My sari-wearing friends and I have been loud and indignant when designers have tried to improve on a Kanjivaram or a Maheshwari or a Sambhalpuri. Why on earth would anyone want to stick crystals or sequins to an already-perfect product? Such classics should be well left alone. True, but a young friend quietly pointed out that in order to keep the saris alive, contemporary and popular, there has to be innovation. For instance, how many traditional Maheshwaris can one have? May be two or three. But if the same Maheshwari is given a makeover with block printing, kantha work or tie and dye, it would be different and one would like to own that too. The friend has a point. Our country is home to centuries-old weaving, embroidery, dyeing and printing techniques. They are already dwindling alarmingly and if designers do not adopt them and promote them, they will be lost to us forever.
Many of those participating in the Crafts Council of Tamil Nadu’s ongoing Srishti 2014 are doing just that. There is the usual khadi, tussar, matka and Kota, but they come in unusual combinations. Take, for instance, Anavila Misra. She brings a range of elegant linen saris, very modern in look and feel, but they incorporate block prints, jaamdani weave and twill, and use natural dyes. The exclusive saris are priced upwards of Rs. 10,500 and come in gorgeous pale pinks, greys, wine and off whites.
On the other hand, as if to emphasise its simple, down-to-earth, home-spun approach, Meta-Phor Racha shows off its entirely-khadi collection. Its USP is keeping with the philosophy of khadi as everyman’s fabric. “We want to keep intact its utilitarian values of sustainability. And, our aim is to be inclusive rather than exclusive,” says Chandrashekar of Meta-Phor. And indeed, the saris are priced at an affordable Rs. 1,900 to not more than Rs. 4,500. “We are the bridge between the weavers in these remote areas and the people who wear what they create,” he says. Chandrashekar and his business partner Ravikiran source the khadi from remote parts of Davangere, Bagalkote and Belgaum. The printing, dyeing and finishing is done in Bangalore. They have a collection of rather retro-looking saris, stoles and readymades.
The MURA Collective empowers women from migrant families by training them in Shibori, a Japanese tie and dye technique. It creates beautiful patterns using this technique in tussar, Maheshwari, silk kota and Bengal handloom saris.
Fifty six stalls at Srishti are filled with people such as these who breathe new life into our fabulous handicrafts. There is embroidery from the Lambadis, tribal saris from Bengal, Bagru work from Rajasthan, Chanderis from Ravi Kohli and Lemon Tree, and a host of others from Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Bags, bangles, designer crockery and some cutsie-pie clothes for kids in pure cotton are but some of the goodies at the exhibition.
Take home some of the beauties from here, and you acknowledge and support the incredible creativity of our weavers, dyers and other artisans, who would otherwise fade into obscurity. In fact, the Crafts Council of Tamil Nadu promotes indigenous craftspeople in its other event, Crafts Bazaar, with the income it makes from Srishti.
The MURA story
Prabha Gahtori and Kusum G. Tiwari started the MURA collective in 1998. “It is an acronym for Music of the Rural Arts,” says Prabha, who has brought along an incredible collection of Shibori. It involves creating patterns on fabric with basic stitches, after which the fabric is dyed and the threads pulled out. Birds, butterflies and paisleys fill the saris in warm orange, deep indigo, fuchsia, apple green and silver grey. Who wouldn’t love to own a sari in a gorgeous grey and off-white with mynahs in tie and dye that Prabha calls ‘mynahs and balcony’. They also have a collection inspired by the myriad monuments one encounters everywhere in Delhi. So, old arches and domes are also recreated in tie and dye. They are fabulous.
It was a desire to create a space where others could come and weave that lead them to creating the MURA Collective. They began with Ikat using natural dyes but when Kusum’s former guru at IIT, Professor Gul Rajani, gave her a book on Shibori technique, she was hooked. “There was something so magical about it,” says Prabha.
Mura was set up with the objective of creating a workplace environment of inclusion for marginalised groups such as women as well as those with special needs. “We have a lot of women, especially from migrant families, working for us,” says Prabha who describes their workplace at Neb Sarai in Delhi as an ‘urban village pocket’. Shibori has enabled many women who cannot leave their homes, with employment and income,” says Prabha. Most of these women have basic stitching skills and the opportunity to sit at home and work in their own time is a huge help. Some of them make about Rs, 7,000 to Rs. 8,000 a month. “The nicest thing is that the women teach their children the skill, and so the art carries on.
Mura Collective now plans to move to the hills, somewhere near Ranikhet, where employment and jobs are hard to come by. Called Mura Gram, it hopes to empower the women there. “Employment opportunities are hare to come by in the hills,” says Prabha. Mura Gram will encourage local crafts such as basketry, knitting and crocheting.
Mura Collective has been twice awarded in succession the UNESCO Seal of Excellence, a national award instituted by the Crafts Council Of India and UNESCO, that recognises innovation in design and promotion of the use of natural products that do not harm the environment. And Prabha is overjoyed because she has just received news that MURA has won the award again for 2014.
(Srishti is on at Ramakrishna Kalyana Mandapam, till September 20, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
