February 2020 Issue Apparel February 2020 issue | Page 60

FEATURE
“SUPPLEMENTARY WEFT-WEAVING
IS PRACTISED WITH
REGIONAL VARIATIONS.”
and shibori. At my recent solo interactive show
at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (MKG),
Hamburg, I presented a collection of 20 Western-
style garments featuring four traditional textile
techniques, which were ikat, kalamkari, block-
printing, and shibori. The show was accompanied
by an explanation about each technique."
EVERGREEN TECHNIQUES
Over time, a range of textile techniques emerged
and evolved across the country. “Supplementary
weft-weaving is practised with regional variations,
as seen in the muslin jamdani of West Bengal, the
Uppada weave of Andhra Pradesh, and Paithani
of Maharashtra,” Asif elaborates. Similarly, these
textiles are adorned with a sea of embroidery
styles—such as phulkari from Punjab, chikankari
from Lucknow, kasuti from North Karnataka,
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February 2020
kantha from West Bengal, and mirror-work from
Gujarat. And most importantly, as artisans have
been honing their skills for generations, they are
well-equipped to work on motifs and patterns
that are required by designers.
While some designers present collections that
explore a different textile technique each year
and for each collection, others focus on one main
textile technique with accents of others. Delhi-
based designer Farida Gupta’s venture is one
such story. She launched her eponymous label in
2011, presenting traditional womenswear crafted
with handwoven textiles. These are embellished
with hand-block prints with a touch of hand
embroidery (that includes hand-stitched sequins,
mirror-work, and beads). “Hand-block printing is
a revered form of art in today’s times. It is a textile
technique that India has been celebrated for since
time immemorial; and the possibilities in terms
of its designs are endless,” says Farida. Working
closely with craftsmen, Farida endeavours to
exhibit a different facet of block-printing with
each collection.
NATURAL DYES
The origins of colouring fibres and fabrics are
ancient, with the earliest dyes having been
obtained from indigenous, natural sources. The
dyes were—and still are—extracted from leaves,
bark, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and roots of
plants and trees, following different techniques
such as boiling, making a solution/paste, etc.
Interestingly, even in the face of the influx of
chemical dyes that are inexpensive and easier to
use, textiles dyed with natural dyes have been
increasingly sought-after in recent years for their
beauty and environment-friendly nature.
Today, with experimentation, dyers are
extracting a range of colours from various natural