Annual Trail & Retreat 2023

As an organisation that functions online, we like to pack our bags and visit our artisan family from time to time. In December ’22, we visited our looms in Kanchipuram. Visiting Kanchipuram is like a ritual and we do it several times a year, but it is when we visit the looms as a team that we get to discuss and debate on several aspects of the production. For this reason, we look forward to our team retreats. We also like to bring patrons to our trails as this adds a new dimension to our discussions and patrons get to see and understand the work that goes into our collections. Sometimes they are able to offer simple solutions to problems that might have been evading us for months. It is a win-win situation since patrons, inch closer to the makers of the craft and the makers finally meet their customers who they seldom get to interact with. Most weavers’ interactions are with their leaders or business men who market their product. So, to be able to meet and interact affords both parties a rare opportunity to see eye to eye and understand the level playing field better.

This year, in the month of May, we took a short trip to Rajasthan visiting Jaipur and the surrounding areas. We work with multiple clusters in the region including Sanganer, Kota & Bagru. In this series, we speak about our experiences at these clusters. Needless to say, touching, feeling and experiencing the craft at its origin adds a new dimension of understanding & appreciation. If you would like to deepen your knowledge of crafts, the best way is to simply jump on a flight and head out. While the internet is a vast reservoir of knowledge there is nothing quite educative as visiting a loom and speaking to the artisan.

• The Beautiful Art of Dabu 
• The Layers of Bagru
• The Mysterious Fadat Prints
• Connecting the Lines of Leheriya
• An Unforgettable Visit to Kota
• Sifting through time in Sanganer
• The Cultural Wealth of Rajasthan
• Why Is It Important To Visit Centres of Art & Craft
• How can you help preserve the cultural wealth of India

The Beautiful Art of Dabu

One can literally say that Rajasthan and the western part of the country is the print & dying capital of India. Every village has their own print technique seeped in centuries of knowledge. And craft is very much thriving even today in the small workshops that take print orders from all over the country. In a country where all kinds of print innovations exist, it is beautiful that we still value hand-block prints and continue to patronise them. Needless to say, some of these craftspeople may feel the craft has not inched ahead in terms of progress and some have even taken to printing new designs that blur the lines of craft but that is a discussion for another day.

As we stepped into Bagru village, it felt like any other Indian village. The surrounding areas are definitely greener than other villages one might visit in Rajasthan. And like any Indian village, the village is caught in a web of urbanisation. The dichotomy of ancient crafts co-existing with the latest mobile gadget stores confounds the brain and yet it would be hard to imagine how crafts can thrive today without the internet & mobile phone penetration the country now boasts of. Not only had information been made accessible but also the chippas (the block printers) now have access to their audience directly online.

There is no dearth for workshops that work on Dabu but we chose to visit the workshop of Shri Lal Chand Derawala. This family has played a huge role in popularising the block-printing techniques across multiple generations & have been recognised with multiple national awards for the same. As we entered their sprawling workshop we could not miss the sight of layers of printed yardages laid out in the sun to dry.

Dabu is a mud-resist print technique. The local desert sand is mixed with other locally available materials to resist the dyes creating beautiful print layers. Typically, the blue, black and red shades are most common in Dabu but with the advent of artificial dyes, it is not uncommon to find other colours.

Pre-printing process: Prior to printing, the fabric is treated to remove any dirt, impurities, starch and other contaminants that might impede the printing process. The work table for dabu consists of a long table where the washed cloth is laid out, stretched and neatly pinned.

Step 1: Then the artisan starts to use a special block to apply the resist paste. The resist paste is prepared from lime, gum, river clay and wheat powders – all of these products are mostly production wastes, which means nothing used to print is something that could have been meal. Food wastage is serious when resources are lean and one truly understands how these crafts were a by-product of these household wastes and that very thought is both noble & beautiful. The blocks of dabu are not fine like Bagru or Sanganer prints but are larger & bigger and for good reason. The large surface area ensures the sawdust & mud mixture is able to bind and provide the resisting layer.

Step 2: While the resist paste is still wet, the printer coats the whole fabric with the sawdust powder using a sieve to ensure a uniform layer is sprinkled all of the fabric. The sawdust powder binds with the gummy layer to form a layer of print. It is alchemy for one wonders how the earliest printers may have uncovered the recipe. But today there are improvisations. The materials used are no longer household wastes but actually commercially produced specifically for the print process.

