Artisan Voice: an investigation of the collaborations between skilled, traditional textile artisans in India and foreign textile and fashion designers from the artisans’ perspective and their viewpoints of their craft industry in contemporary times.
Deborah Emmett Master of Design (Hons) UNSW Art & Design March 2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Liz Williamson for her guidance and wisdom over the past four years. Her knowledge of Indian textiles and shared interest in travelling throughout India has been both insightful and supportive in assisting me to develop my research.
I wish to thank the University of New South Wales particularly UNSW Art & Design for granting travel funds that enabled me to attend international conferences related to my area of research. The assistance and advice of Wendy Parker and Joanna Elliot about postgraduate administrative procedures at UNSW has been appreciated. In addition I would like to thank Penelope Ralph for her invaluable skills in editing my thesis.
This research study would not have been possible without the cooperation and candidness of the traditional textile artisans from Kashmir and Rajasthan in India who were willing to participate in the research interviews. I am indebted to them for sharing their thoughts and welcoming me into their homes and businesses.
Finally I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my husband, Riyaz Hakim. His comments, perceptions and patience have assisted me in navigating my way through these years of research. As my translator and tireless supporter he should share the credit of my work.
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ABSTRACT
This thesis and collaborative project is a result of my fourteen-year engagement of working with textile artisans in India. During this period, I have become aware of various issues that socially impact upon traditional craft communities through their work with an increasing number of foreign designers. In the Foreword of Designers meet Artisans, Indrasen Vencatachellum, UNESCO Chief, Section for Arts, Crafts and Design, asks “Can there be a well- balanced and mutually beneficial interaction between designers and artisans?” He discusses the need for the designer to act as an intermediary between the artisan and the consumer, “a 'bridge' between the artisan's know-how and his knowledge of what to make.” Through their innovative approaches, are foreign designers offering a range of opportunities for the artisans to evolve their creativity, or does the artisan's role become that of a producer with no reference to the artisan’s cultural context?
There is considerable documentation about foreign designers working with traditional textile artisans in India. These usually relate their experiences of social engagement with the artisans and resulting perceived benefits they provide. But as Dr Kevin Murray observes in his article Outsourcing the hand: An analysis of craft-design collaborations across the global divide the reportage is from the designer or NGO perspective, while the artisan’s viewpoint remains unrecorded. What about the artisan’s perspective on their collaborations with foreign designers? Does the relationship have a positive impact on their traditional communities? Through a series of interviews with artisans, I have established a dialogue that documents the operation of the artisans’ communities and their current concerns about their crafts, including their work with foreign designers.
Inclusion in all aspects of the design process and direct collaboration with foreign designers when creating a product seems pivotal to a more sustainable future. How can conventional inter-generational transfer of skills in artisan communities be brought into a contemporary business context to maintain the involvement of the artisan’s more educated children? Addressing these issues will ultimately benefit collaborations between foreign designers and Indian textile artisans by developing a heightened awareness of the requirements and realities experienced by both the designers and artisans.
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PREFACE
Although my early career focus was predominantly in the area of graphic design, when travelling throughout Asia, including India, I was always drawn to textile exhibitions, collectors and textile producers, particularly those using traditional techniques of weaving, dyeing and printing. However, it was not until a trip to Rajasthan in India in 2000 that a family friend, a gemstone dealer in Jaipur, asked me what I really wanted to do in life. My answer, that I wanted to create textile designs, led to some introductions to textile artisans in the area and the development of some of my designs. After some favourable encouragement from retailers in Sydney I proceeded, with my husband, to form our company Tradition Textiles. So I didn’t begin as a designer working in Australia who subsequently had the need to outsource to India for cheaper production costs, or to produce greater quantities; instead the business developed from the observation of materials and techniques used to produce traditional textiles in India that I could then utilise to realise my own design concepts. From the beginning, I have always valued the relationships developed with the artisans with whom I am working. Some have continued for long periods while others have finished. Usually the lasting collaborations are with artisans who share my own sense of aesthetics and are not afraid to experiment with ideas outside of their traditional comfort zone. They agree that their traditional skills and designs should always be evolving. During this period, I have witnessed that these collaborations impact upon the artisans’ work practices, their communities and their environment. I have become conscious of various issues that I consider should be addressed by foreign designers who, in increasing numbers, are working with traditional craft communities in India. This awareness has led to this study.
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CONTENTS iv
Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii
PREFACE iii LIST OF FIGURES vii MAP xii
PART I: RESEARCH STUDY Chapter One: Introduction – Significance and aims of study 1.1 Introduction to chapter 1 1.2 Background of study 1 1.3 Designer and artisan relationship 3 1.4 Aims of study 4 1.5 Rationale of research methods 5 1.5.1 Data collection, processing and analysis 5 1.5.2 Ethics clearance 6 1.5.3 Reflective analysis and limitations of the research 6 1.5.4 Associated project work: Volume II: Studio research 6
Chapter Two: Indian textile artisan communities and work practices 2.1 Introduction to chapter 8 2.2 Existing structures of Indian artisan communities: business models 9 2.3 Conclusion - the current situation of businesses involving textile 13 artisan communities in India
Chapter Three: Foreign designers working with textile artisans in India: historical overview and contemporary collaboration case studies 3.1 Introduction to chapter 14 3.2 Historical overview 14 3.3 Contemporary case study: Easton Pearson 16 3.4 Contemporary case study: Jodie Fried – Bholu 18 3.5 Contemporary case study: IOU Project 19 3.6 Conclusion 20
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Chapter Four: Indian textile artisans’ perspectives of their craft and collaborations with foreign designers: primary data interviews
4.1 Introduction to chapter 21 4.2 Research methodology 21 4.3 Artisan families, communities and skills - comparisons 23 and differences 4.4 Time and money perceptions 28 4.5 Technical and environmental changes and issues 30 4.6 Artisan design knowledge and experience with foreign designers 33 4.7 Artisan knowledge of products and markets 34 4.8 Conclusion – an overview 36 Chapter Five: Research conclusion
5.1 Introduction to chapter 38 5.2 Comparison of case studies and interviews 38 5.3 New considerations and approaches by foreign designers 39 5.4 Conclusion – new directions of research 41 Bibliography: Part I 43
PART II: COLLABORATIVE PROJECT Collaboration: People and Motifs Chapter One: The motif: the building block of traditional weaving, printing and embroidery textile design in India
1.1 Introduction to chapter 1 1.2 Motifs – an overview and use of the buta motif 1 1.3 Design composition adaptability 4 1.4 Conclusion 6 Chapter Two: Collaboration: People and Motifs
2.1 Introduction to chapter - Project Concept 7 2.2 Motif development and inspiration 7 2.3 Overview of participants in the collaborative project 10 2.4 Conclusion 11 Chapter Three: Project process
3.1 Introduction to chapter 13 3.2 Documentation of artisan’s participation in the studio project 13 – journal accounts 3.2.1 Crewel and chain stitch embroidery in Srinagar, Kashmir 13 3.2.2 Woodblock printing in Sanganer, Rajasthan 17 3.2.3 Appliqué embroidery in Barmer area, Rajasthan 19
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3.2.4 Sozni and aari embroidery in Srinagar, Kashmir 20 3.2.5 Bandhani embroidery and dyeing, Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat 24 3.3 Conclusion – comparative analysis and observations 26
Bibliography: Part II 28 Appendices 1 - 12: Transcripts of interviews 29 Transcript One 29 Transcript Two 31 Transcript Three 33 Transcript Four 35 Transcript Five 37 Transcript Six 39 Transcript Seven 41 Transcript Eight 43 Transcript Nine 45 Transcript Ten 47 Transcript Eleven 49 Transcript Twelve 52 Appendix 13 Collaboration: People and Motifs project book 54
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LIST OF FIGURES
PART I
Chapter Two: Indian textile artisan communities and work practices Figure 1: Woodblock maker in Sanganer Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 2: Dinesh Chhippa mixes inks for block printing Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 3: Crewel washerman takes completed rolls of crewel embroidered fabric for washing Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 4: Crewel embroiderer with Rehman Sofi Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 5: Appliqué embroiderer with Hitesh Taparia Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Chapter Three: Foreign designers working with textile artisans in India: historical introduction and contemporary collaboration case studies Figure 6: Piece of embroidered dress or furnishing fabric Gujarat; c.1725; for the Western market Cotton embroidered with silk (Warp 121cm, weft 83cm) TAPI COLLECTION 99.1827 Figure 7: Easton Pearson dress with traditional Rabari embroidery trim from Kutch area, Gujarat Wallace, Miranda and Queensland Art Gallery. Easton Pearson. South Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 2009. Exhibition catalogue. Print.
Figure 8: Bholu designs on cushions embroidered by women from Kutch area, Gujarat, accessed July 4, 2014 http://thedesignfiles.blogspot.in/2010/05/interview-jodie-fried-of- bholu.html
Figure 9: IOU Project webpage screenshot, accessed January 16, 2015 http://iouproject.com
Chapter Four: Indian textile artisans’ perspectives of their craft and collaborations with foreign designers: primary data interviews
Figure 10: Abdul Salim bandhani and tie dyer Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
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Figure 11: Bhukhu appliqué embroiderer with granddaughter Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 12: Fayaz Ahmad Jan, naqash or draftsman for crewel and chain stitch embroidery Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 13: Kunwar Pal’s woodblock carving workshop Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 14: Mohammed Ibrahim Dar works on a crewel embroidery piece of inferior quality Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 15: Misri Khan with zari embroidery piece Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 16: Misri Khan’s wife zari embroiders Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
PART II
Chapter One: The motif: the building block of traditional weaving, printing and embroidery textile design in India Figure 1: Waist sash (patka) (detail) Kashmir; c. early 1800s Pashmina (Warp 539.8cm, weft 96cm) TAPI COLLECTION 99.1764
Figure 2: Shawl (detail) Kashmir; c.1840 - 1860 Pashmina (Warp 324.5cm, weft 136cm) TAPI COLLECTION 97.1419 Figure 3: Sari, Baluchar Butedar (detail) Mushidabad district, West Bengal; c. early 1800s Silk (Warp 367, weft 113.5cm) TAPI COLLECTION 85.20 Figure 4: Woman’s veil or head covering (odhani) (detail) Rajasthan; c. late 1800s Cotton: printed adhesive (gum arabic) and gold leaf (Warp 253, weft 116cm) TAPI COLLECTION 99.1951 Figure 5: Rumal, cushion cover Suf embroidery Rajasthan; undated Cotton thread on cotton fabric and mirrors
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Vandana Bhandari, Costume, Textiles and Jewellery of India, 63
Chapter Two: Collaboration: People and Motifs Figure 6: Motif design no. 4 Inspired by mobile phone company logos Collaboration: People and Motifs book
Figure 7: Motif design no. 6 Inspired by wind farms Collaboration: People and Motifs book
Figure 8: Painted airtel advertisement in rural Rajasthan beside road between Jaipur and Delhi Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 9: Collaboration: People and Motifs project timeline
Chapter Three: Project Process
Figure 10: Fayaz Jan develops designs from the project motif book onto tracing paper for chain stitch embroidery Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 11: Rehman Sofi’s crewel and chain stitch workshop with embroidery wool hanging from the rafters Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 12: Mehraj experiments with colours embroidering wool onto a chain stitch stenciled fabric Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 13: Sample piece of chain stitch to test colours for the cushion design Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 14: Mehraj’s hand with hook used for crewel embroidery as he begins a new design on linen for a cushion Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 15: Rehman Sofi observes as Mehraj crewel embroiders stenciled linen fabric Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 16: Completed crewel embroidered cushion exhibit (detail) Linen embroidered with wool (50cm, 50cm) Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 17: Wood block printing inks mixed by Dinesh Chhipa to match the project book colour palette Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
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Figure 18: Testing the scarf design layout using the project woodblocks in printing workshop Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 19: Completed woodblock exhibit textile (detail) Silk (250cm, 110cm) Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 20: The project and motif book is explained to the appliqué group Digital colour photograph by Chhanan Lal
Figure 21: Bhukhu appliqué embroiders a stenciled fabric Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 22: Farooq Naqash rubs a mixture of kerosene and carbon through perforated tracing paper to print a design on a pashmina shawl ready for sozni embroidery Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 23: Farooq Naqash rubs a mixture of kerosene and chalk through perforated tracing paper to print a motif design on a black wool shawl ready for aari embroidery Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 24: Project colour palette with silk embroidery thread sampled onto a stenciled pashmina shawl Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 25: Abdul Ahad does sozni embroidery needlework on the pashmina shawl Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 26: Abdul Ahad selects thread colours for sozni embroidery on the second pashmina shawl design Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 27: Abdul Ahad begins sozni embroidery on the second pashmina shawl design Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 28: Urfi’s hand with the aari hook needle as she begins aari embroidery on the stenciled shawl Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett Figure 29: Urfi’s daughter watches as she does aari embroidery on a silk cushion design Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
Figure 30: Bandhani knots are tied using cotton along the stenciled design on silk ready for dyeing Digital colour photograph supplied by Jabbar Khatri
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Figure 31: Jabbar Khatri dyes bandhani embroidered fabric Digital colour photograph supplied by Jabbar Khatri Figure 32: Completed bandhani exhibit textile Silk (220cm, 110cm) Digital colour photograph by Deborah Emmett
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MAP OF INDIA: COMMUNITY LOCATIONS OF ARTISAN INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS
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Part I: Research Study Chapter One Introduction – Significance and aims of study 1.1 Introduction to chapter To begin a discourse about the relationship between foreign designers and traditional textile artisans in India, I consider that it is necessary to initially identify the current concerns in primarily Western*1 countries about the textile and fashion industry as well as the position of artisans working in India. Now-familiar terms such as eco fashion, design sustainability and ethical design increasingly appear in the marketing of Western fashion labels. As I discuss later using case studies, many contemporary fashion designers integrate a social consciousness into their design practice, some through their work with traditional textile artisans which incorporates artisan techniques into their designs.*2 Although the benefits of such collaborations cannot be underestimated, the position of artisan communities is generally problematic, a function of their low socio-economic status in Indian society, as discussed in the 2011 Crafts Economics and Impact Study (CEIS) by the Crafts Council of India.3 1.2 Background of study The degradation of our environment by human activities and the inequality of wealth distribution across global societies have been well-documented over the past two decades, and reported in the media.4 The fashion and textiles industry is a major contributor to these problems. As Sass Brown comments in Eco Fashion, The clothing and textile industry is one of the largest industries in the world, employing one sixth of the world’s population. It uses more water than any other industry apart from agriculture. It discharges toxic chemicals into the environment, uses huge amounts of energy and is a major contributor to global warming.5 International media coverage has exposed the poor and unsafe working conditions of many of the people employed in this industry, cruelly demonstrated by the collapse in April 2013 of the Rana Plaza, a garment manufacturing complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where 1,127 workers lost their lives.6 According to Reuters, the average
1 * Western is a commonly used term mainly referring to countries with European cultural heritage and developed economies.
2 * Contemporary Indian fashion designers within India also work with traditional textiles artisans but are outside the scope of this study
3 Crafts Council of India, Craft Economics and Impact Study (CEIS), April 2011, 12. 4 Media examples - http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/jul/28/species-extinction-hotspots- australia; Global Wealth Inequality - What you never knew you never knew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU 5 Sass Brown, Eco Fashion. (London, United Kingdom: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2010), 6. 6 Farid Hossain, “Bangladesh factory collapse: Search for bodies ends as death toll reaches 1127,” Toronto Star, May 13, 2013,
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 1 wage for those victims was only about US$64 a month.7 Such accumulated knowledge has served to inculcate a social consciousness in many art and design communities and as a result, the development of ethical design practices. In India, traditional crafts form the second largest employment base after agriculture. According to the CEIS around 200 million people are involved in the handicraft sector.8 These traditional artisans are mainly rural-based and belong to low socio-economic sectors of society. Their skills are learnt as apprentices, or passed on by family members outside the mainstream educational system. The artisan communities have developed their crafts intrinsically from the use of natural resources readily available in their local environments. Over the past twenty years, their aspirations modeled on the West, India has experienced tremendous industrial growth. Fast-growing urban populations have developed a taste for global brands of manufactured products and a disregard for anything that is rural and traditional. The artisan sector is considered primitive and unorganised, as Ritu Sethi explains in his observation of the artisan communities’ current position in Coming out of the Shadow: With an educational system de-linked from traditional knowledge systems this sector has experienced a systematic dwindling of its skills and accomplishments and a devaluation of their learning that constituted the repositories of the craft knowledge systems…. Economic growth has broken the link between sources of raw material and local communities, for instance cotton is no longer processed and woven in the areas in which is grown as it was in the past.9 As a result of these developments, many highly skilled artisans are seeking casual labour employment due to their lack of literacy and formal education. The artisans and their educated children believe that the future lies away from their traditional crafts. Paradoxically, there has been a simultaneous global awakening of the importance of artisans and their culture to a sustainable world. The CEIS describes the growth of ‘cultural economics’, wherein ‘there is recognition of the living fabric of community and social relationships that go beyond monetary value.’10 Increased environmental awareness has given significance to artisans’ traditional use of natural resources in the creation of their products. Consequently, new urban markets of consumers are developing for the products of traditional artisans because their ‘crafts inherently
http://www.thestar.com:business:2013:05:13:bangladesh_factory_collapse_search_for_bodies_ends_as _death_toll_reaches_1127.html. 7 Sarah Morris, “Bangladesh factory collapse: Clothes made for a tenth of retail price, documents show,” Toronto Star, May 14, 2013, http://www.thestar.com:news:world:2013:05:14:bangladesh_factory_collapse_clothes_made_for_a_ten th_of_retail_price_documents_show.html. 8 Crafts Council of India, CEIS, 1. 9 Ritu Sethi, "Coming out of the Shadow: Contextualising and Codifying Traditional Indigenous Knowledge of Craft Practice into Mainstream Education," Craft Revival Trust Voice, accessed July 2, 2013, http://www.craftrevival.org/voiceDetails.asp?Code=234. 10 Crafts Council of India, CEIS, 9.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 2 represent, to the patron of sustainable practice, a connect and concern with material, and the environment.’11 1.3 Designer and artisan relationship As is evident in many areas of art and design, fashion designers have long been inspired by the crafts of different cultures and countries. In the past, Western designers have copied traditional craft elements from other cultures and, according to their own interpretations, incorporated them into their designs. The clothing designs produced in this way kept in place the tastes of the designer’s market and were produced according to Western industry standards. However, with growing social consciousness, and the perceived link of traditional textile artisans with positive environmental practice, more designers are choosing to work directly with artisan communities. In India, foreign fashion designers have teamed up with NGOs (non- government organisations) or artisan community groups to use traditional embroidery, weaving, and printing techniques in their designs. The debate over what is termed ‘designer intervention’ with traditional artisan communities is ongoing among craft promoters, craft organisations and textile academics. Some fear that the artisan’s role will be reduced to that of mere producer and through the designer’s influence, the cultural context of the craft lost when the products are developed for a consumer market unknown to the artisans. This view necessitates attempting to understand and respect the historical, cultural and social contexts of the artisan communities with whom they engage. Artisan communities are generally geographically remote, and the artisan’s knowledge disconnected from current trends of the mostly urban and global markets. Indrasen Vencatachellum, UNESCO Chief, Section for Arts, Crafts and Design, asks ‘Can there be a well-balanced and mutually beneficial interaction between designers and artisans?’12 He discusses the need for the designer to act as an intermediary between the artisan and the consumer, “a 'bridge' between the artisan's know-how and his knowledge of what to make.”13 Given India’s history of European colonisation, Indian textile artisans have been exposed to interpretations of their designs for centuries, as will be discussed in Chapter Three. Case studies will demonstrate how artisans have adapted to new technologies, materials and design resources. Notwithstanding such adaptations, there are few examples where a traditional craft has ‘contemporized itself successfully and viably, whether for Indian or overseas markets…. Some exquisite forms of craft are simply dying out.’14 Given the market variations and ever-changing trends of fashion, it is difficult for the artisans to be competitive considering their lack of access and exposure to global consumers. Foreign designers have this knowledge and can therefore act as intermediaries between traditional textile artisans and a consumer market that prefers eco-friendly, handmade quality products.
