Fumie Kobayashi Born in Osaka Prefecture in 1973, Kobayashi developed an interest in cloth as a child through the influence of her grandparents, who worked in textiles. After graduating from Sophia University in Tokyo, he history of handspun, Today, the textile industry is she started her career in media and later switched to consulting. Now she is president of CALICO LLC, handloom cotton in India one of India’s major industries, which serves as a sales agency for Indian handspun, handloom cotton and its products. T goes back very far. It is said that employing around 35 million people. people have been making such cloth The handloom industry, which is in the Indus Valley Civilization since part of it, accounts for 95 percent around 2000 BC. Fumie Kobayashi, of the entire world’s handloom president of CALICO LLC, is fascinated production, with an estimated 4.3 by the texture and beauty of Indian million or so handloom weavers in traditional handspun, handloom India. Surrounding a single artisan cotton. While working in the Delhi weaver are many men and women office of a consulting company, cooperating in various jobs, such

she started dreaming of “further as spinning yarn, preparing warps Above: CALICO has made its own original brass printing plate and uses Ajrakh spreading the skills and promoting and wefts and dyeing, washing and block-print techniques to replicate the patterns of hand-printed sarasa cloth with a contemporary flair. an appreciation of Indian handspun, selling the cloth. “India’s father of Right: A beautiful embroidered and appliqué Rabari tote bag. Rabari women apply handloom cotton to Japan and the independence, Mahatma Gandhi appliqué using leftover Ajrakh-printed cloth. rest of the world.” Believing that once said ‘Khadi (handspun, she could improve its designs to handloom cotton) is the sun of the contribute to its popularization, village solar system,’ and even in or delivery ultimatums as exists in villages and help make sustainable she founded her company in 2012. today’s 21st century, Indian textile Japanese style factory production.” industries out of the handicraft for She named her company CALICO remains an important industry that The history of Indian cloth in them. With this wish in mind, she after the generic name of Indian is deeply rooted in and inseparable Japan can be traced back many has been employing various ideas. fabrics that were extremely popular from village life,” says Kobayashi. centuries. In the 17th century, For example, designs of hand-printed in Europe in the 17th and 18th Kobayashi’s company CALICO Indian cloth was very popular in sarasa cloth, which are treated as centuries, and which even made collaborates with Indian artisan the city of Edo, which is now Tokyo, works of art, are reproduced with a their way to Japan. weavers to plan, design and produce and it greatly influenced Japanese contemporary flair using traditional traditional handspun fabrics such attire and culture. However, the Ajrakh techniques from the Kutch as khadi and jamdani weave, and majority of Japanese and Indians region in the District of Gujarat. Her kantha embroidery, and then sells are unaware of that fact. “I would company CALICO also sells tote bags it to Japan and other countries like to work with India’s artisans decorated with fine embroidery and around the world. Believing in to create cloth that is handed appliqué originally used for wedding building a relationship of trust with down to the next generation as art ceremony attire by the Rabari people, JAPAN the local workers, Kobayashi says, and culture, and make Japanese who live on the border between India INDIA “We always respect the artisans. We people appreciate it’s value,” says and Pakistan. give them full autonomy and never Kobayashi, who wishes to instill Kobayashi also says she “wants

Fumie Kobayashi together with an artisan who is using a handloom to make impose overly rigid quality control pride in the people of local Indian Japan to see the cultural and historical traditional weaves. sides of Indian handspun, handloom cotton” by inviting Indian artisans Kobayashi sits together with members of Qasab to Japanese department stores, (Qasab-Kutch Craftswomen’ Producer Co. Ltd.), GRASSROOTS AMBASSADOR Japanese Individuals Contributing Worldwide which received the Nari Shakti Puraskar 2018 collaborating with art museums and (Women Power Award), an award that the president galleries, and actively promoting the of India gives to women who have contributed to virtues of Indian handicraft. Striving society. She views a new embroidered product Sharing the Magic of Indian made by Rabari women and talks about the to show the entire world the charm reaction by Japanese consumers to the products. of India’s valuable traditional culture, Kobayashi is continuing to Handspun, Handloom Cotton work with local artisans to create Indian cloth. Striving to preserve India’s ancient and traditional skills of handcrafted spinning and weaving, Fumie Kobayashi is working with local artisans to share its magic with the world

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