so they would cater for each individual’s requests and invite the specialised artisan to the school to teach the workshop. Strictly speaking, the campus is not catered for foreign students and it lacks the proper facilities, but I thoroughly enjoyed my 5-day textiles workshop and learned a lot from the two wonderful Kutch artisans.

Due to limited time, I decided to focus on natural dyeing and bandhani (Indian tie-dyeing technique), though I was hoping that I could try Ajrakh block printing as well. Luckily, a week before my arrival, I found out that I would be joined by an American author who had traveled to India to do research for her forthcoming book on the history of textiles. She had requested to learn block printing, hence it meant that we could learn both techniques during the workshop.

Top right: myrobalan: botton left: pomegranite skin

Over the five days, we prepared dye baths with the following: walnut, madder, rhubarb, eupatorium (flowers), lac (extract from the scale insect Laccifer lacca), annatto (seeds of the achiote tree), marigold flowers and indigo. In order to prepare the dye, we had to let it simmer with water for at least one hour. Usually a mordant (a substance used to set the dyes on fabrics) is needed for natural dyeing (except for indigo), and alum (Aluminium sulfate) is the most commonly used. In India, however, an extra mordant is used and it is called myrobalan (Terminalia chebula), which is fruit of a deciduous tree that is native to S.Asia. The fruit is rich in tannin, and produces butter yellow colour, which is often used as a primary component for cotton dyeing in India. I have never come across this dye before, so I was very intrigued by it.

One of the joys of natural dyeing is that you can play around with the tie-dye technique by first dyeing the fabric in one colour, and then overdyeing part of the fabric in another dye to create overlapping patterns and colours. The possibiilities are endless, and it can bring some pleasant surprises.

Top: marigold flowers, 2nd row: annetto seeds

In Kutch, bandhani (meaning ‘to tie’) is a technique practiced by the Muslim and Hindu Khatri communities. It was brought to Kutch in the 16th century by craftsmen from Sindh (now Pakistan). Kutch is a well-known region for bandhani production, and you can often see women’s outfits featuring the tiny dotted patterns. Traditionally, Khatri women would do the tie-dye, while men would dye the fabrics (cotton/wool/silk) in natural dyes. Unfortunately, due to mass production these days, the cheaper textiles are synthetically dyed, and are causing much environmental damage.

After experimenting on cotton and silk fabrics in different dye baths, I decided to dye my final long silk scarf in natural indigo. Since the bandhani technique was too difficult to master in a few days, I used other shibori techniques (there were still a lot of stitching and pulling) and the piece was dyed about 6/7 times. I would have preferred it to be darker, but due to time constraint, it was just not feasible.

Indigo on silk

Ajrakh is a form of block printing on natural-dyed textiles that is also originated from Sindh. Historians believe that Ajrakh block printing’s orgins could be traced back to more than 4000 years ago. It is believed that the Khatri communities brought this skill/practice with them to Kutch around the 15th century. The cloth is usually dyed on both sides, and the complex and labour intensive process may involve up to 14 steps. It is traditionally dyed in indigo (blue) and madder or alizarin (red); while the patterns are often symmetrical with borders featuring five different patterns. As for the blocks, they are hand carved in teak wood by either the Khatri printers or sometimes block makers.

To be honest, I had underestimated the challenge of doing block printing before I tried it – it is much harder than it looks! Not only you have to line everything up precisely (especially it you are doing lines), it also hurts your hand whe you bang it onto the block over and over again. Full concentration is required during the process, and even though I am sure it would get easier with practice, it would still take a long time to master the skills (like most craft).

The whole pringing process is very complicated because of the application of resist paste (gum arabic and lime), alum and colours need to be in the right order. Thanks to the guidance and help from the blockprinting master (who also designed and carved the blocks), I managed to produce two long pieces, as well as a simple one with leaves that I found in the garden.

While we were busy working in the back courtyard, the two female cooks were also busy preparing daily breakfasts and lunches for us. It was really interesting to watch them cook and the homemade vegetarian meals were always delicious.

The 5-day workshop was quite intense, but I was satisfied with what I learned in such a short time and it gave me some basic understanding of Kutch’s textiles. I am also grateful to Judy, who is passionate and knowledgable about Indian textiles, and has generously dedicated her time and effort to support the local artisans. I hope that the Kutch artisans would benefit from the courses at the institute and continue to pass on their heritage and practice.