11 Sharmila Wood, “Sustaining crafts and livelihoods: handmade in India,” Craft + Design Enquiry 3, 2011, accessed April 3, 2012, http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/cde/index.php/cde/article/viewFile/21/20. 12 Ritu Sethi, Cecilia Duque Duque and Indrasen Vencatachellum, eds., Designers Meet Artisans: A Practical Guide, (Craft Revival Trust, Artesanías de Colombia S A and U N E S C O), 2005, v. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid., 16.
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1.4 Aims of study Expressions of ecological, social and community engagement now feature in the marketing material of many global fashion companies. Websites, blogs and media articles provide accounts of foreign designers working with traditional textile artisans in India, usually relating their own experiences and the benefits they are providing the artisans by their support. But as Dr Kevin Murray observes in his article Outsourcing the hand: An analysis of craft-design collaborations across the global divide, the source of such reportage is the designer or NGO, with the artisan’s viewpoint remaining unrecorded. Murray recognises that organisations like UNESCO and the World Craft Council support cultural traditions that are endangered by modern phenomena such as globalisation, but even so, ‘it is still rare to hear the voice of the artisan, him or herself.’15 The Indian Government has historically been committed to the craft sector, a manifestation of the ethos of national identity fostered during Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom movement. Accordingly, some traditional artisans are well recognised for their expertise. Ashoke Chatterjee, in The Indian Craft: Sunrise or Sunset in a Global Market, states that ‘Unlike most developing countries, in India crafts have been given a place in national planning.’16 Jasleen Dhamija explains in her article From then to now17 that formerly, traditional craftsmen supplied the needs of local industry and households until the establishment in 1952 of the government organisation, All India Handicrafts and Handloom Board. Craft centres were located throughout India and had their needs assessed. The Central Cottage Industries Association was also established, to market the finest products of handicrafts through exhibitions. Dhamija observes that although artisans are represented by these government bodies, NGOs and craft academics are discussing policies that will influence the future of artisans who are themselves not included in the conversation. ‘Seminars should be organised by them [artisans] in their craft communities rather than in 5-star hotels where government officials, art historians, anthropologists sit and talk about the craftsmen who are either absent or a silent presence.’18 The fact remains that traditional textile artisans are generally rural-based, have poor literacy, and belong to low socio-economic sectors of Indian society. The practicalities of language differences, geographic distances and bureaucratic constraints can stymie even those foreign designers with the best of intentions to be in direct contact with the artisans. In my own experience as a designer, the initial contact when sourcing artisans to work with in India is frequently an agent or business owner based in the city. Fashion marketing focuses on the metropolitan centres, where the socially conscious consumer is increasingly demanding to know more of the story behind each hand-crafted product. It is necessary then, to go beyond the urban centres and record the voices from the rural environment to seek the artisans’ perspectives on their craft industry, including on their collaborations with foreign designers.
15 Kevin Murray, "Outsourcing the hand: An analysis of craft-design collaborations across the global divide," Craft + Design Enquiry 2, 2010, 4. 16 Ashoke Chatterjee, “The Indian Craft: Sunrise or Sunset in a Global Market,” Craft Revival Trust Voice (2006), accessed April 6, 2012, http://www.craftrevival.org:voiceDetails.asp%3FCode=106. 17 Jasleen Dhamija, “From then till now,” India together (June 2003), accessed April 7, 2012, http://www.indiatogether.org:2003:jun:eco-craftsnow.htm. 18 “From then till now.”
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1.5 Rationale of research methods The main objective of the research study is to
• establish direct communication with Indian artisans who are skilled in using traditional textile techniques • ascertain their viewpoints of the craft industry in contemporary times • learn about the artisans’ impressions of their experiences of working with foreign designers
As discussed earlier, there is limited existing research that records the ‘voice’ of the artisan. Therefore, I decided that the collection of the study’s primary data should be through a person-to-person interview process. To gain access to a cross-section of artisans, I relied upon my own established business connections within the Indian states of Kashmir and Rajasthan. I deliberately approached members working within different business models of textile artisans to gain varied perspectives of their crafts and experiences. This included arranging interviews with artisans who, as will be discussed in Chapter Two, are considered to be at the lower levels of business model hierarchies. 1.5.1 Data collection, processing and analysis A number of issues needed to be considered when arranging the interviews. Since many of the artisans’ communities are geographically remote, contact was usually through a third party with whom I had an existing business relationship. The long distances to some of the communities, travel time and seasonal conditions, as well as the time restraints of my being in India, were all issues to be factored into the interview schedule. Language barriers required the services of a translator who could speak Hindi, Urdu and English. Using iPad technology, the translator was able to translate the interview questions and answers as well as record the interviews. The positioning of the translator behind the iPad had the accidental effect of creating a positive focus throughout the interview process. Although I addressed and asked questions of the artisans in English, they kept their attention on me during the subsequent translation into either Hindi or Urdu. A connection through facial expressions and body language was established and created a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. The need for trust and informality was all the more crucial considering that some of the artisans interviewed were illiterate and had had limited, if any, contact with foreigners. Each interview commenced with questions primarily about on the participant’s background, experience and knowledge of their particular specialised textile area. The majority of the questions were structured in an open-ended format so that a range of opinions and personal views relating to their experiences as textile artisans could be gathered. The main themes of the questions related to
• their role as an artisan in the community • how they had developed their artisanal skills • their family’s involvement in the craft • finance and time perceptions
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• design knowledge and perspectives • access to and collaboration with foreign designers • changes in their craft – technical and environmental • changes in their craft through contact with foreign designers • knowledge of product use and consumer markets The interview process for the study involved a total of twelve participants. Each participant signed a consent form and the translator explained the purpose of the interview. 1.5.2 Ethics Clearance As the primary mode of research for this study involved an interview process, ethics clearance was required by the University of New South Wales. Two consecutive applications were made and approved by the Human Ethics HREA Panel B in 2011 and 2012. Each approval was valid for a period of twelve months and the interviews were held within those periods. As the interviews were conducted in India, ‘in country’ approval was required and obtained from the Indian Consulate in Sydney. The main issue that needed to be addressed in receiving ethics clearance revolved around Question 6 Selection and Recruitment of Participants of the Human Research Ethics Advisory (HREA) Application Form. It was considered that although the artisan participants were invited to take part in the interviews, an inequality would exist between the artisans and myself because they were unfamiliar with the presence of Westerners in their communities. This situation could be perceived as coercive. The fact that the interviews were prearranged, through aforementioned third parties before my arrival, resolved this problem. 1.5.3 Reflective analysis and limitations of the research The interview participants occupied positions across a broad range of Indian textile crafts, and skilled positions within each craft. Ironically, the requirement of arranging the interviews through a third party proved to be problematic when conducting the interviews. Often, because of difficulties locating the artisans’ villages or workshops in towns, the business contact would need to accompany the translator and myself to the interview. I perceived that their presence could intimidate the artisans, since they relied upon that person for business, or considered themselves of lower status in the artisan hierarchy than the contact. Where possible, and without causing offence, I asked them to leave once the interview commenced. Naturally, the main limitation was language differences. There are always nuances that are lost in translation, and asides and side exchanges missed which, although outside of the interview framework, could add informative insights to the content of the study. I was fortunate to have the same translator for all the interviews, as he developed a good understanding of additional relevant material to include in the translation. 1.5.4 Associated project work: Part II: Studio research The studio project has a direct correlation to the research study in its intention to further strengthen connections with textile artisan groups. I have developed a collaborative project, Collaboration: People and Motifs, with artisans to produce a
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 6 body of work that will be presented in an exhibition in April 2015. In some instances, artisans who took part in the interview process have also agreed to be involved in the collaborative studio project. Other artisans I have approached will only be involved in developing designs for the exhibition. From my initial research as well as from my own design experience, I determined that a motif is the basic design unit of any Indian textile technique, including embroidery, weaving, and printing. The rationale for this decision is discussed using the example of the ubiquitous buta motif in Part II of the thesis. With this in mind, I developed a book of motif designs (Appendix 13) based on signs and objects that would be commonly recognised in both Australian and Indian contexts. Copies of the motif book, which also provides a limited colour palette, were given to the artisans. The artisans were then asked to create their own designs using any of the supplied motifs according to their preference and from these, develop textile pieces using their particular artisanal skill. Mainly, this process involved a group of artisans completing one design. The body of creative work is summarised within this thesis as Part II: Collaborative Project - Collaboration: People and Motifs. By including visual and written documentation of the time spent with each of the artisan participants in the studio project, my aim was to give a stronger voice to the artisan’s experience of working with foreign designers.
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21
Chapter Two Indian textile artisan communities and work practices 2.1 Introduction to chapter In a discussion of the relationship and collaboration work between foreign designers and Indian textile artisans, it is first necessary to ascertain how these connections are established. By examining the various business models involving artisans, including those who participated in the research interviews, I intend to delineate the business framework that designers must comprehend before working collaborations can be developed. In keeping with the context of the rural environment of the majority of artisans, their work is often interrelated with agriculture or other activities. Some work full-time as artisans, and part-time in agricultural production or some other form of labour to supplement their incomes. Other artisans work seasonally full-time on their craft and then at other times of the year combine their artisanal work with rural labour. For example, in Kashmir the crewel embroiderers sit in their hamans (heated rooms) during the long winter months and embroider, while in spring and summer they undertake agricultural planting and harvesting activities along with their crewel work. The flexibility of roles performed by an artisan is apparent throughout an entire textile artisan community. Indeed, the location of the work can vary from the artisans’ homes to workshops or small factories. Usually a textile business or community will be based around a key technical process that requires highly developed skills like weaving or embroidery. Linked to this technique are preprocessing and certain post processes that require varying levels of skills. For example, for both weaving and embroidery, yarn has to be dyed while the completed pieces are sent for washing. Before block printing can commence, the woodblocks are carved and inks mixed.
Figure 1: Woodblock maker in Figure 2: Dinesh Chhippa Sanganer mixes inks for block printing
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Figure 3: Crewel washerman takes completed rolls of crewel embroidered fabric for washing
Traditionally, textile artisans conceived and designed products using local materials. The artisans knew the purpose or end use of the products. Because they were not mass-produced or standardized, each item had a unique element. Many of the pieces were made according to the cultural context of the artisan’s own community; garments were embroidered, for example, for family weddings, and the surplus sold locally. Unfortunately, local markets have diminished with the population shift to cities, and consumers are being enticed to buy, through successful marketing campaigns, manufactured products from the industrial sector in India. Often, this has forced artisans to also leave their traditional communities. As Designer Meets Artisans observes, ‘Propelled by loss of markets, loss of skill, or the inability to provide what the market requires, rural artisans have undertaken large scale migration to urban centres in search of low and unskilled employment.’19 2.2 Existing structures of Indian artisan communities: business models The 2011 Craft Economics and Impact Study states that the current Indian handicraft sector ‘operates through large, flexible and fluid networks of multiple small agents.’20 Artisans from social sectors where disadvantage is compounded by low literacy and education levels lack familiarity with urban living, with the result that most are now part of a ‘piece-rate’ payment system. According to CEIS, market savvy entrepreneurs enlist the skills of artisans who work at home, with women representing 50% of this
19 Sethi et al., Designers Meet Artisans, 18. 20 Crafts Council of India, CEIS, 16.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 9 number.21 Such relationships can be binding when the businessman has made a capital investment in the requisite equipment, or a loan to the artisan for production materials in particular. While interviewing Rehman Sofi of Sofi Handicrafts in Srinagar, Kashmir, I observed the operation of a form of the above business model. Women crewel embroiderers came to Sofi’s workshop with completed crewel fabric lengths that they had produced in their homes and for which they then received payment. Sofi supplied them with more stenciled cotton fabric lengths and dyed wool yarn. These materials were weighed separately before distribution, and unused materials returned after the embroidery was completed (Figure 1). Payment was calculated by the weight of the completed embroidered fabric after deducting the original weight of the stenciled fabric and returned wool. Similarly, near Barmer, Rajasthan, I watched women appliqué embroiderers deliver their finished work to Hitesh Taparia, secretary of an NGO based in Barmer (Figure 2). Taparia, or one of his team, provided the women with materials and stenciled fabric lengths with which they returned to their often distant homes to appliqué embroider. Payment was made according to a prearranged price for each completed embroidery piece.
Figure 4: Crewel embroiderer with Rehman Sofi
21 Ibid., 29
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Figure 5: Appliqué embroiderer with Hitesh Taparia
Other entrepreneurs provide a workshop employing five to fifteen artisans. These businesses are often unregistered, or registered as local businesses without export licences. A participant in the research interviews, Dinesh Chhipa, began his woodblock-printing factory in 2001 in Sanganer, Rajasthan. He explains why he established his own factory. This is my family’s work. My father, my grandfather, we are all chhipas or woodblock printers. Chhipa is our caste. I have six brothers and they are all chhipas. All my brothers have had separate printing businesses for the last fifteen years. We were a joint family but with marriages and children the family got too big so we made separate businesses. Our children get better education when we have separate businesses.22 Dinesh Chhipa employs ten printers and although some are from Sanganer, most are from other Indian states, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (UP). Although trained as printers, these men were faced with unemployment in their home states and so forced to move to find work. Dinesh Chhipa claimed that his employees ‘have fixed pay and are paid twice a week, RS350 [AUD$7 in 2012] per day for eight hours.’23
Kunwar Pal, a woodblock maker and another interview participant, is also from Uttar Pradesh but now has his small woodblock-carving workshop in Sanganer, Rajasthan. Although block printing is still done in Uttar Pradesh the craft is more popularly associated with Rajasthan. Pal explained, ‘Basically this trade started in Farrukhabad in UP, but the printing business died down there so the block makers had to move to
22 Dinesh Chhipa, block printer, interview by author, Sanganer, Rajasthan, December 22, 2012.
23 Ibid.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 11 where the block printing was taking place like in Rajasthan. They have gone wherever printing is being done.’24
Of this situation, the CEIS believes ‘there is a need to understand that migration for work, even as casual labour on exploitative contractual terms has its attractions for artisans faced with financial crisis, fear of shrinking demand, uncertainty because of the marketing bottlenecks, usury and indebtedness.’25 Many textile artisans remain in their traditional communities and often attempt to sustain their craft businesses by relying upon government schemes and grants. As mentioned earlier, the Indian government has been historically supportive of Indian handicrafts. Many craft promoters and textile academics believe that the revival of Indian craft production arose from Mahatma Gandhi’s khadi (hand-spun cloth) campaigns, and strengthened under Nehru’s socialism, when efforts were made by the Indian government to promote crafts and related village industries. In Crafting the Nation in Colonial India, Abigail McGowan claims that support for traditional Indian handicrafts had begun earlier, by both British colonial officials and Indian nationalists, as evidenced by the positive response to Indian crafts at the Great Exhibition in 1851. But this emphasis on tradition, as McGowan points out, ‘rendered Indian skills ethnographic, not industrial.’26 In this way, artisans were seen as separate from India’s modern technical development, and policies were made about traditional crafts without consultation with them.
This exclusion of traditional artisans, and textile artisan communities, from policy development has continued, as reported in 2011:
Over the years, authorities at the centre and in the states have operated a large number of schemes toward lifting the capacities of artisans. These have included design and technology transfers, awards and opportunities for sales and exhibitions. Despite the range of these supports (many of them operated through NGOs), outcomes have been far from satisfactory, often reflecting a disconnect between official schemes and the reality of shifting markets, limited understanding of artisans’ motivations, the absence of artisans’ participation in decision-making, ever-pervasive corruption, and the domination of growth models that are insensitive to the artisanal culture and the potential of tradition.27
In an Indian government program, the title of Master Craftsman is bestowed upon eligible artisans whose products are included in the exhibitions. One such recognised Master Craftsman is Misri Khan, an artisan embroidery group leader in remote Darasat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan. I discussed with him the benefits of this title. Although he was pleased to have had the opportunity to travel to Delhi for government organised exhibitions, Khan did not consider that these events contributed to the sustainability of his business. ‘When we have been exhibiting in Delhi foreigners have bought products from us but as I don’t have an export licence, I have not had any repeat orders from them nor am I in contact with those people.’ He
24 Kumar Pal, woodblock maker, interview by author, Sanganer, Rajasthan, December 22, 2012. 25 Crafts Council of India, CEIS, 12. 26 Abigail McGowan, Crafting the Nation in Colonial India (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 62. 27 Crafts Council of India, CEIS, 11
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 12 continued, ‘We are running on losses doing this work. We have taken loans from the government and others to do this work. We are very poor and don’t have exposure to the Western market and so don’t get the money we need. With interest on loans we are running on losses.’28
2.3 Conclusion – the current situation of businesses involving textile artisan communities in India
Textile crafts in India remain mostly an activity of predominantly rural areas, whereas the market is increasingly urban, if not global. Artisans who remain in these communities, practicing traditional skills with traditional technology to create their products, are unable to compete with cheaper machine-manufactured goods. They are also without knowledge of the urban-based consumer markets. If, alternatively, they leave their communities to seek work in urban centres, they are often exposed to exploitive middlemen and traders, or forced to find labouring work where their traditional skills are not required.
The self-perception of the artisans as hand-based practitioners trained as apprentices by masters or by family members has also had an effect on their communities. With education being promoted as an instrument of mobility, for moving away from ‘labour’, many artisans believe that children's futures lie in careers elsewhere. As Ruti Seth concludes, ‘Compounding the crisis is the lack of interest in the younger generation of craft families in continuing craft practice due to perceived practices and inequalities of status. The underlying belief that information garnered from text books is superior to received oral knowledge has added to the problem.’29 In consequence, many of the traditional textile skills might unfortunately be lost.
28 Misri Khan, artisan embroidery group leader, interview by author, Darasat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, January 6, 2012. 29 "Coming out of the Shadow.”
