Discovering Textiles from across the world

Working on restoring a carpet - rafoogar  from Najibabad  I met the craftsmen or rafoogars at an exhibition organised in Delhi to display the work of the craftsmen by Priya Ravish Mehra. She of course was not well and hospitalised and I was told supervised most of the work via skype or video calls from her hospital bed. She was suffering from cancer and breathed her last in May 2018. What remains there is her remarkable work with the rafoogars of Najibabad for whom she created a platform to meet artists, connoisseurs, art collectors, historians…to whom their work was remarkable and valuable. How else can one describe dexterous hands which can repair a 200 year old Pashmina shawl or an equally priceless carpet. Priya’s tryst with them began when she remembered how these darners would come to her grandfather’s house at Najibabad and work on old textiles to mend, a tear or a hole so well that one could rarely know where the tear was. Priya Ravish Mehra, a textile historian, reviv...

The Rafoogar or darner, darning the jute  cross stitch piece Rafoogars – the humble darners. Once a part of every market, their numbers are dwindling. They would sit and ply their trade, darning and mending a tear here or even garments which were literally in tatters. They would do it slowly, steadily and voila, when returned one would barely see the tear. Better still one would have to look for the tear. This was usually done to repair winter garments especially expensive shawls, sweaters, jackets. What stands out is the skill level of the rafoogars who simply pick up nuances of a new fabric and can work on it and repair it. It looks almost new. . So from silk, chiffon, georgettes, Dakha Muslin, fine cotton to even newer fabrics like lycra, tencel and more. There are rafoogars who have picked up their skill from nearly everywhere. Each locality has its own special rafoogars. The bylanes of Chandni Chowk have some very well known and famous ones. Rafoogars can be called a jack of...

  The Handloom Mark again was introduced by the Government of India to promote handwoven from India. The mark clearly reiterates that the product is Handwoven in India. The objective was to provide assurance that the product is genuinely handwoven and there is nothing fake about it. It helps market the product in India and abroad. It also ensures higher price realization. There are two marks one used in the domestic market and the other for international market. The quality assurance is maintained by periodic audits, random verification, self certification and strict penalties if the norms are not adhered to or are misused. The mark has been pretty successful in the Domestic and International markets. (For more information – www.hlm.gov.in)

The mark of assurance, Silk Mark How many times have you walked into a company, to be assured by the seller, “it is pure silk” , and not knowing whether it is a white lie or is he speaking the truth. There are times, when polyester, rayon and mixed yarns are passed off as pure silk. To offset these claims, enter SilkMark –a Government of India Initiative. The silk mark given out by Silk Mark Organisation of India   or SMOI which is under the Silk Board of India. The attributes of the mark are that it is a quality assurance label aimed at protecting interests of all the stakeholders   - consumers, traders and manufacturers of pure silk, it promotes silk generically, it above all builds brand equity of Indian Silk.   It also aims at a cohesive campaign of all stake holders in the silk value chain to promote silk.   The Tag which is used by the stakeholder in the garment is a paper hang tag on which there is a high security hologram. This hologram has a unique serial nu...

We give a brief dictionary on traditional work from Rajasthan, a lot of which finds its way to Jaipur. The intricacies of each process varies and is complicated to say the least - from making the blocks to the process of printing, from tying the knots to the dyeing. We provide a brief glimpse of the same. Weaving Though now most of the work of dyeing, printing is done on fabric procured from elsewhere, Rajasthan did have a tradition of its own weaving. Masuriya Cotton – The very fine, muslin cotton is termed masuriya. Now even combinations with silk is called masuriya. Kota Doria – Here two types of yarn one thicker like 80 counts is combined with finer yarn counts of 120. The handloom weaving results in the fringes of thicker counts whicle the inner is of finer counts. The uneven counts in the cloth can be seen and this results in a better fall for the fabric. Dyeing Bandhej – The traditional tie and dye technique. There are variations in terms of designs that are formed e...

Rajasthan is a treasure trove of textiles both traditional (handmade) and machine made. Of this Jaipur can be called a microcosm of that what can be found in Rajasthan.   Not only for textiles, it is a hub for other range of handicrafts. What works for Jaipur is its ability to apply traditional techniques to create contemporary textiles, transfer paper designs on to fabric at very affordable prices. Jaipur as a fabric hub, is seen more as a place for processing – dyeing, printing or embroidery than for fabric manufacture. The basic fabric in white, off white or coloured is procured by the exporter / fabric manufacturer and then give to the processors on a job work basis. The designs, colours are all explained to him and he processes the fabric accordingly. Though the traditional printing was carried out using vegetable dyes, today it is only for the discerning few that vegetable dyes are used. The non availability of a varied colour palette in vegetable colours and the inability ...