The Ajrakh Graduates
Amir Jusab Khatri’s grandfather
Gulmohamadbhai was a natural dye ajrakh
printer in Dhamadka. His father continued
the tradition, and Amir’s elder brother runs a
workshop and a shop, Gamthi Print, in the village.
They also sell their fabric in Ahmedabad. Amir
studied in Dudhai but did not enjoy it; so, after
the tenth standard he joined the family business.
He learnt block printing from his father, and has
now begun to learn natural dyeing. Amir feels
that ajrakh is his livelihood, and his heritage is a
gift of god.
A good artisan, he says, creates new designs for
the market, and a name for himself. A good design
is one that remains popular. Amir dreams of taking
his tradition forward and wants to expand the family
business. He hopes that he can make designs of
lasting popularity. Amir learnt to communicate
through his work. From the Spring-Summer 2018
LA Colours Trend forecast, he selected ‘Jardin de
Plantes’.
Amir named his theme ‘Nature: the New Future’.
He printed in actual size to understand proportion
and scale. He worked with Yash of MSU to develop
layouts and prototypes for pants, skirts, stoles and
dupattas, and created a collection of pants, stoles
and dupattas, using his colour palette for fun new
textured blocks and zany layouts.
On the other hand, Khalid Usman Khatri’s
family was from Rapar. His father Usman moved to
Dhamadka, where he printed ajrakh. By the time
Khalid was born, his father had moved to Bhuj and
established a screen-printing workshop, and later
a handprint workshop. Usman slowly became well
known. Khalid, meanwhile, went to a government
school till fifth standard, then a madrasa near
Bharuch for two years, and finished in the eighth
standard. He learnt printing at 15, and worked with
his father for ten years.
Usman died in the earthquake of 2001, and
the business was destroyed. When Ajrakhpur was
Session 6 is devoted to merchandising and
presentation, which reviews all previous
courses along with visual merchandising, value
of presentation, importance of editing and
collection.
The first batch graduated in 2014. The third class
of 2017 had ten artisans whose work was evaluated
in Gandhidham over a two-day jury assessment
in August. The jury comprised Karishma Shahani
Khan, fashion designer; Wasim Khan, design
expert; Prof. (Dr) Anjoli Karolia, head, department
of clothing and textiles, faculty of family and
community sciences, Maharaja Sayajirao University
(MSU); and Meher Castelino, fashion consultant
and journalist. Four weavers, three ajrakh printers
and three bandhani craftsmen presented their work
for the four awards that were given after the two-day
deliberation.
established, Khalid moved with his family to the
new village and worked there, earning ₹100 a day.
Once he was able to build his own workshop, he
did job work. But his son Mustafa wanted to start
his own work. He studied at SKV in 2015. After that,
they established their business, and have been
getting orders for a year now.
“Ajrakh was our livelihood,” Khalid says. “But now
it is our identity. That is how we have gone ahead.
Talent is hereditary. I inherited my father’s talent; and
now I see it in my son. I am only interested in ajrakh.
The future of ajrakh is 100 per cent good,” asserts
Khalid, who pays his own workers well. “Everyone
needs to move ahead,” he says. “I like to teach them
since information is to be shared.” But, Khalid wanted
to do something new. He saw his son studying at SKV
and liked the way it opened up his mind. “During my
own childhood, I didn’t understand the use of studies,”
he recollects. “Now, I do. Artisans don’t know their
capacity. At SKV, their minds open up, and they can
do new work.”
NOVEMBER 2017 FIBRE 2 FASHION | 121