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Chapter Three Foreign designers working with textile artisans in India: historical overview and contemporary collaboration case studies 3.1 Introduction to chapter From the time of colonial control to the present, companies in developed countries, including textile and fashion corporations, have looked at India, as well as other parts of Asia, as a source of cheap labour. ‘Transnational corporations endlessly relocate factories to the zones of lowest-cost labour… providing themselves with a workforce which is low-paid, non-unionised, and which will have job security only as long as it stays that way.’30 An increasing number of international designers are now challenging the way the global textile and fashion industry is conducted, questioning the existing business model structures of ‘well-established methodologies, with minimal changes applied to sourcing, production and logistics since mass production began.’31 These designers now seek to enact their social consciousness and ecological awareness in their business practice, often in response to their customers, who are demanding greater transparency about and traceability of the products they purchase. An example of this ethical design ethos is that of foreign designers increasingly working with textile artisans in India. Given the concerns about the current situation of traditional textile artisans as discussed, the intervention of foreign designers might possibly represent a positive contribution to the sustainability of traditional crafts. Designer Meets Artisans suggests that through their intervention, designers can be ‘an interface between tradition and modernity, helping match craft production to the needs of modern living.’32 Further, considering the artisans’ lack of knowledge about urban and global markets, they ‘need designers to bridge the gap and allow them to compete with the products and practices of modern industrialisation.’33
When developing business arrangements with traditional textile artisans in India, an acknowledgment of the unequal relationship between foreign designers and the artisans needs to be addressed. While the artisans’ skills and inherently safe environmental practices are appreciated, their low economic status makes them vulnerable to exploitation by foreign investors. New collaborative business models have begun to be developed, wherein the foreign designer’s intention is to empower the artisans with whom they work both competitively and financially in global markets.
3.2 Historical overview Textile artisans in India have had a long engagement with foreign countries over many centuries through trade. Their products were initially sent to South East Asia, with some Indian textiles being imported into Indonesia as early as the 13th and 14th
30 P Childs, RJP Williams and P Williams, An Introduction to Post-colonial Theory (London: Prentice Hall Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997), 6. 31 Sass Brown, Eco Fashion, 141. 32 Sethi et al., Designers Meet Artisan, 4. 33 Ibid., 4.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 14 centuries.34 Influences have been established between Indian textile prototypes and Indonesian production of block-printed and ikat woven textiles. Ruth Barnes writes in Trade, Temple and Court - Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection, ‘Textiles have been – and still are – a major transmitter of design and technology, and they tend to convey considerable social meaning.’35 Although the textile motifs were created by Indian artisans, some adaptations were made for the foreign customer. For example, 16th century Gujarati textile fragments traded to Egypt commonly feature a linked medallion design and are mostly dyed indigo blue, while similar block-printed cloths traded to Sulawesi during the same period are predominantly red with bold patterning. As Diana Wood Conroy states in Fabric of Change Trading Identities, ‘Trade was both the impetus for and an outcome of colonial expansion.’36 Western countries’ interest in trading with India began with the procuring of spices, soon after large-scale trading of Indian textiles was established. From the 14th century, embroidered bed quilts from the Portuguese trading post of Satgaon (just north of modern Kolkata) were exported. Based on the local Indian kantha embroidery, the motifs consisted of Indian ornament combined with depictions of European soldiers and galleons. The coats-of-arms of Portuguese families were often worked into the designs. With the establishment of the British East India Company in 1602, textile trade from India began in earnest with large quantities of cottons and silks being exported to Britain and Europe. By 1643, East India Company officials were making recommendations about changes in pintado, or painted textile designs, that would be more attractive to British customers, ‘with more white ground, and the flowers and branch to be in colours in the middle of the quilt as the painter pleases, whereas now the most part of your quilts come with sad red grounds, which are not equally sorted to please buyers.’37 By 1662, designs were being sent to India to be copied by the Indian artisans. In fact, when specific design instructions sent from London were not followed, sales of the textiles in the British markets were greatly reduced. Unique designs that were developed for individual markets – whether in South East Asia, the Middle East or Europe – varied considerably to Indian textiles designed for local consumption. Nevertheless, the quality of the fabrics, the excellence of the weaving, dyeing, printing and embroidery techniques, and importantly, that the colours were fixed, and so permanent, ensured that Indian textiles held an enduring attraction for foreign markets. When examining the cotton twill dress or furnishing fabric embroidered in silk in Gujarat c.1725 (Figure 6), it is evident that the piece was commissioned for the Western market. Its subtle colour palette and hybrid of different components, including influences from Elizabethan and Jacobean embroideries as well as Persian and Chinese elements, were popular in European fashion trends of the time. The historical influence of design intervention as applied to Indian textiles by foreign designers has been continuous into contemporary times.
34 Ruth Barnes, Steven Cohen, and Rosemary Crill, Trade, Temple and Court - Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection, (Mumbai: India Book House Pvt Ltd, 2002), 14. 35 Ibid., 15. 36 Diana Wood Conroy, Fabrics of Change Trading Identities, (NSW Australia: The Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, April 2004), 5. 37 Barnes et al., Trade, Temple and Court, 91.
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Figure 6: Piece of embroidered dress or furnishing fabric Gujarat; c.1725; for the Western market Cotton embroidered with silk (Warp 121cm, weft 83cm)
3.3 Contemporary case study: Easton Pearson The Brisbane-based fashion house Easton Pearson is renowned for its commissioned fabrics, many of which are developed in India. Discussing the influences behind their designs, Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson say on their company website that ‘Our references are drawn from varied terrain: from Indian, African and European sources, from historical predecessors, from vintage clothes, from museums, archives and films, from books and our own travels with our families.’38 Their design concepts are realised using embroidery, beading, printing and dyeing techniques on a variety of materials, mostly natural. Although their clothing is cut and assembled by hand in the Easton Pearson workroom in Brisbane, the fabrics have been embroidered in a studio in Mumbai by artisans who work exclusively for them. ‘The handwork skills of the studio's craftsmen….combines with long experience – over 17 years – of working exclusively with Easton Pearson's non-traditional designs, to produce extraordinarily vibrant and intense flourishes of embroidery and beading.’39
Easton and Pearson travel regularly around different parts of India, spending time working with different craftspeople and researching textile techniques. They say that they regard India as their spiritual home. Their respect for traditional textile art is such
38 "Easton Pearson History” Easton Pearson, accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.eastonpearson.com/history 39 Wallace, Miranda and Queensland Art Gallery, Easton Pearson (South Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 2009), 12.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 16 that ‘many of the textiles they commissioned in India had not been produced for several decades.’40 The Easton Pearson company has therefore played an important role in reviving textile techniques. Nevertheless, the economic and social inequalities between the designers and artisans characterise what is a disparate relationship; although the skills of the artisans are recognised, there is no documentation of their viewpoints about the designs nor of their understanding of the purpose of the work available in Easton Pearson catalogues or on their website. Easton and Pearson discuss the complexities of working with artisans in a developing country like India from their point of view, for example, ‘they always face a challenge in persuading the desert women (of Gujarat) to accept their packages of sewing – compared to the indigenous colourways, the women dislike the pale colours and anemic palette. In placing scissors and needles in the packages to tempt the women, a great deal is said about the dilemma of the West in interacting with the poorest in the developing world.’41
Figure 7: Easton Pearson dress with traditional Rabari embroidery trim from Kutch area, Gujarat
40 Ibid., 111. 41 Ibid., 112.
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Figure 8: Bholu designs on cushions embroidered by women from Kutch area, Gujarat
3.4 Contemporary case study: Jodie Fried - Bholu Some foreign designers use the production process as a means of interacting and assisting in the development of artisan communities in India. Australian Jodie Fried developed her company Bholu after her experience of working with communities ravaged by the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat. Assisting as an aid for an NGO in a traditional village in the desert region of Kutch in Western Gujarat state, near the Pakistan border, her job was to build and decorate huts.42 Here, she observed the beautiful embroidery the women did for their own clothing. Traditionally, the embroideries introduced a bride into her groom's family. Later Fried returned with her own designs and had samples developed. The women were amused by their simplicity, and ‘laughed at the lack of sophistication of my designs and thought that their “bholu” could do better! Bholu meaning a small child, often a term of endearment to a grandchild.’43 Fried’s contemporary designs have little in common with the traditional embroidery motifs of Kutch, yet the Bholu website markets its homewares as ‘individually hand-embroidered or handwoven using ancient techniques, giving each product its own unique and original personality.’44 The women embroiderers are, however, receiving work based on their traditional crafts and some degree of financial independence. In 2005, Fried conducted drawing workshops in the pre-schools of Ahmedabad for the children of the slum communities. Her concerns about the lack of safe, hygienic pre- school facilities for these underprivileged children led to the establishment of the Anganwadi Project. In collaboration with the NGO Manav Sandhna, she established a pre-school, Bholu 1, in the slum area. The humanitarian project has expanded with the building of thirteen more pre-schools with the volunteer assistance of Architects Without Frontiers Australia. Part of the profits from the sale of Bholu products goes
42 "Bholu: Contemporary Homewares Combining East and West." Soul Economy 1 December 1, 2012, accessed April 25, 2013, http://www.souleconomy.com/bholu/. 43 "Bholu.” 44 “About Bholu,” Bholu, accessed April 25, 2013, http://www.bholu.com/about/.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 18 to the Anganwadi Project. A growing number of designers are, like Jodie Fried, incorporating the sustainability of the traditional craft communities that inspire their work into their companies’ business models. This may include the development of educational and health programs. Documentation of Bholu accomplishments on their website and other marketing material is predominantly visual, comprising photographs of smiling Indian women and their children. While this appeals to a compassionate Western audience, no account of the artisans’ own experiences or the reality of their day-to-day lives is given. The Bholu website claims accountability by adhering to Fair Trade Standards and by operating with social, ethical and environmental responsibility. 3.5 Contemporary case study: IOU Project Like Easton Pearson, the designers of the IOU Project have their clothing range cut and assembled in their own workrooms, in their case, in Europe. The fabric used for each item is a two-metre textile called a lungi, which for centuries has been hand- woven in the Tamil Nadu region of India. Each woven lungi is marked with a code that identifies the individual weaver of the fabric as well as the artisan company that assembled it, so that the piece can be traced back to its source by the IOU Project via their website.
Kavita Parmar, fashion designer and cofounder of the IOU Project, was born in India and is now based in Spain. She travelled around India and spent time talking to the 246 artisan families of weavers involved in her enterprise to understand their craft and their business model. Parmar explains, ‘We are helping them open up another market. They have been struggling to compete with machine-made goods in their traditional markets. We do not interfere with their traditional weaving or design processes, but take the fabrics they make and then design the pieces and the final garment in Europe.’ She considers that the designer’s role is to develop a product with a modern aesthetic ‘while learning a lot about the craft from the artisan.’45
The IOU Project encourages its customers to take an active role in the design process, using social media to tell the story of how each item of clothing was created in a completely traceable way. According to the IOU Project website, ‘When a customer purchases and then receives the piece through the IOU Project site, they’ll find that each piece has a QR code. Each code takes the customer back to the artisans involved in making that piece. Using the code, we encourage the customer to upload their picture wearing that piece to complete the story.’46 The traditional Indian handloom weavers are then able to see the ultimate stage of the production process they began. Bringing the customer’s awareness to the weavers of the fabrics and the complexities of process and time involved, IOU believes, encourages responsible consumption. IOU consider that by demonstrating such transparency in the design process and involving the customer in the story, a sense of shared responsibility for sustainability by supplier, designer and customer will be established.
45 “The IOU Project: Weaving Hope,” Source 4 Style, February 2012, accessed April 23, 2012. http://blog.iouproject.com/?p=2025. 46 Regina Connell, “The Big Picture: IOU Project/Kavita Parmar,” Handful of Salt, April 2012, accessed April 23, 2012. http://www.handfulofsalt.com/?p=11798
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Figure 9: IOU project webpage
3.6 Conclusion
The case study examples demonstrate that the involvement of contemporary foreign designers with textile artisan communities in India can create benefits, given that artisans’ livelihoods are in danger of collapsing due to their lack knowledge of contemporary designs and products for new markets. There is evidence that foreign designers are providing opportunities for the survival of traditional textile techniques that would otherwise be lost. Access to new markets can improve the economic status of the artisans, while connected social enterprises established by foreign designers assist the artisans and their wider communities.
Nevertheless, there is a need, as discussed in Designers Meet Artisans, for foreign designers to study and understand the crafts and traditional products that they are trying to redevelop, in order to instill sensitivity towards the needs of the artisans and also to minimise the space for exploitative middlemen and traders.47 Direct interaction between the foreign designer and the artisans would seem to be the best way to achieve this balance. Such collaborations would demonstrate that the commitment of the designer to ethical design practice is not merely a marketing strategy designed to appeal to the social conscience of their customer base.
47 Sethi et al., Designers Meet Artisans, 9.
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Chapter Four
Indian textile artisans’ perspectives of their craft and collaborations with foreign designers: primary data interviews
4.1 Introduction to chapter
The primary data for this research study consisted of a series of twelve interviews with artisans involved in traditional textile practices in India conducted between 2012 and 2013. Following each interview, I made a written transcription of the artisan’s responses to the same set of questions with assistance in translation from the Hindi or Urdu recorded by a translator on an iPad during the course of each interview (Appendix 1). Diversity of textile crafts, as well as in age, gender, social position and religion existed among the interview participants. Despite these differences, it became apparent that when questioned about aspects of the handcraft industry in India, the artisans held many shared perceptions. This encouraged me to conclude that the interviews were valuable in developing an overview of the artisans’ insights into their own position in the handcraft textile industry. The interview questions relating to the artisans’ experiences in working with foreign designers elicited greater disparities. Although all the artisan interviewees had been involved in work for foreign designers, including my own and others’ textile ranges, some participants had never met the designers, nor indeed any foreigner.
4.2 Research methodology
To make an assessment of the interviews, I developed a process of comparative analysis broadly based on similarities and differences between the artisan interviewees on themes covered in the interview questions. These areas were • artisan families, communities and skills • time and money perceptions • technical and environmental changes and issues • artisan design knowledge and experience with foreign designers • artisan knowledge of products and markets For example, when discussing craft skills and training, distinctions were made between those artisans who learnt their craft through their families, those who did an apprenticeship, and those who had no training.
As outlined in Chapter One, the interview style was structured in an open-ended format to gather a range of opinions and personal views relating to the interviewees’ experiences as textile artisans. Certain findings verified information already acknowledged in the 2011 Craft Economics and Impact Study (CEIS), and by craft academics and organisations involved in what are referred to by UNESCO as cultural industries. Maureen Liebl, a crafts administrator, scholar and consultant in India, defines cultural industries as ‘those aspects of a culture that can form the basis of a
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 21 marketable product.’48 The Indian handicraft sector, including traditional textile crafts, is recognised as a cultural industry in which cultural knowledge and creativity are used to produce goods. Although there has been growth in this sector, Liebl surmises that:
The majority of craft persons in India still live lives that are far from ideal, that too small a percentage of the industry’s earnings reaches the actual producers, that policy needs are immense, and that economic gain has been offset, at least to some extent, by loss of meaning and integrity of form.49
As observed earlier by Dhamija, policy pertaining to the welfare and future of artisans in India is discussed and developed by government officials, academics and craft organisations without the input or consultation of the artisans themselves. The point of difference of this research study is that it records the artisans’ opinions, relationships between the artisans and their communities, and thoughts about their future. The recognition of relational structures is fundamental to understanding Indian artisan communities. In the West, craftspeople typically develop reputations for their individual skills usually by working independently in the design and making of their products. In India, by contrast, artisans work within a collaborative community in which a series of interdependent relationships contribute towards producing their handicrafts. Each artisan’s specific skill has a part to play in the production of the finished object. While each of the artisan participants in this research study was interviewed independently, there were existing established relationships between some of them. Although they were not asked about these, they became apparent. As a way of introducing the interviewees, I have grouped them according to these connections that, on first viewing, will appear geographic. This is of course true, since different textile crafts develop in clusters and therefore, those craftspeople involved in a particular textile technique live in proximity to each other. For the artisans from Kashmir and the Barmer area of Rajasthan, their textile crafts have been historically and culturally endemic to those areas, while in Sanganer in Jaipur, artisans have moved there from other parts of India as it has developed into a centre for woodblock printing and other textile crafts.
The connections between each of the artisans in the following three groups will be discussed within the context of the interview questions theme areas.
• Abdul Salim, bandhani/tie-dyer, (age 46) from Sanganer, Jaipur, Rajasthan Bani Prasad, block printer, (age 58) from Jaipur Dinesh Chhipa, block printer, (age 35) from Sanganer, Jaipur Kunwar Pal, woodblock maker, (age 45) living in Sanganer, Jaipur Prakash Dosi, designer/fabricator, (age 62) living in Jaipur
48 Maureen Liebl, "Jodhpur: The Most Creative of Communities," (paper presented at Asia-Pacific Creative Communities: A Strategy for the 21st Century Senior Expert Symposium, Jodhpur, India. Jodhpur, India, 2005), http://cms2.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/culture/Cultural_Industries/presentations/Opening_S ession_-_Maureen_Liebl.pdf, 2. 49 Ibid., 5.
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• Bhukhu, appliqué embroiderer, (age 70) from Maharbat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan Chhanan Lal, appliqué stencil maker and cutter, (age 37) Chauten Village, near Barmer Hitesh Taparia, NGO secretary, (age 35) Barmer Misri Khan, artisan embroidery group leader, (age 68) Darasat Village, near Barmer
• Rehman Sofi, owner of Sofi Handicrafts, (age 60) from Srinagar, Kashmir Fayaz Ahmad Jan, crewel and chain stitch draftsman or naqash, (age 48) from Srinagar Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, crewel embroiderer, (age 56) from Redwani Village, Kulgam District, near Anantnag, South Kashmir50
4.3 Artisan families, communities and skills - comparisons and differences Many artisans learn their skills from other members of their family. The skills are passed down from one generation to the next. In Hindi chhipa denotes the woodblock printer caste, so Dinesh Chhipa’s name identifies his profession. As mentioned earlier, his grandfather, father, and now his six brothers as well as Dinesh Chhipa are all woodblock printers. Originally they all worked together but since their families have grown they have divided their business so that now Dinesh Chhipa has his own workshop where he employs about ten printers. He built the workshop and lives above it with his family. In fact, Dinesh Chhipa rarely prints now but manages his business, undertaking activities such as mixing of printing inks, taking product orders, checking and distribution. Bani Prasad is employed in the workshop as the head block printer. Also from Jaipur, he learnt to block print from his father but is now the only member of his family involved in the craft, as ‘my sisters and brothers have other jobs. My brother never learnt block printing and my wife does not want to do it.’51 Similarly, Abdul Salim, a master dyer of tie-dyed and bandhani textiles, is ‘not in an artisans’ group, it is my family’s business. I learnt this craft from my parents and began the work when I was ten years old.’52 Abdul Salim works from his home with all the members of his immediate family involved, including his wife. In the narrow alley outside their home a large vat of dye was boiling at the time of the interview.
50 *Some of the interview participants are Hindu and others Muslim, but religion was not a focus of this research study. 51 Bani Prasad, block printer, interview by author, Sanganer, Rajasthan, January 8, 2012. 52 Abdul Salim, bandhani/ tie dyer, interview by author, Sanganer, Rajasthan, December 31, 2013.
