Tucked away in a village near Jaipur is the world’s largest center of hand-made paper. India’s diversity expands from its people, cultures, languages, and topographies to the crafts sector, in abundance. A wide range of raw materials, such as bamboo, wood grass, rice and wheat straw, jute, rags and waste paper are made available for […]
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Mashroo is a woven textile craft form with a purpose stemming from religion. ‘Mashroo’ meaning ‘permitted’ in Arabic lends credibility to the textile since wearing pure silk was prohibited. The Mashroo method made it a fabric ‘permitted by the sacred law of Islam’. Mashroo fabric has a silk facade and a cotton layer on one […]
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The craft of making earthen pots is one of the oldest known crafts. It’s design and efficiency is time-tested. These earthen pots are living testimonies of design which has undergone very less or no rectification. The Gundiyali pottery earthenware is characteristically adorned with patterns using different colors, like white and red, without any paint content.
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There are some crafts which are made just for the purpose of decorating or identifying cattle. One such craft which originated with cattle rearing is the craft of metal bells, or ‘Ghantadi-, as known locally in Kutchh, Gujarat (India). The craft is believed to be over a thousand years old, originated in Sindh, (currently in […]
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The complexity of creating the Patola fabric contributes to its exquisite nature. Woven in a double ‘Ikat’ weave, with the yarn threads pre-dyed for the desired pattern, one Patola fabric takes about a year to complete. This does not stop the patterns from being intricately elaborate. Patola is exclusively produced from Patan in Gujarat.
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Charma karya is a leather craft of Kutch; the craftsmen blend leather work with embroidery and punch work to produce sophisticated leather products. Marwari Meghwal community gets the leather from Maldhari Muslim community of same area, the men concentrate on fabrication of leather products while their women counterparts embellish the objects with embroidery work in […]
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The leather craft of Jawaja, which was practiced for more than three hundred years, was beautifully structured and meticulously stitched back to glory through a joint initiative taken by IIM and NID in the 1970s. Through this collaboration known as ‘The Rural University Initiative’ the institutions devised innovative methods of coproducing, that would prove fruitful […]
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Ajrakh is an elaborate block printing technique that involves layering of prints to create unique effects. Interplay of natural dyes and designs of hand-carved wooden blocks bring themes like starry nights and seasons on the fabric. Originally from the Sindh region (now in Pakistan), the craft later flourished in the kutchh region of India and […]
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