Step 3: Once this is done, the material is laid out in the sun to dry completely before it is dyed.  Sun drying is an important aspect of block-printing and needless to say, the access to bright sunlight all through the year really helps. Infact, solar panels installed in these workshops power most of the motors and gadgets in the premises.

Step 4: Dyeing the dried layer is done usually the next day. Once dyed, the excess mud-resist layers are stripped off the fabric. The fabric is washed to remove the excess dyes and the impurities and laid out to dry.  The whole process may be repeated to add layers to the print and intensify the color. Only single colors are used and dabu produces the beautiful monochrome effect with 3-4 layers of prints. Fine prints are not the specialty of Dabu but if you enjoy subtle layers of prints in beautiful shades then Dabu is certainly a great choice.

The Layers of Bagru

Travel & exposure bring new inspiration not just for artists but also craftspeople. Some of the amazing craft clusters are a result of migrating communities. One such community are the Chippas (printers) of Rajasthan who moved to Bagru several hundred years ago. While there is no documented date for when the chippas began printing, it goes without saying the craft has been around for several hundred years now and is constantly evolving with market trends. The Chippas of Bagru, it is said moved here from Sawai Madhavpur, Alwar, Jhunjhuna & Sikkar districts. The prints made my Chippas decorated the ghagras and odanis worn by the local women. The prints back then were dark, bold and showcased motifs that appealed to local women. Back then it is said, every community had their own colours and prints. Today of course, the story is very different. In the last 50 odd years, thanks to the interest of European community, the craft evolved to mimic the aesthetics of the west. What we have today is a thriving community that is able to reproduce & make every possible idea designers & retailers send.

At AHC and Parvai, we have always believed in equipping ourselves with knowledge about the craft & the craftspeople. Understanding how the craft has evolved gives us a perspective to why the craft existed then and how it has evolved today. Visiting craft cluster is not just about meeting the makers but seeing for ourselves and experiencing the craft first hand. As we entered Bagru, the excitement within the group was palpable. We have all worn, bought and loved Bagru for many years and to now watch the craft come alive in front of our eyes was surreal. The Derawalas need no introduction. They are engaged in this craft for over four generations now and are ready to shine light on this craft in the near future too. The family and the practitioners of the craft have multiple awards from the state and nation to their credit validating their contribution.

One of the most beautiful aspects of Bagru is the block development. We witnessed hundreds of blocks in display at their showroom ranging from a few years old to some which were several decades old. While the initial number of blocks was overwhelming to witness, we soon found that each of these blocks had been numbered and then we discovered there were three types of blocks. The base block (gadh block) was used to create a canvas upon which the outline was then printed (rekh block) and then the finer layers inside the outline were done using another block (tatta block). Every single print involved more than 3-4 layers of prints to achieve the details we so easily take for granted. Not only does the printing call for hard labour but also an eye for precision. Much like weaving, this calls for skill and hard work.  

Unlike the dabu where mud was used to resist dye, Bagru prints the actual color directly on to the fabric. The base color of Bagru prints were traditionally undyed kora fabric which was off- white. Initially, natural dyes like madder, indigo, pomegranate rind, turmeric and other natural coloring agents were used. For the a few decades now, Alizarine has been introduced in place of madder rootis. Natural Indigo has been replaced by Synthetic indigo since natural dyes call for length processes. Even in places where natural colours are used, they are commercially produced to keep up with commercial demands today.

Visiting craft centres helps us as patrons understand better the current status of craft. It opens our eyes to how craft is practised today. With some gentle nudging we are able to understand how things were, when the craft evolved and how patronage helped these crafts reach their pinnacle. Craftspeople speak fondly of kings who allowed them to practise their craft with no tight deadlines. They were allowed to chase excellence rather than delivery, something capitalist economy fails to see. We live in times where attention span is small, people want instant gratification and the average patron is chasing what looks nice behind lens, almost a mirage and not the real deal. Perhaps we can never go back to a time when the village came collectively to gather discarded iron scraps like old horse shoes for printer to ferment and use for prints and experience the beauty of craft that was truly sustainable not just with the way it was practised but also the raw materials. The printed cloth also served as a social hierarchy when the times demanded it. Today we chase crafts to retain a mere fraction of the ideas and ideologies from that glorious past. And yet, it is our responsibility to preserve what remains and pass it along to the next generation.

Bagru thrives just as the other crafts and how it evolves is really a matter of choice we make today. Our textile trails help us understand this with greater clarity.