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Figure 10: Abdul Salim, bandhani and tie dyer
In other circumstances, the migration of a family group to an area where a particular textile craft is practised resulted in family members becoming involved. Chhanan Lal, appliqué stencil maker and cutter, lives in Chauten Village, near Barmer, an area in Rajasthan known for appliqué and mirror work embroidery. He explained how his family came to do appliqué work. ‘My family migrated from Pakistan in 1971. Originally we did this work for families for wedding dresses et cetera, it was confined to the homes. Everyone in my family knows this work. Gradually this work became more popular and everyone in the village that I come from does this work so I learnt there.’53
Bhukhu, appliqué embroiderer, from Maharbat Village, near Barmer, learnt her embroidery skills by watching her parents when they got work from Barmer, ‘Then I went to Barmer and did it. First with a bigger stitch and now with this fine stitch.’54
53 Chhanan Lal, appliqué stencil maker and cutter, interview by author, Chauten Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, January 5, 2012. 54 Bhukhu, appliqué embroiderer, interview by author, Maharbat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, January 5, 2012.
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Figure 11: Bhukhu, appliqué embroiderer, with granddaughter
Although the women do the embroidery work in this region, the men are also involved. In remote Darasat village, some 60km from Barmer lives an artisan community who specialise in mirror work and zari thread embroidery. Misri Khan is the community’s leader. This region of Rajasthan is very close to India’s border with Pakistan and the embroidery work has historically and culturally been done throughout the Sindh area on both sides of the current political border. Khan obtains the raw materials – threads, mirrors, beads – and distributes them to the women who do the embroidery after he has put the stencil designs on the fabrics.
Another way in which artisans develop their skills is through apprenticeships. Their training focuses on a particular technique that is part of the process in the production of a textile craft. Again, these artisans are attracted to the craft because it is produced in their geographic areas although other members of their families may not be involved in it. Fayaz Ahmad Jan, crewel and chain stitch embroidery draftsman or naqash, owns his own business in Srinagar, Kashmir, but was trained by the master, Khurshid Ahmad, as an apprentice. He explains his craft: We are called naqash and the literal meaning of naqash is to copy a design onto tracing paper with certain modifications. I have been doing this trade for the last fourteen years and so have become an expert. I can sit with people like you or the local people who I do the work with and make designs.55
55 Fayaz Ahmad Jan, crewel and chain stitch draftsman or naqash, interview by author, Srinagar, Kashmir, June 16, 2012.
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Figure 12: Fayaz Ahmad Jan naqash or draftsman for crewel and chain stitch embroidery
Through the perforated tracing paper the design is printed onto metres of fabric and given to the embroiderers. Kashmir is well known for the crewel and chain stitch textiles produced mainly in the south of the state. Both men and women do crewel embroidery and although many learn their skills from other family members, some train with well-respected artisans. Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, a crewel embroiderer from Redwani Village, Kulgam District, near Anantnag in South Kashmir, discussed with us his training:
I learnt this art from Mohammed Maqbool Shah in this village about 25 to 30 years ago. He taught five to ten people this work and they are now considered the best embroiderers. He used to give us very little money as we were taught. We realize that now. I don’t know where Shah learnt to embroider. It has been done for centuries in this area of South Kashmir so he may have learnt from someone in Islamabad or Anantnag.56 Kunwar Pal, a woodblock maker, owns his own woodblock- carving workshop in Sanganer, Jaipur, where many of the woodblock-printed fabrics of Rajasthan are produced. Although Kunwar Pal now lives with his family in Sanganer he is from Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh where he learnt the trade from a master block maker. He moved to Rajasthan where the woodblock printing industry still thrives, and also now teaches the craft. The remaining interview participants do not practise particular artisanal skills but their inclusion is essential, given the pivotal roles they play in their textile communities, particularly in relation to working with foreigners. Rehman Sofi owns
56 Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, crewel embroiderer, interview by author, Redwani Village, Kulgam District, near Anantnag, south Kashmir, June 18, 2012.
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Sofi Handicrafts in Srinagar, where crewel and chain stitch fabrics are produced and sold. His business developed through a family connection, his father-in-law, wife, daughter and other members of her family being crewel embroiderers. Prakash Dosi is a designer and fabricator in Jaipur where he employs around twenty textile artisans who specialise in the embroidery, dyeing and printing crafts of Rajasthan. Dosi is originally from Barmer, explaining, ‘Actually this is my family business. My father and brother did this for the last 50 years. Before we made it in our village but slowly as the business increased I came to Jaipur where I do export.’57 Hitesh Taparia is the secretary of an NGO based in Barmer and also works in the media section for a local politician. I met Taparia at Dili Haat, a government-run venue that showcases Indian handicrafts in Delhi, where he was marketing appliqué embroidery produced in the Barmer region. Craft communities, usually organised by a NGO, lease a stall space for short periods at Dilli Haat throughout the year. He explains his role: I am the secretary and I organise work for the people. There is a team that organise the work and take the products to exhibitions. Once it is sold then more work is provided to the people. So I am an administrator not a craftsperson. It is a tradition that they [artisans] love to do. The young girls learn from their elders [women] and can do the work in their homes. When they get married and move to their in-laws they continue the work and can generate some income.58 Through their organisations, Rehman Sofi, Prakash Dosi, and Hitesh Taparia provide work for textile artisans. Their business connections and communication skills, including some knowledge of English, enables them to market the textile products within India and to foreigners. They live in or are able to travel to urban centres and access a customer base. Lack of formal education appears to have prevented other interview participants from developing the same opportunities. Bhuku, Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, and Misri Khan are illiterate, and need assistance to complete basic correspondence requirements. Others, like Abdul Salim and Kunwar Pal, left school at young ages to work with their families or to do an apprenticeship. Kunwar Pal observed that ‘most block makers are illiterate because they start the trade at a very young age and so don’t study. If they study they probably will not be block makers.’59 Most of the interviewees acknowledged the importance of formal education and stressed to us that their children attended school. Some hoped that their children would want to learn their traditional crafts. Pal’s young son was at his workshop carving a block when we were conducting the interview. The boy comes after school each day to learn the craft. Bhukhu has trained her niece and daughter-in-law to do appliqué embroidery, and told us how other family members admired them for their
57 Prakash Dosi, designer/fabricator, interview by author, Jaipur, Rajasthan, December 28, 2013. 58 Hitesh Taparia, NGO secretary, interview by author, Barmer, Rajasthan, January 5, 2012. 59 Kunwar Pal, woodblock maker, interview by author, Sanganer, Rajasthan, December 22, 2012.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 27 skills, particularly as their work supplemented the household’s income. Indeed, most of the interview participants considered that their skills were respected within their communities, but always the subject of income was mentioned. As Abdul Salim explained, although his four daughters and two sons went to school, they also learn the family craft of tie-dyeing and bandhani. His wife interjected that it would be better if they did something else that pays better.
Figure 13: Kunwar Pal’s woodblock carving workshop
4.4 Time and money perceptions
In his Foreword to Designers Meet Artisans, Indrasen Vencatachellum quotes Patrick Ela, Director of the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, who makes plain the incentive for craftspeople to “create because they need to create; like all of us, they must eat. To overlook the inescapable need for economic development as well as technical and artistic development would be naïve.”60 The imperative to earn money was consistently referred to by most of the interview participants. Some of the barriers to greater earning capacity related to the business models in the craft industry as discussed in Chapter Two, confirming information reported in the CEIS, and further evidenced in additional comments by the artisans about their current financial realities.
Like the other 400 or so crewel embroiderers in his village, Mohammed Ibrahim Dar also farms to earn a living, because ‘I can’t say this work fully supports us, we also need to do farming. I earn a little by distributing the work where I get a cut. The people who only do embroidery get very less money for the work.’ In the current situation of his craft, ‘the girls are interested but not the boys. A boy can get a job
60 Indrasen Vencatachellum, “Foreword,” in Sethi et al., Designers Meet Artisans, vi.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 28 labouring and earn RS400 [AUD$8 2012] a day while the girls can only earn RS150 – 200 [AUD$ 3 - $4] per day doing embroidery. The girls can’t do a labouring job but they can embroider in the home and what they earn is sufficient to add to the family income.’61
Misri Khan’s community supplements its income with farming. Even in their remote geographic location, they have not avoided the rising costs of living that have resulted from the emerging Indian economy. Khan complained to us about how expensive everything was becoming, including the materials required for the community’s embroidery work.
As mentioned earlier, Khan had taken loans from the government and others to continue the craftwork, but perhaps because of his lack of education and understanding of the loan terms, as well as the hefty interest rates, he appeared to be in a downward financial spiral. The future of his craft community is in jeopardy. During the interview many young men were standing around, and I asked if they were involved in the craftwork. Khan replied, ‘We are asking for help from the state government to support the young ones but so far we have received nothing so the boys are sitting idle at home.’62 Like many women artisans, Bhukhu works from her home. Each day she spends four to five hours on her appliqué embroidery that is supplied to her by a NGO. Bhukhu divides her time between this work and her household chores. She is a member of the conservative Hindu Rajput caste, and is therefore expected to work only within the family’s house. Bhukhu discussed her income and also the realities of being a woman in her culture. We receive ‘RS2000 - 3000 per month [AUD$40-$60 in 2012]. Only around 30 cm square is done per day. The money is nothing, we are given very little money for this work, we would appreciate getting more money for the hard work we do on this stitching. We are Rajputs. As women it is very good for us because we can’t work on the roads or on construction sites. We can do our housework and do this stitching and earn extra money.63
While Bhukhu’s embroidery work supplements the family income, other research participants, like Kunwar Pal and Chhanan Lal, are the sole earners for their families. To cover their financial commitments, they both work twelve-hour days with only one day off each month. Pal discussed the problems he faced within his artisan community, relying as he does upon the printers for work. ‘This does not fully support my family. We work eight hours a day but we need to work more because we don’t get paid enough for such labour intensive work. For example if a block is worth RS700 we will only be given RS500 so
61 Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, interview by author, 2012
62 Misri Khan, artisan embroidery group leader, interview by author, Darasat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, January 6, 2012. 63 Bhukhu, interview by author, 2012.
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we have to work harder to support ourselves. I don’t do other jobs. I work overtime because this is the only job I know.’64 Changing dress preferences and competition from machine-made products have also affected the incomes of the artisans. Abdul Salim complained that fabrics have become expensive, and Indian girls now wear jeans and tops rather than traditional saris or salwar kameez, so there is less demand for his family’s tie-dyed and bandhani fabrics. On the impact of machine-produced alternatives on handwork, Prakash Dosi told us, ‘When we started it was very detailed handwork now machine embroidery is also done. Now the hand embroidery is ten times more costly than the machine embroidery. The foreign clients want to use machine embroidery because it is cheaper.’65 The effect of the increase in the cost of materials has been particularly severe for the Indian handcrafted textile industries, since customers, including foreigners, are not prepared to pay more. For handwork to remain competitive, the extra material costs tend to be absorbed into the original price of the product. It is the artisans who bear the cost by receiving less money for their work.
4.5 Technical and environmental changes and issues
When the artisan interviewees were questioned about the impact of their craft production on the environment, it was not surprising that none considered there to be any negative influences. The use of natural materials in mostly rural environments is harmonious with safe environmental practice. However, from my own observations, the changing demands of customers has meant the use of synthetic fabrics, chemical dyes for permanence and a greater range of colours, and plastic packaging for completed products, all of which contribute to environmental pollution.
The artisans were in general more concerned about how their work environments affected them practically and personally. Weather conditions affect the output of the woodblock printers and tie-dyers, inks that dry slowly in cold weather have less intensity, as Abdul Salim complained, ‘The weather is a problem I can’t do the dyes properly. When it is cold and cloudy the colours don’t match perfectly.’66 Chhanan Lal spoke of the frequent power blackouts that hold up his work, while Bhukhu reported that the NGO that supplies her with embroidery pieces was planning to install solar lights at her home so the women could also embroider at night. Her dependence on the NGO was evident: ‘My eyesight has gone weak, I need glasses to work to do this fine stitching. I don’t know how much glasses will cost, where I can find them. I don’t go out of my home.’67 Woodblock maker, Kunwar Pal also complained that his eyesight was failing after so many years of such close work. Hitesh Taparia spoke of the benefits that had accrued from the production of appliqué embroidery in his community through the work of his NGO:
64 Kunwar Pal, interview by author, 2012.
65 Prakash Dosi, interview by author, 2013. 66 Abdul Salim, interview by author, 2013. 67 Bhukhu, interview by author, 2012.
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It does not have any harmful effects on the environment but instead helps the people. The women embroiderers get medical checks, eyes tested, we provided lamps because they wanted to work at night. We help them with paper work to get bank loans as mostly the women are illiterate. A group of 15 women save and deposit money in the bank and then get bank loans with this money as collateral.68 The use of digital technology was quite alien to the interview participants. In their homes and workshops where I met the artisans, I saw no evidence of any form of digital equipment apart from mobile phones. Indeed, there seemed to be a certain disdain for the idea of introducing such technology to their craft production. Fayaz Ahmad Jan was indignant when I asked him about technology: I don’t have a computer and it doesn’t affect my work because many of the artisans who do the embroidery will not accept computer tracings. They come and sit with me and I explain the work. The tracing might come from a computer but then we need to modify it, look into the minutest details to see if the embroiderer can do it or not. Modifications are always necessary.69 The changing quality of work was discussed by a number of the artisans. Crewel embroidery produced for the local Indian market is now mostly of inferior quality because of the demand for cheaper products. Of the current state of his art, crewel embroiderer Mohammed Ibrahim Dar said, ‘the quality is now not as good because the raw materials have become so expensive. The buyers, including foreigners, are not ready to pay extra for the embroiderer’s labour. There is no shortage of skill, the embroiderers can do high quality work but much of the work we are given to do is of inferior quality.’70 Misri Khan also blamed the rise in cost of raw materials and customer demand for cheaper products for the lower quality of his community’s embroidery work. ‘We could do better quality work but this is what we can afford to do. This quality is what is in demand. We sell to people at exhibitions so affordability is important.’71
68 Hitesh Taparia, interview by author, 2012. 69 Fayaz Ahmad Jan, interview by author, 2012. 70 Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, interview by author, 2012. 71 Misri Khan, interview by author, 2012.
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Figure 14: Mohammed Ibrahim Dar works on a crewel embroidery piece of inferior quality
Dinesh Chhipa complained about quality although this had more to do with relations between artisans involved in the same craft. He considers that woodblock makers no longer carve the blocks as deeply as previously so they don’t last long. Woodblock maker Kunwar Pal believes that he is underpaid by the printers for the time- consuming work of carving the blocks. Commissions for designs from foreigners have given rise to the use of new materials. Hitesh Taparia welcomed the use of other textiles besides the cotton that is traditionally used for appliqué because it gave the artisans new ideas. Rehman Sofi said that crewel embroidery designs were now done on jute, linen, silk and velvet, as well as cotton, for foreign orders. The embroidery is more intricate, and so is sustaining quality work for some of the embroiderers. While the use of synthetic fabrics is becoming more popular, Prakash Dosi explained his preference for natural fibres as ‘Mostly we use cotton but because clients want the products to be cheaper we use synthetic also. We mostly use cotton and silk because people everywhere like that and we can disclose this without problems.’72 Overall, the artisans were pragmatic in their approach to their crafts and open to change. When the opportunity arises, they adapt their skills to use new materials or adjust the quality for a price-conscious market. The unfortunate corollary for the artisans is that their wages are the first casualty in the squeezing of the handcrafted textile economy.
72 Prakash Dosi, interview by author, 2013.
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4.6 Artisan design knowledge and experience with foreign designers
Artisans learn their craft by copying, particularly where the skill is being passed from one family member to another. This method of knowledge acquisition does not encourage design innovation nor the development of new products. In Handmade in India: Traditional Craft Skills in a Changing World Liebl and Roy note that ‘copying has never had the pejorative connotations that it does in the West. Rather, the most important task of the artist is seen to be the interpretation of a classic theme, rather than the creation of a new one.’73 In my own experience of working with textile artisans in India, I have observed that the notion of copyright and design ownership is seldom recognised or adhered to when requested.
Each of the interview participants was asked about their own experience of design creation. Their design input seemed to depend upon the stage of the product’s construction in which the artisan was involved. While embroiderers Bhukhu and Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, and woodblock printer Bani Prasad followed the given design instructions, woodblock maker Kunwar Pal showed us a finely carved block he had made from his own tradition-based floral design about twenty years ago. He explained that printers would no longer pay for such fine design carving, and therefore such skill was now rarely required.
Both Fayaz Ahmad Jan and Chhanan Lal prepare the fabrics for embroidery, alternately crewel and appliqué. Their skills in design scaling and pattern repetition, without the assistance of computer software, are admirable. Designs are usually supplied to the draftsmen who then modify them to suit either the crewel or appliqué technique, enabling the embroiderers to apply their craft. Both artisans indicated that they like to do their own designs, but usually follow their customers’.
Chhanan Lal’s usual work practice is to make sample pieces that are sent to customers for approval through Hitesh Taparia’s NGO. Fayaz Ahmad Jan has direct contact with the crewel embroidery customers, including foreigners: ‘I worked with foreign designers from England who had a place at Karan Nagar, near here, but they left because of militancy. They used to give me directions and I would make designs that they were happy with.’74 In his interview, Dinesh Chhipa told how he prints designs given to him by foreign customers because their work provides employment for many people in the Sanganer area, but he professed to ‘prefer the traditional designs instead of the designs from foreigners because the traditional designs are part of my art.’75 Nevertheless, foreign interest in traditional woodblock printing helps keep the craft alive, and Dinesh Chhipa conceded that many traditional designs are exported as well as sold in the local market.
73 Maureen Liebl and Tirthankar Roy, " Handmade in India: Traditional Craft Skills in a Changing World," In Poor People's Knowledge: Promoting Intellectual Property in Developing Countries, ed. J. Michael Schuler and Philip Finger, (Washington DC, USA: The World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2004), 61.
74 Fayaz Ahmad Jan, interview by author, 2012. 75 Dinesh Chippa, block printer, interview by author, Sanganer, Rajasthan December 22, 2012.
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The Indian government has supported handicraft development with marketing venues since Indian independence, primarily through the All India Handicrafts Board established in 1952. In the 1990s, the government shifted the emphasis from marketing within India to developing the export market for this sector by granting NGOs assistance for artisan enterprise development, including design and technical input.76 This has involved the establishment of new platforms for exposure to foreign markets.
Misri Khan discussed the shift in their traditional customer base to a foreign market. ‘Initially this embroidery was done in homes and used by the local people for weddings, dresses etc. In the last ten years interest has developed from the West and now we get samples through different organisations and develop them for them.’77 He added that most of the designs used are traditional, sometimes with modifications. A designer from the government of Rajasthan had visited his community to provide some education about designs and different colour combinations, which Khan had found helpful. Prakash Dosi has worked with foreign designers for over 30 years. The first customers bought wall hangings, cushions, bags and bed covers worked with traditional embroidery, needlework and appliqué from the Barmer area. Now, he said, the situation has completely changed, with foreign customers wanting to create new products with their own designs and colours. Dosi described the design process as ‘Clients bring new ideas and we work out how to produce them and then I develop the designs. We sit together and blend their ideas with traditional designs.’78 Collaborations with foreign designers can bring new perspectives and innovations to the artisans as well as an awareness of design as intellectual property. However, there is a fine line between the benefit gained from new designs and products that will attract foreign markets and the artisans’ becoming disconnected from what they are being requested to produce. As Designers Meet Artisans puts it,
It is culture that links a craft with the artisan; take that away, as in the case of 'external' design, and the link is broken. Therefore, outside intervention, unless carefully thought through, can effect irreparable de-contextualization.’79
Design collaboration then needs to balance the innovative with what is unique to the craft, by identifying, preserving and promoting its traditional elements.
