Discovering Textiles from across the world

The word Malai brings to mind, the creamy part of milk. It is eaten with gusto and is considered a delicacy in some parts of the country. So what does the same word Malai have to do with vegan leather, you wonder. Why is it called so? The reason becomes apparent when you discover that it is actually a kind of malai like formation which forms the base of the vegan leather…yes and it is edible though not tried!!! Innovations in textiles is the buzzword today. The thrust of all research to come out with eco friendly textiles which impact the environment little. The objective to recycle, reduce and reuse. There have been several interesting innovations, one that has garnered a lot of attention in the recent past is vegan leather made from coconut water with a very interesting brand name – Malai and the company called Malai Design and Material Pvt. Ltd. or Malai biomaterials.   The winner of the Lakme Circular Design Challenge award. The product and the journey of the founders is...

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...