4.7 Artisans’ knowledge of products and markets
In Chapter One, the growing appeal for consumers in the West of handcrafted products created by traditional artisans was discussed. The development of a social consciousness of environmental sustainability and ethical work practices has increased the demand for products from communities perceived to be inherently
76 Mary A. Litrell and Marsha A. Dickson, Artisans and Fair Trade Crafting Development, (United States of America: Kumarian Press, 2010), 16. 77 Misri Khan, interview by author, 2012. 78 Prakash Dosi, interview by author, 2013. 79 Sethi et al., Designers Meet Artisans, 9.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 34 connected to the natural environment. The consumer wants to know the story behind the product as a way of making a connection with the artisan producer.
This research study has revealed the irony that many of the artisans have little to no connection with foreign markets, and only limited knowledge of the finished products they develop. Again, this can be explained by the structure of the artisan communities, where numbers of artisans combine their individual skills to produce a single product. We saw how the embroiderers Bhukhu and Mohammed Ibrahim Dar are supplied with lengths of fabric which they returned on completion to Hitesh Taparia and Rehman Sofi, respectively. Given the remoteness of their home villages in western Rajasthan and southern Kashmir, it is unsurprising that there was no contact with the markets where the embroidery is sold; in fact, I was the first foreigner Bhukhu had ever met. Even Sofi, who owns his business and has direct contact with customers, could only surmise the final destinations of the products: ‘I don’t know what the fabric is used for because I have never traveled to a foreign country. It is sold as meterage or as cushion covers, bed covers, chain stitch pieces.’80 Other interview participants lived in more urban environments, and so had at least some knowledge of the products sold at local markets that included their crafts. Abdul Salim sells women’s suits, saris, kaftans and scarves produced from his bandhani and tie-dyed fabrics at the local Jauhari Bazaar in Jaipur, adding, ‘I supply locally, it may then be exported but that is not in my contact.’81 Through his NGO, Hitesh Taparia has the opportunity to take products to exhibitions either organised by the government, or privately in Indian cities: ‘The biggest markets for us domestically are in Delhi, Bangalore and Bombay where we showcase our products. The products, like curtains and bed covers, are bought by foreigners and Indians. They are also sold at hotels.’82 Most artisans do not have an export licence, which of course limits opportunities to engage with foreign markets. An application must be made to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for the issue of an Import Export Code (IEC), but only after the applicant has set up a bank account. Among all interview participants, only Prakash Dosi has an export licence, and therefore had some insight into product destination which in turn, had influenced his knowledge of designing for different foreign markets.
I know in Germany what colours and items people like, in Italy what colours and items people like. It varies from place to place. Over the 25 years I have been in Jaipur I have discussed with customers the products so I know the purpose of the product. We have many customers and we know if they are wholesalers or have retail shops.83 When I asked Dosi if he had ever had contact with a foreign retail customer who had bought one of his products, he replied, ‘No such customer has ever come here but I have had friends and friends’ families who have shown me items they have bought in Italy and Germany that I have made here.’84
80 Rehman Sofi, owner of Sofi Handicrafts, interview by author, Srinagar, Kashmir, June 14, 2012. 81 Abdul Salim, interview by author, 2013. 82 Hitesh Taparia, interview by author, 2012. 83 Prakash Dosi, interview by author, 2013. 84 Ibid.
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Since competition from cheaper mass-produced goods has resulted in a loss of patronage for artisanal handcrafted textiles in India over the past few decades, participation in external markets through tourism or exports is essential. However, it became apparent in the interviews with artisans that they are quite dissociated from the marketing process, and indeed from the fate of their handcrafted textiles, notwithstanding consumer desire for these products in the West.
4.8 Conclusion – an overview
The individual responses of the interview participants to the same set of questions varied according to their experience as working artisans. In most cases, their family backgrounds and their remoteness from urban centres supported the statistical findings recorded in the 2011 Crafts Economics and Impact Study (CEIS) by the Crafts Council of India. The artisans’ intergenerational training or apprenticeships in their crafts, as well as their usually low level of formal education also reflected the commonly accepted views of academics and organisations involved in the craft sector.
Moreover, most of the artisans interviewed for this research worked from their homes, and form part of India’s informal economy. Their communities are conservative and patriarchal; women embroiderers like Bhukhu seemed to accept their position. Although the women do the embroidery work in Misri Khan’s village, the accepted protocol demanded that he, as their leader, be interviewed. Although women and men both do crewel embroidery in Redwani Village, Mohammed Ibrahim Dar spoke for them all. Even though more women are now doing the work, because the young men are seeking higher paid labouring work, the conservative protocol prevails.
Figure 15: Misri Khan with zari embroidery piece Figure 16: Misri Khan’s wife zari embroiders
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All of the artisans interviewed placed importance on educating their children in the formal school system, but also taught them their crafts, as I witnessed with block carver Kunwar Pal and his son. Contrary to documented opinion, discussed in Chapter 2.3, that artisans believe their children’s futures to lie elsewhere, most of the interviewees in this study expressed the hope that their children would continue with their textile craft tradition.
The collaborative model of the artisan’s community, in which interdependence of different skills informs the process of making a particular textile product, is accepted historically and culturally. Yet the evidence of this study is that this is problematic. Individual artisans have neither an overview of the whole manufacturing process nor any connection with the end product. They are dependent on the suppliers of materials for both work and payment, facilitators like Hitesh Taparia, Rehman Sofi and Prakash Dosi, who spoke of the pressure exerted on them by local and foreign customers alike to maintain or often reduce the prices of finished products. This situation for both artisan and facilitators prevails even as the price of the raw materials rises, and competition from machine-made goods increases. According to the interviewees, artisans’ wages are stagnant, or falling, in the face of the rising cost of living in the rapidly emerging Indian economy. It is difficult to document this situation statistically, given the diverse employment arrangements of different artisans.
Also of concern is the artisans’ having little or no knowledge of the markets where their products are sold. The Indian government encourages crafters of traditional textiles to develop relationships with foreign markets, where there is an indisputable demand. However, in most instances, the reality is that the artisans lack any conceptual and practical experience in market expectations, as well as the requisite business acumen to deal with those markets. Greater production efficiencies and higher quality and consistency of product are the necessary steps towards sustainability and growth, as well as preparedness of artisans to adapt their skills for foreign applications, or evolve traditional designs.
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Chapter Five Research conclusion
5.1 Introduction to chapter
This research study began with a discussion about the increasing concerns in the West about the clothing and textile industries in developing countries, namely, their negative imprint on the environment and the harsh, underpaid conditions of the workers employed in those industries. Consumers with a social conscience are seeking products that have been ethically designed and which are produced sustainably. Fair trade certification85 has been one attempt to ensure the accountability of businesses and organisations, which include some NGOs, involved in the textile and clothing industries. But for the artisans who work in traditional textile manufacture, some fair trade proponents fear that it has become merely a marketing tool, focusing on fair wages without considering the larger impacts of economic development and social change on artisans’ work. While some businesses claim to have developed fair trade practices in the artisans’ communities where they work, in India there is no systematic monitoring of their suppliers’ labour standards and working conditions.
The new urban consumers of handcrafted textiles, garments and homewares made by traditional artisans want to know the story of the products they buy. More and more, consumers want to play a part in the design and production process. Demanding traceability of products and transparency of the facts of their creation gives them a sense of shared responsibility with supplier and designer.
5.2 Comparison of case studies and interviews
As noted in Chapter One, accounts of the traditional textile crafts in India have been made from designer or NGO perspectives, while the artisan’s viewpoint has, to date, remained unrecorded.86 From the data in the selected case studies of contemporary designers working in India, this research found little evidence of the artisan’s voice. The skills of the artisans may be acknowledged, but the designers' emphasis is on the benefits they themselves are bestowing through their collaborations. Websites, blogs and other media material feature aesthetically appealing visual documentation of the artisans, but no information about their design input, wages or opinion of the work. This begs the question, are the artisans actually benefiting from the designers’ marketing strategies by supplying a story with pictures aimed at the socially responsible consumer? Foreign designers like Karvita Parmar of the IOU Project have created new markets for traditional artisan products. Some handloom weavers of Tamil Nadu now have a market for their woven lungis, a craft form that was threatened in India by a preference for cheaper machine-made fabrics. This study found that artisans have little or no access to computer technology, and so are unable to derive the same benefits as others in the production cycle. In the case of IOU Project, technology is of
85 Litrell and Dickson, Artisans and Fair Trade, 39. 86 Kevin Murray, "Outsourcing the hand,” 4.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 38 great benefit to the tech-savvy designer and customer through its novel marketing concept of the QR code attached to their products. It does, however, make the story of the product’s development transparent.
Jodie Fried links her design company, Bholu with her social enterprise, the Anganwadi Project. Part-proceeds from sales of Bholu products go to the project, so again customers are encouraged to buy products that will reward their social conscience.
Using high quality, handcrafted embroidery in their clothing range, Easton Pearson have assisted the survival of some threatened forms of traditional Indian embroidery. In their Mumbai workshop, embroidery and beading work provides sustainable employment for the artisans and opportunities to adapt their craft to non-traditional designs. This research found that most of the artisans interviewed were prepared to work on new designs provided by foreign designers, regardless of their preference, and also to combine foreign and traditional Indian motifs.
Contrary to the concern shared by Designer Meets Artisan and CEIS, that the intervention of foreign designers may alienate the artisan from their craft such that their role is reduced to skilled labourer, this research found the artisans interviewed perceived their crafts as marketable commodities, and open to changes necessary to enter new markets. The artisans may find non-traditional designs amusing, as reported by Bholu’s Jodie Fried, or the colour palettes quite dull, in Easton Pearson’s case, but still see themselves integral to the design process. My own experience of developing textile designs with artisans in India was reflected in the research participants’ view that inclusion is the most beneficial element in the designer-artisan relationship. Over time, I have found that valued collaborations have evolved with the artisans I work with to develop designs. Although often outside their traditional comfort zone, the artisans are enthusiastic about contributing to the design creation and application. In working with artisans, Designers meets Artisans qualifies, foreign designers must recognise
‘That the artisans need to be involved in every aspect of market research, design, production, costing and marketing, and also need to understand the adaptations and changes in the form, function, usage and sale of the product that they are making, is a form of intervention that has achieved a virtual consensus of support.’87
5.3 New considerations and approaches by foreign designers
While the intentions of foreign designers working with textile artisans in India towards ethical and sustainable practices might be admirable, their business models are designed to develop products for a discerning global customer base, and they are subject to market variations and changing trends. Their success relies on exacting quality and efficiencies of production that often involve demand time- and labour- saving processes to fulfill export orders. However, as stated in Artisans and Fair Trade, ‘Product standardisation is often a novel concept for artisans who have
87 Sethi et al., Designers Meet Artisans, 9.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 39 previously customised their production for individual local patrons.’88
Designers are developing new markets for artisans overseas and in urban India. In 2014, Easton Pearson opened stores in Delhi and Chennai, with Pamela Easton speaking of the benefits Kutch women embroiderers would receive through new market exposure: ‘The lives of these poor unlettered women would improve drastically if their intricate embroidery work on dresses is displayed in international cities like Delhi, Chennai and Sydney. If these women get recognition through us then it would definitely make us proud.’89
It may be, however, that the advantages of recognition are temporary, should the demand for their work decrease or conversely, they are unable to keep up with orders. Nonetheless, featuring this embroidery in high-end contemporary fashion serves to introduce the aesthetics of traditional crafts to young urban consumers who are often unfamiliar with this work.
Foreign designers can support the sustainability of the artisan’s work by identifying what is required. Artisans do not often have access to resources such as working capital for buying equipment, expanding production and obtaining raw materials. They need credit or loans to sustain production while an order is being completed. Liebl and Roy have previously noted that ‘Various credit schemes are available to craftspeople, primarily through government institutions, but it is difficult for the uneducated artisan to understand and access these programs.’90 Direct collaborations of artisans with foreign designers may therefore provide resources through micro- financing models that empower the artisans, while ensuring continuity of production for the designer.
In reality, foreign designers seldom have direct contact with the textile artisans unless they are very determined to make that contact. As noted throughout this study, the communal processes of artisan production involves interdependent skills collectively contributing to the finished product. The role of facilitators, often referred to as middlemen, is crucial to the progress of work, particularly in communication between artisans and designers. In Artisans and Fair Trade, the artisans’ vulnerability to exploitation by middlemen is discussed. Many artisans work from their homes, unaware of market prices and reliant on middlemen for both work and a fair return for it. The disparity between money received for work and the retail price is often enormous, with middlemen profiting in between.91
From another point of view, the middleman is an entrepreneur who can direct an artisan group’s success in engaging with external markets, and therefore well- respected in the community. These facilitators have been described as ‘enterprise leaders’ with ‘a clear sense of purpose (and) strong organisational skills,’92 who give the artisans the confidence to adapt their skills to foreign designers’ requests. Such a leader can also reassure the designer working with the artisans.
88 Litrell and Dickson, Artisans and Fair Trade, 46. 89 Madhur Tankha, “Motifs without motive,” The Hindu June 22 2014, accessed June 30, 2014, http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/motifs-without-motive/article6136672.ece. 90 Liebl and Roy, " Handmade in India,” 59. 91 Litrell and Dickson, Artisans and Fair Trade, 44. 92 Ibid., 47
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 40
As detailed in Chapter Two, three facilitators participated in the interviews comprising the research for this study. One, as secretary of an NGO, provided raw materials to appliqué embroiderers and communicated with customers, but by his own admission knew little about the processes of the craft and had difficulty relating new design concepts. The other two facilitators both had family ties to their particular textile crafts and their knowledge was evident when working with artisans on designers’ concepts. Their overview of the whole process enabled them to use that capacity to connect with the expertise of particular artisans. Designers, in turn, benefit in the product development process from the facilitators’ familiarity with their craft and their problem-solving abilities.
5.4 Conclusion – new directions of research
Over the four years of this research study, I have become aware of dialogues between craft organisations and textile academics about technical and design training for artisans. Indeed, the Indian government supports training programs for artisan communities as a means of encouraging design innovation and the development of new products. A connection between artisans and contemporary design students has also been developed as part of the curriculum in established Indian design institutions. Young Indian fashion designers studying at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), for example, go in their third year of study to rural artisan communities to document the history and tradition of the crafts practised there. Artisans are asked to come to NIFT campuses to demonstrate their craft skills and assist the students in producing designs. One research participant had been to NIFT Jaipur to conduct dyeing workshops for the students. Apart from including similar programs for their design students, the National Institute of Design (NID) has established the International Centre for Indian Crafts (ICIC). Its objective is ‘to train the crafts persons from the Indian Handicrafts Industry by providing formal contemporary design entrepreneurship and product development orientation through strategic design-technology-skill management programs/workshops at multiple levels on a regular basis.’93 Through this educational program, it is hoped that participating artisans will gain improved business opportunities and market exposure. The Crafts Council of India has also suggested that Indian traditional crafts be introduced into the mainstream education system so that Indian children acquire awareness of the craft culture. Businesses, NGOs, and individuals have implemented various educational models for training artisans in contemporary design, although a more detailed discussion of this is outside the scope of this study. Discussions about the application of teaching methods within artisan communities relate to ‘the learning-by-intergenerational- copying approach that is common in Indian culture.’94
The participants in this research were found to want to improve their socioeconomic position in Indian society. In general, artisan communities have so far been isolated
93 “International Centre For Indian Crafts (ICIC) Objectives,” National Institute of Design ICIC, accessed November 10, 2014, http://nid.edu/activities/icic/objective. 94 Litrell and, Artisans and Fair Trade, 46.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 41 from technological developments in India, having limited or no access to computers or knowledge of digital communication programs. This situation might change as their children graduate from the formal education system, but to retain the involvement of the next generation in their family’s traditional textile craft, opportunities and incentives are necessary. Skills training in business operation and communications as well as product development would seem to be of greater educational value to artisans working in a contemporary market. The danger that the traditional textile artisans will be left out of the conversation about the sustainability of their futures remains. The contribution of this study is to have established their place and given them a voice in that conversation.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 42
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Barnes, Ruth, Cohen, Steven, and Crill, Rosemary. Trade, Temple and Court - Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection. Mumbai: India Book House Pvt Ltd, 2002.
Bholu. “About Bholu.” Accessed April 25, 2013, http://www.bholu.com/about/.
Brown, Sass. Eco Fashion. London, United Kingdom: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2010.
Chatterjee, Ashoke, “The Indian Craft: Sunrise or Sunset in a Global Market.” Craft Revival Trust Voice 2006. http://www.craftrevival.org:voiceDetails.asp%3FCode=106.
Childs P, Williams RJP, Williams P. An Introduction to Post-colonial Theory London: Prentice Hall Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997.
Connell, Regina. Handful of Salt April 2012. “The Big Picture: IOU Project/Kavita Parmar.” Accessed April 23, 2012. http://www.handfulofsalt.com/?p=11798
Crafts Council of India. Craft Economics and Impact Study (CEIS). April 2011.
Dhamija, Jasleen. “From then till now.” India together (June 2003). http://www.indiatogether.org:2003:jun:eco-craftsnow.htm.
Easton Pearson,."Easton Pearson History.” Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.eastonpearson.com/history
Hossain, Farid. “Bangladesh factory collapse: Search for bodies ends as death toll reaches 1,127.” Toronto Star, May 13, 2013. http//:www.thestar.com:business:2013:05:13:bangladesh_factory_collapse_search_for_bodies_ends_as _death_toll_reaches_1127.html.
Liebl, Maureen. "Jodhpur: The Most Creative of Communities," (paper presented at Asia-Pacific Creative Communities: A Strategy for the 21st Century Senior Expert Symposium, Jodhpur, India. Jodhpur, India, 2005). http://cms2.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/culture/Cultural_Industries/presentations/ Opening_Session_Maureen_Liebl.pdf, 5.
Liebl, Maureen and Roy, Tirthankar. "Handmade in India: Traditional Craft Skills in a Changing World." In Poor People's Knowledge: Promoting Intellectual Property in Developing Countries. Ed. J. Michael Schuler and Philip Finger, (Washington DC, USA: The World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2004).
Litrell, Mary A. and Dickson, Marsha A. Artisans and Fair Trade Crafting Development. United States of America: Kumarian Press, 2010.
McGowan, Abigail. Crafting the Nation in Colonial India New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Morris, Sarah. “Bangladesh factory collapse: Clothes made for a tenth of retail price, documents show.” Toronto Star, May 14, 2013, http://www.thestar.com:news:world:2013:05:14:bangladesh_factory_collapse_clothes_made_for_a_ten th_of_retail_price_documents_show.html.
Murray, Kevin. "Outsourcing the hand: An analysis of craft-design collaborations across the global divide." Craft + Design Enquiry 2 (2010): 4
National Institute of Design ICIC. “International Centre for Indian Crafts (ICIC) Objectives.” Accessed November 10, 2014, http://nid.edu/activities/icic/objective.
Soul Economy. "Bholu: Contemporary Homewares Combining East and West." December 1, 2012.
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Accessed April 25, 2013. http://www.souleconomy.com/bholu/.
Sethi, Ritu. "Coming out of the Shadow: Contextualising and Codifying Traditional Indigenous Knowledge of Craft Practice into Mainstream Education." Craft Revival Trust Voice. http://www.craftrevival.org/voiceDetails.asp?Code=234.
Sethi, Ritu, Duque, Cecilia and Vencatachellum, Indrasen. Eds., Designers Meet Artisans: A Practical Guide. Craft Revival Trust, Artesanías de Colombia S A and U N E S C O, 2005.
Source 4 Style, February 2012. “The IOU Project: Weaving Hope.” Accessed April 23, 2012. http://blog.iouproject.com/?p=2025.
Tankha, Madhur. “Motifs without motive,” The Hindu, June 22 2014. Accessed June 30, 2014, http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/motifs-without-motive/article6136672.ece.
Wallace, Miranda and Queensland Art Gallery. Easton Pearson. South Brisbane, Qld: Queensland Art Gallery, 2009. Exhibition catalogue.
Wood Conroy, Diana. Fabrics of Change Trading Identities. NSW Australia: The Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, April 2004.
Wood, Sharmila. “Sustaining crafts and livelihoods: handmade in India.” Craft + Design Enquiry 3 (2011). http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/cde/index.php/cde/article/viewFile/21/20.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part I: Research Study 44
Part II Collaborative Project Collaboration: People and Motifs Part II: Collaborative Project Collaboration: People and Motifs Chapter One The motif: the building block of traditional weaving, printing and embroidery textile design in India 1.1 Introduction to chapter The intention of the studio component of my research study is to further strengthen connections with textile artisan groups. Together with artisans, I have developed a collaborative project, Collaboration: People and Motifs, to produce a body of work that will be presented in an eponymous exhibition. The quality of relationships is the centrepiece of this collaboration, to make possible greater mutual engagement by the participating artisans and myself. The potential for advancing the artisans’ businesses would be built by sharing information and resources. The imparting of knowledge can be illuminating. In 2011, I visited the National Museum in Delhi and spoke with Anamika Pathak, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Museum. She enlightened me with a simple formula, design pattern = motif + composition + colour, which can be applied to any textile technique including weaving, printing and embroidery. From my own involvement with Indian textile production, I recognised in Pathak’s formulation that a motif design, the fundamental element of any traditional Indian textile pattern, generally relates symbolically to the seasons, nature, religion and ritual, architecture, or day-to-day life. Although traditional textiles vary throughout India, with specific techniques associated with different geographic areas and ethnic groups, there are also many similarities in the motifs used to create textile designs. Henry Wilson in Pattern and Ornament in the Arts of India surmises that movement through historical trade and pilgrim routes resulted in the dispersal and use of common symbols. “A sophisticated iconography has crisscrossed this vast subcontinent [India] and formed a bond between its linguistically and ethnically diverse peoples.”1 This is illustrated in the use of the buta motif in Section 1.2. 1.2 Motifs – an overview and use of the buta motif Motifs used in Indian textiles were historically often derived from other decorative art forms like stone carving or paintings in buildings. The pattu woven shawls worn by men and women in Jaisalmer, Barmer, and surrounding areas of Rajasthan have motifs of geometric shapes “inspired from household articles and wall and floor paintings called mandana,”2 according to Indian textile researcher and writer, Vandana Bhandari. In Trade, Temple and Court - Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection, Ruth Barnes suggests that the motifs used in textile designs were copied and adapted from painted decoration on buildings. When discussing Kashmiri shawl buta designs, Barnes observes that they conform to “the finest type of pseudo-
1 Henry Wilson, Pattern and Ornament in the Arts of India, (London, United Kingdom: Thames and
2 Vandana Bhandari, Costume, Textiles and Jewellery of India, (New Delhi, India: Prakash Books India, 2005), 34.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 1 naturalistic floral compositions first painted by… court artists working for the Mughal emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan.” 3 Inspiration from nature is evident in many of the patterns and motifs in Indian textiles. The Hindu belief system is intimately linked with the natural world, and Muslim influence, beginning with the Mughal rule in the 16th century, provided additional motifs from nature as well as abstract forms. As Henry Wilson explains, “Their religion proscribed figural representation, and artists, far from being constrained, excelled in abstract art.”4 Similarly, artisans devoted to other religions practised in India, such as Buddhism and Jainism, are influenced by their religion’s respect for nature, seen in motif designs in their stupas and temples. Many Indian plants, flowers, birds and animals have symbolic meaning when used as a motif in a design; the lotus flower, for example, is a symbol of purity, and the peacock one of beauty and regal authority. Two motifs that recur throughout Indian textile designs are the cone-shaped cypress tree or pine motif, thought to have been brought from Persia by the Mughals, and the “pot with overhanging leaves or vase of flowers symbolising renewal, prosperity and well-being.”5 While this latter motif has also been traced back to the ‘Tree of Life’ design of Persia and Mesopotamia, it is a significant symbol of abundance for Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Muslims. To illustrate the widespread adaptation of a motif by textile artisans for a diversity of techniques and locations throughout India, I will discuss the use of the paisley motif, the buta or boteh in India, which is a variant of the previously mentioned ‘vase of flowers’ and ‘pine’ designs. Buta means flower in Hindi, but in the south of India the Tamils refer to the paisley as mankolam, or mango, motif. Ruth Barnes describes the buta motif, as it appears in the design on a waist sash (Figure 1), in detail: A bulbous bottom either rising from a footed dish or vestigial rocky mound and a continued swelling upward while expanding horizontally outward until approximately one third of the total height has been reached. Then a gradual inward tapering for the final two-thirds of the figure, terminating in a pointed top which tilts distinctly towards one side.6 Initially, the buta motif was introduced by the Mughals to artisans in northern India when Emperor Akbar invaded Kashmir in the late 1500s. During his 19-year rule, Akbar took a personal interest in the Kashmiri shawl weaving industry. The shawls, woven by men for men to wear, had plain centres with paisley or buta border designs. In her article From Pinecone to Paisley: The Ubiquitous Boteh, Christina Sumner traces the evolution of the boteh (buta) in Kashmiri shawl designs. It was during the Sikh rule of Kashmir (1819 – 1846) that shawl designs became more crowded, and the paisley motifs “became elongated and sinuous, and the colours rich and dark.”7 In the 1830s, the introduction of the jacquard loom resulted in patterns covering the entire surface of the shawl (Figure 2).
3 Ruth Barnes, Steven Cohen, and Rosemary Crill, Trade, Temple and Court - Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection, (Mumbai: India Book House Pvt Ltd, 2002), 120. 4 Wilson, Pattern and Ornament, 8. 5 Ibid., 8. 6 Barnes et al., Trade, Temple and Court, 130. 7 Christina Sumner, “From Pinecone to Paisley: The Ubiquitous Boteh,” TAASA Review Volume 23 No. 3 (September 2014), 11.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 2
Figure 1: Waist sash (patka) (detail) Figure 2: Shawl (detail) Kashmir; c. early 1800s Kashmir; c.1840 - 1860 Pashmina (Warp 539.8cm, weft 96cm) Pashmina (Warp 324.5cm, weft 136cm)
In its evolution, the paisley motif acquired multifarious forms as it spread throughout India. In my own experience of working with textile artisans in Kashmir, I have learned of various buta motif designs known by different names. A sari woven in West Bengal in the early 19th century (Figure 3) has an elaborate buta in the centre, similar but not identical to Kashmiri buta designs, indicating regional variations. Instead of a flowering plant, the base resembles a tropical banana or palm tree. Also the buta, or kalka in Bengali, contains a smaller one within it facing the opposite direction. Motifs used for block printing designs in Rajasthan also incorporate combinations of flowers, buds, and leaves referred to as buta or keri, meaning mango. Vandana Bhandari notes that “motifs in this region have been influenced by Islamic culture and floral designs are associated with other crafts like brass, silverware and marble.”8 The buta was used on block printed textiles in design layouts that often imitated the composition of woven or embroidered textiles. The woman’s veil or head covering in Figure 4 is block printed with gold on plain dyed cotton. The buta border pattern resembles the borders of Kashmiri shawls and gold brocade saris.
8 Bhandari, Costume, Textiles and Jewellery, 44.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 3
Figure 3: Sari, Baluchar Butedar Figure 4: Woman’s veil or head (detail) covering (odhani) (detail) Mushidabad district, West Bengal; Rajasthan; c. late 1800s c. early 1800s Cotton: printed adhesive (gum Silk (Warp 367, weft 113.5cm) arabic) and gold leaf (Warp 253, weft 116cm)
1.3 Design composition adaptability The geographic and cultural spread of techniques, and subsequent use of motifs, is evident when studying the suf bharat embroidery popular with women in a number of tribal groups in Rajasthan, including Rabari and Rajput. The style closely resembles other embroidery techniques found in Southwest Asia, for example, pulkari in Punjab, the Baluchi embroidery of Iran, and the needlework of Swat and Hazara in Pakistan.9 Suf embroidery, done on cotton or silk, uses a basic triangle motif from which all other featured motifs are derived. Figures such as camels, humans or peacocks are included, but triangles predominate in the creation of compositions, with mirrors added for emphasis (Figure 5). The motif designs are adapted from one area to another.
9 Bhandari, Costume, Textiles and Jewellery, 63.
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Figure 5: Rumal, cushion cover Suf embroidery Rajasthan; undated Cotton thread on cotton fabric and mirrors
By the early 19th century, many traditional weaving centres had retained their weaving techniques but in order to expand their markets, copied popular design compositions from other parts of India. Therefore, a similar design using silk and metal threads could be woven in weaving centres as geographically distant as Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat, Tanjore in Tamil Nadu, or Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. The traditional use of colours in Indian textiles often has particular associations relating to the seasons, religious customs, ceremonial occasions, and gender. Bhandari discusses how red is considered auspicious by Hindus and associated with joy and life force.10 Red denotes married Hindu women, while white, considered masculine, represents purity and light. Saffron and other shades of yellow are associated with religious ceremonies, with certain other colours being favoured for particular months of the year. Historically, since textiles were commissioned by patrons or sold in local markets, colours and compositions designed by textile artisans reflected the cultural background of their customers. Rajput princes and the merchant community in Rajasthan favoured floral and organic patterns arranged in grid formations. Muslim compositions were usually based on a repeat pattern, frequently starting from a single floral or geometric motif, “reflecting Islamic inclination to order and harmony.”11 Often, the repeat pattern was used in a border design that formed a framing device for other repeat patterns or a single motif.
10 Bhandari, Costume, Textiles and Jewellery, 43. 11 Wilson, Pattern and Ornament, 21.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 5 1.4 Conclusion Whether surveying traditional Indian textiles historically or in a contemporary context, it is evident that the skill of the artisans relates not only to specific textile techniques, but also to colour application and composition design. Of similar significance is the artisans’ ability to adapt and evolve their designs according to shifts in fashion and demand. The Indian craftsmen’s capacity to both retain their traditional skills, passed from father to son, and adjust them for the development of new styles, impressed Babur, the first of the great Mughal emperors, who came to the throne in 1526. He is recorded to have commented that, “whatever work a man took up he aimed and aspired to bring it to perfection.”12
12 Wilson, Pattern and Ornament, 11.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 6 Chapter Two Collaboration: People and Motifs
2.1 Introduction to chapter - Project Concept An analysis of the interviews that were conducted with Indian textile artisans for the research component (Part I) of this study suggested that a more comprehensive collaboration on textile design development between the artisans and myself could produce favourable results. In the past, while I have relied upon an artisan’s extensive knowledge of a particular weaving, printing or embroidery technique to overcome any technical obstacles that may have arisen, I have maintained control over the design itself. Furthermore, in previous projects the artisans who were producing the textiles for me had not been made aware of my objectives when I commissioned their work. Therefore, on basis of my research findings, I planned to develop a more inclusive project in which the artisans involved would know the ultimate purpose of the textiles they were creating, and so be part of the design process. With this in mind, I first needed to introduce the concept of the project to the artisans. Since the creation of any particular textile piece always involves a community or group of artisans completing one design, each of the artisans involved in the creation of a particular textile piece would need to be acquainted with its purpose. Acknowledging that the motif is the basic element of any composition, I developed a book of motif designs (Appendix 13) as a means of presenting the project idea to the participating artisans. Copies of the motif book, which included a restricted colour palette, were given to the artisans. The artisans were asked to create their own design compositions using any motifs from the book that they preferred, in any combination. From these, the group of artisans would develop textile pieces using their particular skill.
Figure 6: Motif design no. 4 Inspired by mobile phone company logos Collaboration: People and Motifs book
2.2 Motif development and inspiration As discussed in Chapter One, the development of a motif such as the buta design has historical or cultural references which have evolved with its geographic spread and its adaptation for different forms of woven, printed or embroidered textiles. Commonly,
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 7 the motif had initially been used as a form of decorative art in other media such as wall paintings or carving, and then adapted for application to textiles. When conceiving designs for the project motifs, I wanted them to have a contemporary contextual significance. The motifs would be familiar to the artisans without their being traditional Indian motifs.
From the outset, I also took into account the audience for the completed textile pieces which would be exhibited in Australia, and therefore intended to convey the idea of a culturally distant audience to all the artisans involved in the project. Likewise, information about the artisans would be included in the exhibition for the benefit of its Australian viewers. The motif book included photographs of the exhibition space, as well as textile products similar to those proposed for the project. My design decisions were therefore informed by references common to both groups, the artisans working in India and the audience for the finished work in Australia.
The theme of finding commonalities between the two cultures derived from my frequent road trips in India, traveling to work with artisan communities. For me, Rajasthan in particular evokes rural Australia with its wind farms sweeping the landscape and eucalypts growing abundantly alongside the peepal trees, sacred to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, and which inspired motifs 5, 6 (Figure 7), 7, 8, and 9 in the motif book.
From my observation of the religious rituals so important in the daily lives of most Indians, and given that the ringing of bells from temples and churches is common to religions in both cultures, I used stylised bells for motifs 10 and 14.
Figure 7: Motif design no. 6 Inspired by wind farms Collaboration: People and Motifs book
Motif designs inspired by nature have been in existence since artisans first used
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 8 decoration on their buildings, textiles, and so on. As Parul Bhatnagar observes in Introduction of Indian Textiles,
“Going far back to the civilizations of the Indus Valley, one discovers that simple patterns from nature were utilized in their ornament: the trefoil of the clover on the garment of a limestone figure found at Mohenjo-Daro, mythical horned animals and bulls as well as trees on their seals, and what might be tendrils of creeping plants and traceries of leaves and flowers on the potteries found at Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and Lothal in Gujarat, 2500 B.C. to 1500B.C.”13
The nature-derived motifs on Indian textiles sent by the East India Company to European markets were most popular. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, “many 18th century chintz palampores, or bed coverings, feature a central flowering tree growing from a rocky mound or arising from water surrounded by sacred lotuses and marine creatures.”14 In the 18th and 19th centuries, when the trade of Indian textiles to European countries was at its height, “requests for textiles with specific designs and colourways were received by the Indian manufacturers, along with drawings and pattern sheets, thus influencing Indian design. Manufacturers and makers in Europe copied Indian designs liberally.”15
With this historical transference of motif designs in mind, the motifs I drew from nature for the collaborative project reflected flowers that are significant to each culture. The lotus, a sacred flower and national emblem in India, is juxtaposed with stylised forms of the distinctly Australian kangaroo paw and waratah, also the state floral emblems of Western Australia and New South Wales respectively – motifs 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16.
In contemporary India, as in Australia, product advertising is ubiquitous, even in remote rural areas (Figure 6). Visual branding through the use of logos makes products and services easily identifiable even for illiterate people. Graphics appropriated and stylised from sources such as phone and transport company logos provided primary material for the development of motif designs. Through processes of adaption, repetition and reflection, I developed motifs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 13 for the project book. Interestingly, some of these motifs appear quite organic in form following the transfiguration of the original logos, and not unlike some traditional Indian vine motifs.
13 Parul Bhatnagar, “Introduction of Indian Textiles,” Dayalbagh Educational Institute, accessed October 29, 2013, https://www.academia.edu/840649/Introduction_of_Indian_Textiles 14 “Introduction to Indian Textiles,” Victoria and Albert Museum, accessed October 29, 2013, http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/indian-textiles-introduction/ 15 “Introduction to Indian Textiles.”
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Figure 8: Painted airtel (mobile phone company) advertisement in rural Rajasthan
2.3 Overview of participants in the collaborative project When inviting artisans to participate in the project Collaboration: People and Motifs, my intention was to stay connected with the research study as a way of addressing some of the interview findings, particularly those relating to artisans working with foreign designers. To establish this continuity in the project, I first approached the interview participants. Again, as noted in the research component, the role of the facilitator was confirmed as the initial point of contact for foreign designers. For my aim of connecting with the artisans throughout the collaborative project to be realised, my arrangements had to take into account the constraints of the time I could spend in India, the long travel distances, and climatic conditions. I discussed the project idea with Rehman Sofi in Kashmir, Dinesh Chhipa in Sanganer, and Hitesh Taparia in Barmer, so that these logistics could be resolved before I engaged with the artisans. Kashmir, for example, is snowbound in the winter months, so June is better for travel there; on the other hand, December and January are advised for the long journey to Barmer and surrounding villages, where in June the temperatures reach fifty degrees- plus. In their roles as facilitators, Rehman, Dinesh and Hitesh were also able to arrange the raw materials required for the project.
For the Australian exhibition, the final stage of the project, I planned to include examples of all the traditional Indian printing and embroidery techniques that have inspired my own design practice during the past fourteen years. By this rationale, showing the crafts produced by the artisans whose views were recorded for my research would give the study context, and enhance my aim of giving the artisans a voice in their work with foreign designers. The following points give a brief description of each of the textile techniques included in the exhibition according to their application in India:
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 10 • Appliqué is a technique where a design is stenciled and then cut onto one layer of fabric; the cut areas are finely stitched or embroidered around the edges to form the design and reveal another layer of fabric underneath. • Crewel embroidery is a type of crochet embroidery or hook work using wool to follow a design previously stenciled onto the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old. • Chain stitch is a similar embroidery technique done with a crochet hook needle in which a series of looped stitches of wool forms a chain-like pattern to cover the entire area. The background fabric is not visible through the stitches. • Woodblock printing is a relief technique in which a design is carved into a block of wood and then used like a stamp for printing onto fabric. • Aari embroidery in Kashmir is chain stitch using a fine hook needle with cotton threads over previously stenciled patterns or designs. • Sozni embroidery is done with a fine needle and generally a single, or at the most double thread, in cotton or silk. The stitch employed is not unlike stem stitch, and only the outline of the design is embroidered. • Bandhani refers to the technique of crafting patterned textiles by tying knots in parts of a fabric before it is dyed, using the tie-dye technique. The tied areas retain the original colour of the fabric and after dyeing forms the design or pattern.
While the crafts of crewel, chain stitch and appliqué embroidery, as well as woodblock printing, were practised in and supported by the communities of the interview participants, I still needed to invite artisans with skills in bandhani, sozni and aari embroidery to join the project. This required contacting artisans with whom I had worked with previously, but who had not been part of the research study. The son of a family contact in Kashmir, Nisar Ahmed, facilitated the sozni and aari embroiderers for the project, and Abdul Jabbar Khatri, a UNESCO-awarded bandhani artisan, also agreed to take part. Their participating in the project provided further insights about traditional textile communities working in contemporary India.
2.4 Conclusion
A holistic overview of the collaborative project Collaboration: People and Motifs is presented in Figure 9. Ideally, the work of each of the participating groups would have been analysed in separate timelines. However, this did not prove possible, given that in the artisans’ production processes, each piece is moved from one artisan to another in the community for each stage of design development, and also the constraints of time and distance as noted. However, what is apparent from the timeline is that the completion of all the components of the project took over two and a half years. The timeline gives a realistic picture of the time required by the artisans to complete the textiles, and reflects that in some situations, work had to be redone.
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Figure 9: Timeline of collaborative project
To achieve the desired outcome of producing a range of unique, hand-crafted textiles of exhibition quality meant that some adjustments had to be made to the original project brief. For instance, more design input was required of me than I had anticipated at the outset. The experience was nonetheless rewarding, not least in witnessing the artisans’ pleasure in being involved in the design process from concept to completion. A comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the artisans is given in Chapter Three, along with a discussion of the problems encountered in the collaboration.
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Chapter Three Project Process
3.1 Introduction to chapter To record my meetings with the different artisans who would develop each of the textile pieces, I kept a journal and in it included descriptions of the workplaces, previous history with the artisan, and comments about our interactions. The next section presents the journal account of each, individual collaboration, from the first meeting through subsequent visits. The project’s outcomes will be summarised in the conclusion of this chapter. The visual and written documentation of the time spent with each of the artisan participants in the studio project compares my observations with the artisan’s impressions about the project, as we were actually creating the work. 3.2 Documentation of artisans’ participation in the studio project – journal accounts
3.2.1 Crewel and chain stitch embroidery in Srinagar, Kashmir
June 2012
The workshop belonging to the naqash (draftsman), Fayaz Jan, is situated in the old part of Srinagar. The traditional wood and brick building has internal walls smoothly plastered with cow dung that act as insulation from the harsh cold of the long Kashmiri winters while cooling in the short summer months. The wooden stairs leading to the workshop are polished from use over many years. As we reach the third floor workshop the smell of kerosene permeates the air. We find Fayaz moving along a length of hand-spun cotton, rubbing a cloth of ink mixed with kerosene over perforated tracing paper to imprint the repeated design onto the meterage. The stenciled fabric is now ready to send to the crewel embroiderer.
Fayaz has agreed to take part in the collaborative exhibition project. The book of motifs had earlier been left with him to develop his own designs using any of the motifs in any combination. He indicated that the design layouts had been difficult to produce because he needed to ensure that the motif arrangements were suitable for crewel and chain stitch embroidery techniques. However, he was pleased with the quality of the designs that he had created and had stenciled two lengths of khadi cotton ready for chain stitch and crewel embroidery as well as a 60cm square design for a chain stitch cushion. I am surprised that although the motif book has sixteen motifs, he has only used two of them in different combinations on the three pieces.
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Figure 10: Fayaz Jan develops designs Figure 11: Rehman Sofi’s crewel and from the project motif book onto tracing chain stitch workshop with embroidery paper for chain stitch embroidery wool hanging from the rafters
June 2013
Due to my curatorial decision to limit all the exhibition textile pieces to a specific colour palette, I decided to work with the sample embroiderer over a period of a week in June 2013. From past experience, I had learnt that the matching of the wool embroidery colours to those on the commonly referred to ‘Telephone’ shade card16 is often inaccurate. So instead, I visit the small upstairs workshop of Rehman Sofi near Nageen Lake, Srinagar, and select the wool embroidery colours to match the exhibition palette. Hanging from the workshop’s wooden rafters are multiple bundles of two-ply wool dyed in numerous colours.
The sample embroiderer, Mehraj, is a master (wustikar in Kashmiri) at both crewel and chain stitch. In fact, the same hook work or crochet stitch is used for both, although the method is the same; crewel embroidery is only done on the actual stenciled design, leaving areas of fabric exposed, while chain stitch is done as a continuous stitch in a circular movement filling in all areas of the design. As Rehman Sofi’s sample embroiderer, Mehraj is used to selecting and matching colours to be embroidered on new textile pieces according to a customer’s specifications.
Each day, for three days, I sit with Mehraj and together we select the colour combinations from the exhibition palette to be used on each piece. Through the open windows of the workshop the call of the muezzin drifts in from the nearby mosque as I watch Mehraj quietly embroider the wool colours we have chosen onto the stenciled fabrics. On each of the designs he embroiders a small section using all the colours so we can see the effect when the different hues are placed next to each other. Sometimes we reconsider our choice and change the selection, often reducing the number of colours used. We are finally both happy with the choice of colours.
16 * The Telephone shade card, consisting of multiple polyester thread swatches, is commonly used by the textile industry in India for colour selection.
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After some time, the embroidery is completed and sent to me. Although Fayaz’s designs are striking in chain stitch, the limited motifs used do not lend themselves to crewel embroidery where areas of fabric are exposed. I decide the crewelwork will need to be revised for the exhibition.
Figure 12: Mehraj experiments with colours Figure 13: Sample piece of chain stitch to test embroidering wool onto a chain stitch colours for the cushion design stenciled fabric
June 2014
We return to the workshop of Fayaz, the draftsman, and together go through the motif book again. I suggest motifs that I consider would be suitable for crewel embroidery designs. He agrees and sketches on paper ways that the motifs can be modified and repeated successfully to work for crewel embroidery. This time, we decide to do the designs on linen. Fayaz is more hesitant when I suggest doubling in size two motifs to reach the edges of a 50cm cushion design but agrees that he can do it. He divides one of the large motifs into sections to better suit crewel embroidery. I admire his skill as he scales up the motifs without the use of a computer or photocopies.
After Fayaz has stenciled the new designs onto the linen fabric, I meet with Mehraj at Sofi’s workshop. Again using colours from the limited exhibition palette, Mehraj demonstrates his aptitude for combining colours as he selects and embroiders the wool onto the designs, at first in small sections to test the different colours alongside each other. There is a power cut, frequent in Kashmir, so we need to meet again the next morning. Although Mehraj completes the crewelwork on the cushion, the embroidery on the fabric length is completed by other embroiderers in his family.
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Figure 14: Mehraj’s hand with hook used for Figure 15: Rehman Sofi observes as Mehraj crewel embroidery as he begins a new design crewel embroiders stenciled linen fabric on linen for a cushion
Figure 16: Completed crewel embroidered cushion exhibit (detail) Linen embroidered with wool (50cm, 50cm)
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 16 3.2.2 Wood block printing in Sanganer, Rajasthan
December 2012
As his surname denotes, Dinesh Chhipa is from the caste of woodblock printers. (It is common for a person to have the surname of their profession.) Previously, Dinesh’s father and now all his five brothers work within this craft. When I first met him in 2001, he had however moved from the family business and set up his own workshop in Sanganer, Rajasthan, where he now employs around ten printers.
Dinesh’s workshop mainly block prints products such as bed sheets and tablecloths for the local market sold in nearby Jaipur. The block designs used are the traditional buti, or small flower designs, renowned in the Jaipur area. However, Dinesh has been open to working with me over the years using my designs. These designs are carved onto woodblocks and then sample printed while I am at the workshop to check the layout and colours. I have always admired Dinesh’s aptitude for mixing the printing inks so that they perfectly match my colour choices. Dinesh’s talent for colour matching often makes me overlook his shortcomings in the business’s operation, such as production often running late. (This has resulted in some comical scenarios at the train station, and another time the airport in Jaipur, where he has arrived with wet sample pieces for me to check before I left.)
So it is with some trepidation that I ask Dinesh to be a part of the collaborative project. I explain that the block printed pieces are for an exhibition, and so need to be high quality. He is confident that he can do it and enthusiastically selects four of the motifs from the project book.
Dinesh takes me to the small workshop of a woodblock carver, Kunwar Pal. Kunwar frequently carves blocks for Dinesh’s business. Apart from agreeing to be interviewed for the research study, Kunwar makes the woodblocks of the motifs that Dinesh has selected. I notice that Dinesh has made no plan for the print layout of the blocks or considered if the block size needs to be scaled up or down.
December 2013
We visit Dinesh’s workshop, where eight men are printing cotton tablecloths to be sold in the local market. The project woodblocks are ready. Dinesh and I decide to print cotton cushion designs and a wall hanging on silk for the exhibition. I show him the restricted colour palette and he mixes the inks accordingly. The print designs prove difficult to resolve successfully. Although we work on the woodblock layouts together, the printing quality is poor. Dinesh does not organise for his master printer, Bani Prasad, or himself to do the printing, despite our earlier conversations about the importance of quality for the exhibition pieces. His lack of pre-planning of the print designs means we have limited options for layout with the blocks we have at hand. The final failure of this collaboration happens when the silk is ruined in the discharge process after printing.
This experience shows me that while a craftsman may have particular technical skills, he does not necessarily have intuitive design ability, and cannot always match the quality of work such as I had visualised for the exhibition.
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January 2015
After assessing the problems with the earlier block printed pieces, I decide that I must give more input in the design and management of this part of the project for it to be successful. Taking into consideration the woodblock printer’s comments about the designs being unfamiliar, I develop design layouts for three scarves which used the project motifs but were more traditional in the way the border patterns formed a frame for the central design.
After arranging the re-carving of the woodblocks according to specific sizes I return to Dinesh’s workshop with computer printouts of the proposed design layouts. Together we spend some time with an experienced printer testing the new layouts and colours on scrap cotton to determine whether we’ll encounter problems when the exhibition pieces are printed on silk and cotton silk. The layouts are complex, but with this process of preplanning, achievable. The block printed exhibition pieces are completed successfully.
Figure 17: Wood block printing inks mixed Figure 18: Testing the scarf design layout by Dinesh Chhipa to match the project book using the project woodblocks in printing colour palette workshop
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Figure 19: Completed woodblock exhibit textile (detail) Silk (250cm, 110cm)
3.2.3 Appliqué embroidery in Barmer area, Rajasthan
December 2012
Eleven months after conducting the research study interviews, we return to Barmer to discuss the collaboration project with Hitesh Taparia. He admits that while he does not have the artisanal skills for the project, as the NGO facilitator he can arrange for us to again visit the appliqué draftsman Chhanan Lal. I request that another interview participant, Bhukhu, and her family do the embroidery for the project.
To reach Chhanan’s workshop we drive on unsealed roads through the Thar Desert led by one of the NGO workers on a motor bike. We pass white-turbaned old men sitting on benches and camels decorated with relief designs made by shaving the hair on their flanks. On the way, we stop at Bhukhu’s home and deliver some eye-glasses that she had requested during our interview. She immediately takes up her embroidery work that she can now see more clearly.
When we reach the workshop it appears to be isolated on the edge of the road, not even part of a village. We show Chhanan the motif book and the concept is explained. He agrees to be part of the project.
December 2014
Two years later and despite phone calls and emails to Hitesh, I have received no more information about the appliqué work for the exhibition. Logistically, it is
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 19 difficult for me to travel again to the remote Barmer area. Then suddenly, he responds and apologises. The draftsman needs more guidance with the designs.
So that progress can be made with the appliqué embroiderers, I have to make changes to the original project idea. When I have worked with appliqué in the past, I have adapted the traditional motifs used in the Barmer area to my own designs. So now, I looked at the project book of motifs and decided which ones would be most suitable for the appliqué technique. Choosing four, I draft some composition ideas for cushions and wall hangings on paper and send them to Hitesh along with the exhibition colour palette. I request photographs of the work in progress.
In January 2015, Hitesh contacts me to say that the cushion designs have been stenciled and embroidered, but Chhanan is finding the wall hanging design too complex and wants to modify it. I agree that it should be his interpretation of the composition, and that his design will be suitable for appliqué embroidery.
Figure 20: The project and motif book is Figure 21: Bhukhu appliqué embroiders a explained to the appliqué group stenciled fabric
3.2.4 Sozni and aari embroidery in Srinagar, Kashmir
June 2014
Although I have had sozni and aari embroidery on wool, silk and pashmina scarves and jackets in my range for quite a few years, I have never met the artisans who did the embroidery. I hoped that through the collaborative project I would be able to establish a more inclusive relationship with those artisans for the project and into the future.
Again in Srinagar, I am introduced to Ali Mohammed Khan who, though now retired, has done aari embroidery for my husband’s family for over fifty years. When he visits
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 20 us, his son, Nisar Ahmad, accompanies him. Nisar now manages the family business that includes weaving of pashmina shawls, sozni and aari embroidery work. We explain the project to Nisar and give him a copy of the motif book. So that the products are familiar to the artisans involved, I decide to ask for designs on shawls to be made for the exhibition. In this way, artisans in Kashmir will also produce the woven fabrics that will be embroidered.
From the outset we are experiencing difficulties with Nisar in his role as the facilitator. Although he chooses the motifs to be used for aari embroidery on a wool shawl and sozni on pashmina shawls, he was unable to explain the design layouts to the shawl naqash. On the positive side, this gives me with the opportunity to visit the tiny workshop of the draftsman, Farooq Ahmad Naqash. One wall of the workshop is lined with shelves filled with woodblocks that are used to print stencil designs onto shawls ready for embroidery. In this instance however, Farooq has traced the motif designs from correctly-scaled photocopies onto tracing paper. After perforating the paper he rubs the designs onto the shawls using a mixture of kerosene and carbon. Farooq tells me that the original motif size was too small for the aari hook and so the motifs were scaled up in size. I use this chance of being with the naqash to give him some silk for aari embroidered cushions. Unlike Fayaz, the crewel embroidery naqash, Farooq is unable to scale up a motif to a very large size by hand so I need to return later with more photocopies at the correct size for him to trace.
Figure 22: Farooq Naqash rubs a mixture of Figure 23: Farooq Naqash rubs a mixture of kerosene and carbon through perforated kerosene and chalk through perforated tracing paper to print a design on a pashmina tracing paper to print a motif design on a shawl ready for sozni embroidery black wool shawl ready for aari embroidery
The following morning, Nisar brings a master, or wustikar, sozni embroiderer, Abdul Ahad to meet me. Abdul is from Magam, a village in Beerwah 35km from Srinagar. He first learnt sozni embroidery from a neighbour in his village twenty-five years ago. His embroidery work is very fine and looks the same on both sides of the fabric. He agrees to embroider two pashmina shawls for the exhibition.
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The previous night I had shown Nisar the limited colour palette for the project and so he has brought the silk embroidery threads with him. Interestingly, some of the colours are not even close to the palette colours, for example brown instead of black, so more thread purchases are made. As Abdul and I sit together discussing colours to use for the shawls, he embroiders small sample areas on the stenciled designs of each shawl so we can check how the colours work together. He is very confident in deciding which colours will suit the design. I remark on how closely he holds the embroidery work to his face as he is working. Although he does not wear glasses, his distant vision is blurred as a result of spending up to ten hours a day doing this close- up needlework. When we have agreed on the colours, he takes the shawls with him back to his village. It will take two months to complete the embroidery on these shawls.
Figure 24: Project colour palette with silk Figure 25: Abdul Ahad does sozni embroidery thread sampled onto a stenciled embroidery needlework on the pashmina pashmina shawl shawl
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Figure 26: Abdul Ahad selects thread Figure 27: Abdul Ahad begins sozni colours for sozni embroidery on the embroidery on the second pashmina shawl second pashmina shawl design design
The next day Nisar takes me to meet his niece, Urfi, who is an aari embroiderer. We go to her house where she lives with her extended family. In one of the rooms there is a loom where pashmina shawls are hand-woven by Urfi’s brother. Aari embroidery is mostly a women’s craft in Kashmir, done in their homes around their household chores and supplementing the family income. Urfi learnt the skill from a neighbour who is a wustikar of aari embroidery in her area. She selects colours from the threads I have brought with me and quickly sews small areas on both the wool shawl and two silk cushions that had been stenciled with the motif designs on the previous day. Urfi is keen to know what the silk will be used for, especially when I ask that she uses cool colours on one and warm colours on the other. She comments that the stencil print of the design is unclear on the silk and will need to be redone for her to be able to finish the work. Urfi will take about a month to complete the aari embroidery on the three pieces.
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Figure 28: Urfi’s hand with the aari hook Figure 29: Urfi’s daughter watches as she needle as she begins aari embroidery on the does aari embroidery on a silk cushion stenciled shawl design
3.2.5 Bandhani embroidery and dyeing, Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat
June 2014
This last journal account is written in circumstances completely different to the other collaborations of the studio project. I had met and worked with Abdul Jabbar Khatri when I travelled to Bhuj in 2009. We visited his home from which he and his brother operate their business, Sidr Craft. There, we developed some scarves in silk crepe using Jabbar’s designs and my colours. I was very impressed by the fineness of the bandhani dots in the designs.
Jabbar is a renowned bandhani artisan who has been instrumental in reviving and promoting the craft in his community in the Kutch region of Gujarat. He adapted his family’s traditional bandhani (tie and dye) practice for a contemporary market by evolving new designs, different colours and dyeing techniques. Now Sidr Craft generates income for 300 women in villages in Kutch who prepare the fabrics by tying the tiny dots with cotton to form the design before dyeing.17
Jabbar works with contemporary Indian fashion designers, like Rahul Mishra, Tarun Tahiliani and Aneeth Arora, who use his bandhani in their collections. He has also worked with foreign designers, and now his textiles are in global markets.18 Jabbar told me that he has made designs for Dosa in USA and Laura Seigal in Canada, and that the accessories designer from DeNovember in Paris came to his studio to develop designs with him to suit their requirements.
17 “Jabbar Khatri,” The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, accessed December 18, 2014, http://www.craftcreativitydesign.org/jabbar-khatri/ 18 “Jabbar Khatri,” Oral History Project Interviews, University of Warwick, accessed December 18, 2014, http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc/eac/oralhistoryproject/resources/jabbarkhatri/
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 24 Jabbar was pleased to be part of the collaborative exhibition when I asked him to be involved. Our correspondence about the project was all by email or telephone. At this late stage of preparation for the exhibition, I take stock of what motifs have been used so far and make a curatorial decision to limit the motifs for bandhani to one that has not been used by other artisans. I ask Jabbar to design two different pieces on silk using these motifs as he likes, using the colour palette I email to him. When I receive them in Delhi, I am thrilled with the beauty of the scarves, Jabbar’s professionalism and his passion for quality.
Figure 30: Bandhani knots are tied using Figure 31: Abdul Jabbar Khatri dyes cotton along the stenciled design on silk bandhani embroidered fabric ready for dyeing
Figure 32: Completed bandhani exhibit textile Silk (220cm, 110cm)
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3.3 Conclusion – comparative analysis and observations
The inclusion of Abdul Jabbar Khatri in the project Collaboration: People and Motifs did not follow my original project brief, in that I did not actually work with him on the pieces he created. However, because I consider his practice to be a model that would serve traditional textile artisans trying to contemporise, his inclusion is warranted. Although Jabbar was educated in the mainstream Indian system, and graduated with a commerce degree, his purpose is now to revive the neglected traditional craft of his ancestors. His combination of business and technology skills, together with the design tuition he received in workshops held at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad,19 have assisted Jabbar in developing a successful business using traditional crafts. It goes without saying that his fluency in English and command of digital media has equipped him to easily communicate with foreign designers.
The contrast with other facilitators and business owners who participated in the studio project is pronounced. Without either business training or access to technology, their opportunities for working at a different level with foreign designers are limited. Dinesh Chhipa and Nisar Ahmad both come from families where skills in a traditional textile craft are intergenerational, but without the advantage of higher level mainstream education, they lack competence in business skills. While they appeared over-confident in managing the artisans who worked with them in their community, their shortcomings of communication caused avoidable complications in the project schedule.
I appreciated the honesty of both Hitesh Taparia and Rehman Sofi in both admitting that although they could put me in contact with artisans, through their NGO and business respectively, they did not have the requisite artisanal skills. Nevertheless, their input in overseeing the project, arranging raw materials and delivering the finished textile pieces, proved essential for its completion. In one instance, when arrangements for procuring linen for the new crewel embroidery designs were threatened by an ongoing general strike in Kashmir, Rehman’s contacts enabled us to purchase the linen.
When working with the draftsmen for crewel and chain stitch, sozni, aari and appliqué, their knowledge of the particular technique for which they were developing the designs was welcome input. They could see the modifications required to make a design suitable for the embroidery artisans. They were however, hesitant to experiment with elements of design such as scale. I had to persuade Fayaz Jan to double the motif sizes for crewel cushions, and Farooq Naqash refused to do this unless I could provide the artwork at the actual, larger size. Chhanan Lal simply could not create a design outside the range of his familiar traditional motifs, although he was prepared to develop new appliqué designs after he was given instructions for how it could be done. Again, while I admired the skills of the sozni and aari embroiderers,
19 Ibid.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 26 I was surprised when both Abdul Ahad and Urfi proceeded with embroidering what were obvious defects in the design layout without questioning the mistakes. The subsequent misalignment of the corner sections of the aari embroidered shawl was so apparent that this piece had to be redone for the purposes of the exhibition.
The project concept of producing one-off pieces for an exhibition caused some apprehension among the artisans involved in the project. Usually, after initial sample pieces are developed, production in quantity is expected in artisan communities to make the developmental stages economically viable. Production runs of some of the exhibition textile designs may be possible in the future. While I considered most of the motif designs to be quite simple, particularly when compared to the intricacy of many traditional Indian motifs, the feedback I received from the artisans was that the project motifs were complex. This may perhaps have been because the designs were unfamiliar, or, as Fayaz Jan explained, the motifs needed to be modified to suit a particular technique such as crewel embroidery. As noted, in some instances, such as in the woodblock and appliqué work, I found that I needed to make suggestions about possible design layouts that were then interpreted by the artisans to suit their craft.
In a cross-cultural collaboration, challenges of this kind also provide valuable learnings. The experience of the collaborative project that has been documented in this paper has provided insights into the barriers faced by traditional Indian textile artisans when they work with foreign designers. As part of this research study, the project has shown that opportunities for artisans to improve their status are often stymied by their limited access to education in business skills, design, and technology. Although they have gifted hands that create beautiful work, many artisans remain outside of an evolving business world. Future research in this area could focus on innovations that are happening. Through continuing collaborative projects with artisan communities, my intention is to establish more equitable relationships with the artisans, and encourage their developing skills that will better equip them to advance their businesses in modern India and in global markets.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 27 Bibliography
Barnes, Ruth, Cohen, Steven, and Crill, Rosemary. Trade, Temple and Court - Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection. Mumbai: India Book House Pvt Ltd, 2002.
Bhandari, Vandana. Costume, Textiles and Jewellery of India. New Delhi, India: Prakash Books India, 2005.
Bhatnagar, Parul. “Introduction of Indian Textiles.” Dayalbagh Educational Institute. Accessed October 29, 2013. https://www.academia.edu/840649/Introduction_of_Indian_Textiles
Sumner, Christina. “From Pinecone to Paisley: The Ubiquitous Boteh.” TAASA Review Volume 23 No. 3 (September 2014): 10 - 12.
The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design. “Jabbar Khatri.” Accessed December 18, 2014 http://www.craftcreativitydesign.org/jabbar-khatri/
University of Warwick Oral History Project Interviews. “Jabbar Khatri.” Accessed December 18, 2014. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc/eac/oralhistoryproject/resources/jabbarkhatri/
Victoria and Albert Museum. “Introduction to Indian Textiles.” Accessed October 29, 2013, http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/indian-textiles-introduction/
Wilson, Henry. Pattern and Ornament in the Arts of India. London, United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson, 2011.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 28 APPENDIX
Transcript One
Transcript of interview with Bhukhu, appliqué embroiderer, from Maharbat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, 5/1/12
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
Women’s group.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
I stitch where the cut have been done on the fabric.
3. How did you learn your skills?
I didn’t learn from anyone, my parents got work from Barmer and I watched them. Then I went to Barmer and did it. First with a bigger stitch and now with this fine stitch.
4. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
After finishing my housework I spend 4 to 5 hours per day embroidering. If there is additional work I will do it for 7 to 8 hours but I prefer doing 4 to 5 hours after housework.
5. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
Three members, daughter in law, niece and herself. The daughter in law and niece have gone to the neighbours to do some work.
6. Do young members of your family or community want to learn these traditional skills?
The youngest member of the family, she has learnt and now does very good work.
7. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
RS2000 - 3000 per month. Only around 30 cm square is done per day. The money is nothing, we are given very less money for this work, we would appreciate getting more money for the hard work we do on this stitching.
8. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
I am respected because I earn money for the family and people come to learn from me.
9. Would the younger community members prefer to be involved in another occupation?
It is very good work and people would like to do it but because of less money they are not encouraged to do it. If there was more money given then more people would do it.
10. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
The workers from the women’s group give the designs and the fabric.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 29 11. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
Because I am illiterate I get the designs from other people.
12. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
I don’t know any foreigners, you are the first one. The designs and fabric are given by the man from the women’s organization.
13. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
They use to do very coarse stitching because they use to get very less money but now they get more money to do very fine stitching.
14. Do you think your work/craft is good for your community?
We are Rajputs. As women it is very good for us because we can’t work on the roads or on construction sites. We can do our housework and do this stitching and earn extra money.
15. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
No.
16. Do you know what the product is used for?
I don’t know what it is going to be used for.
17. Do you know where these products are sold?
I don’t know who is going to buy it or where. We return the fabric to the women’s group organizer.
My eyesight has gone weak, I need glasses to work to do this fine stitching. I don’t know how much glasses will cost, where I can find them. I don’t go out of my home.
NB The NGO had provided solar lights and solar panels in Bhukhu’s village so the women could work for at night.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 30 Transcript Two
Transcript of interview with Chhagan Lal, appliqué stencil maker and cutter Chauten Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, 5/1/12
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
Roshni (Light) Organisation
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
Applique stenciling, cutting and stitching.
3. How did you learn your skills?
My family migrated from Pakistan in 1971. Originally we did this work for families for wedding dresses etc it was confined to the homes. Every one in his family knew this work. Gradually this work became more popular and everyone n the village that I come from does this work so I learnt there.
4. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
I work 7 – 8 hours a day, plus sometimes 3 – 4 hours in the evening. Each month I have a holiday of 5 or 6 days to go to my village.
5. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
No one in my family does this work but people in my village do appliqué.
6. Do young members of your family or community want to learn these traditional skills?
It has become very popular in my village so many people want to learn it including the young people who learn from us the elders and they want to continue this work.
7. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
Life has become expensive so instead of working 8 hours I have to work 12 hours to support my family. It is hard but we manage.
8. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
Yes we are well respected.
9. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
I want to do this work, I love this work but I will see if I am paid more for other work then make a decision. I am satisfied with this work.
10. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
We develop the samples and send them to the buyer to approve. The designs come from other people. Sometimes we make up the designs or the customer gives the designs.
11. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
Yes I do make my own designs and we use them as well.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 31 12. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
No I have not worked with foreign designers.
13. What technical problems can arise?
Power blackouts is a big problem here so no lights but so far it has not effected my eyesight.
14. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
I make RS8000 to RS10000 a month. The quality of the work has gone down because there is no market for it. Lots of organisations have stopped doing it. Too many makers and not enough demand.
15. Do you think your work/craft is good for your community?
I am a Megwhar. Mostly this work is done by the Megwhar community and it is respected in that community.
16. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
No chemicals are used in this work that will effect our health or the environment.
17. Do you know what the product is used for?
I know what the work is used for – this is for ladies kaftans, also curtains, bed covers, tablecloths, cushion covers.
18. Do you know where these products are sold?
These products are sold in exhibitions, either government organized or private. That is where the organization takes the products where it bought by foreigners or Indians.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 32 Transcript Three
Transcript of interview with Misri Khan, artisan embroidery group leader, Darasat Village, near Barmer, Rajasthan, 6/1/12
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
I follow the religion of Islam based on a sect from Multan, Pakistan. I am associated with an artisan group but I have lots of problems because I don’t have exposure with foreigners or tourists.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
Initially this embroidery was done in homes and used by the local people for weddings, dresses etc. In the last 10 years interest has developed from the west and now we get samples through different organisations and develop them for them.
I get the raw materials – cloth, dyeing and distribute to the women who do the embroidery. Then they return it to us and we give it to the people who have placed orders with us or we do exhibitions. We are not getting the money we should for our hard work.
I make the stencil designs ready for the women to do the embroidery.
3. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
I work 3 or 4 hours per day.
4. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
Once the demand is there every one in the family works but when it is not no one works. Only the women do the embroidery work.
5. Do young members of your family or community want to learn these traditional skills?
Yes, it is like an inheritance. The young girls sit with their mothers and learn the craft as well.
6. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
Realistically speaking we can’t survive on this business to support us so we also do it with a combination of farming. The orders are unreliable and everything is so expensive. Food is so expensive.
7. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
Most of the designs are my traditional designs that sometimes I modify. Also we have had a designer from the Government of Rajasthan who educated us about designs and different colour combinations and helped us.
8. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
When we have been exhibiting in Delhi foreigners have bought products from us but as I don’t have an export licence I have not had any repeat orders from them nor am I in contact with those people.
9. What are the positives/negatives of foreign designers working with your community?
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 33 With support from people like you who do work in India, from Hitesh and his NGO, and support from the Indian Government we look forward to doing more embroidery work.
10. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
We are running on losses doing this work. We have taken loans from the government and others to do this work. We are very poor and don’t have exposure to the western market and so don’t get the money we need. With interest on loans we are running on losses. We could do better quality work but this is what we can afford to do. This quality is what is in demand. We sell to people at exhibitions so affordability is important.
11. Do you think your work/craft is good for your community?
It is good work because people can do it in their homes, they don’t have to go anywhere and it creates revenue for the family. They don’t have the expenses of having to travel to work.
12. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
It has no negative effect on the people or the environment.
13. Do you know what the product is used for?
We know pieces are used for decoration but we don’t know what pieces that are sent outside are used for.
14. Young boys are standing around us during the interview. I ask if they are involved in the work?
We are asking for help from the state government to support the young ones but so far we have received nothing so the boys are sitting idle at home.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 34 Transcript Four
Transcript of interview with Hitesh Taparia, NGO secretary, Barmer, Rajasthan, 5/1/12
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
When I was 20 years old I was a member of a NGO group. We tried to help youths in the local villages setting up medical camps etc. This gradually developed and we thought how could we help the youth to generate an income starting in Barmer and then spreading to the nearby villages.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
I am the secretary and I organize work for the people. There is a team who organize the work and take the products to exhibitions. Once it is sold then more work is provided to the people. So I am an administrator not a craftsperson.
3. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
It is not full time, I am associated with other things for my livelihood. It does not support my family and no other members of my family are involved.
4. Do young members of your family or community want to learn these traditional skills?
It is a tradition that they love to do. The young girls learn from their elders and can do the work in their homes. When they get married and move to their in-laws they continue the work and can generate some income.
5. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
I am respected for what we do.
6. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
I also work in the media section for the local MP.
7. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
Most of the designs are traditional and we continue to work with them. Some designs come from graduates of NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology). Also there are designers who have been working for 15 - 20 years who create their own designs and colour combinations and give the designs to us when we meet them at exhibitions. A design like the curtain you saw today can be modified by the draftsman so it becomes his creation.
8. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
The only foreign designer I have worked with is you.
9. What are the positives/negatives of foreign designers working with your community?
I met a German lady who gave us a design and ordered appliqué for 3 - 4 lakh rupees which provided money for the community so that is the positive I can say.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 35 10. Has interaction with designers from outside of your community changed your design process?
New developments have taken place after working with you and the German lady. We can show these ideas to others.
11. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
Traditionally we worked with a cotton organdie base but after working with you we have changed the fabrics.
12. Do you think your work/craft is good for your community?
Yes.
13. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
It does not have any harmful effects on the environment but instead helps the people. The women embroiderers get medical checks, eyes tested, we provided lamps because they wanted to work at night. We help them with paper work to get bank loans as mostly the women are illiterate. A group of 15 women save and deposit money in the bank and then get bank loans with this money as collateral.
There are around 1000 NGOs registered in Barmer but only about 15 are active. Many set up NGOs to get benefits from the government and then closed the NGO, short tem.
14. Do you know what the product is used for?
Yes.
15. Do you know where these products are sold?
The biggest markets for us domestically are Delhi, Bangalore, and Bombay where we showcase our products. The products like curtains and bed covers are bought by foreigners and Indians. They are also sold at hotels.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 36 Transcript Five
Transcript of interview with Bani Prasad, block printer, from Jaipur, Sanganer, Jaipur, 8/1/2012
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
I am not in an artisan group.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
Printer. I am the head block printer in this factory.
3. How did you learn your skills?
From my family, my father was a block printer.
4. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
I work eight hours a day with Sunday off.
5. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
I am the only block printer in my family, my sisters and brothers have other jobs. My brother never learnt block printing and my wife does not want to do it.
6. Do young members of your family or community want to learn these traditional skills?
They don’t want to come into this trade, they want to study.
7. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
It well supports my family.
8. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
Yes.
9. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
I like to do this work. (printing)
10. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
The designs come from foreign designers and local designers.
11. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
Yes I could make my own designs.
12. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
It is their choice so we print it.
13. Has interaction with these designers from outside of your community changed your designs?
The way they wish we can do it their way.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 37 14. What technical problems can arise?
None, nothing at all.
15. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
The work is getting better and the quality of the work is getting better. The designs and fabrics are improving.
16. Do you think your work/craft is good for your community?
I have been a printing for 20 years and it is good for my community.
17. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
No, nothing is happening with the block printing.
18. Do you know what the product is used for?
Clothing, bed sheets and bed covers.
19. Do you know where these products are sold?
Other countries and local markets.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 38 Transcript Six
Transcript of interview with Fayaz Ahmad Jan, crewel and chain stitch draftsman or naqash, from Srinagar, Kashmir, 16/6/12
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
I was taught this trade by the master, Khurshid Ahmad as an apprentice, but this is my own business, I do everything including the designing.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
We are called naqash and the literal meaning of naqash is to copy a design onto the trace with certain modifications. I have been doing this trade for the last fourteen years and so have become an expert. I can sit with people like you or the local people who I do the work with and make designs.
3. What are the designs used for?
They are used for upholstery, cushion covers, bed covers and chain stitch rugs. When I am making the designs I keep two things in mind: it should be easy for the person using the hook for the embroidery and easy for us to understand as well, while keeping the customer’s idea.
The embroidery is hook work, chain stitch and crewel.
4. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
I work six days a week with one day a holiday. I have an overload of work, more than I can expect to complete.
5. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
No. the young people who learn from us the elders and they want to continue this work.
6. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
This work supports my family. I am happy with it.
7. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
We used to be respected because the trade was rare and quality controlled but now many people do it and it is less respected.
8. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
No I am happy to do this.
9. Where do the designs come from?
Many of the designs here in my workshop are my own designs. I don’t have formal training the designs come from my heart. The design you have given me I consider as an outline. I will sit with it and get some inspiration from my heart and modify it so that it doesn’t look like it has been changed.
10. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 39
I am very happy when I do designs and make new designs.
11. Have you worked with foreign designers?
Many foreigners have been to my place. I have done work for western designers.
12. Has this changed your own designs?
I worked with foreign designers from England who had a place at Karan Nagar, near here but they left because of militancy. They used to give me directions and I would make designs that they were happy with.
13. Was it a positive experience?
The foreigners wanted me to get a passport and come to England but I didn’t want to go. I had a young family and was happy here. I got a passport but that was so I could go to Mecca for Haj.
14. Have modern technologies changed your work?
I don’t have a computer and it doesn’t affect my work because many of the artisans who do the embroidery will not accept computer tracings. They come and sit with me and I explain the work. The tracing might come from a computer but then we need to modify it; look into the minutest details to see if the embroiderer can do it or not. Modifications are always necessary.
15. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
No, nothing at all.
16. Do you know what the product is used for?
The customers never told me what they were going to make but I knew they were going to be cushion covers, bed covers and small rugs.
17. Do you know where these products are sold?
No I don’t know where it goes.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 40 Transcript Seven
Transcript of interview with Rehman Sofi, owner of Sofi Handicrafts, from Srinagar, Kashmir, 14/6/2012
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
I supply crewel embroidered fabric to Woodsen Impax in Delhi who export it to Europe and America. I work with embroiderers in the district of Anantnag, south Kashmir, near Pahalgam. This area is famous for this kind of crewel embroidery work. Both men and women do this work in their homes.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
I get orders from people based in Delhi. I get the wool dyed, buy fabric and other raw materials, arrange printing of design outlines and distribute the crewel embroidery work and organize the money. I have a more managerial role.
3. How did you learn your skills?
I learnt about this work from my in-laws, my father-in-law, wife and brother-in-law. Not my own family.
4. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
I work six days a week with Sunday off all year round.
5. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
My wife and daughter do crewel embroidery. My wife learnt from her father, who was renowned for this work, and my daughter learnt from my wife in the home.
6. Do young members of your family or community want to learn these traditional skills?
Young boys and girls do want to do this work because it is a source of livelihood. There is a lot of unemployment.
7. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
We manage to run our family affairs, not in a lavish way but we manage with what we make.
8. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
This used to be a well-respected trade but not as much anymore. People have now made money from other sources so those left in this business are people without the means to do something else. The respect is still there but it is confined to a small group, especially in the south of Kashmir.
9. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
No I will continue with this work because I am highly respected in this trade and don’t have the energy to think of another job.
10. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 41 I sit with my designer draftsman (naqash) and modify designs that we get from Delhi. Some we do ourselves. Together we sit and modify designs and then develop new designs.
11. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
A lot of designs come from foreigners. They are very nice designs and help the crewel industry to survive.
12. Has interaction with these designers from outside of your community changed your designs?
The good thing about working with western designers is that we are paid nicely and instantly unlike local shops where we have to wait fro our money.
13. What technical problems can arise?
The western designers send the designs with the colours that need to be used. I give these to my naqash who does a tracing and we dye the wool for the colours. It works easily for us.
14. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
Different fabrics are sent to us to be embroidered. The quality of the work is getting better.
15. Do you know what the product is used for?
I don’t know what the fabric is used for because I have never traveled to a foreign country. It is sold as running cloth or as cushion covers, bed covers, chain stitch pieces.
16. Do you know where these products are sold?
No.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 42 Transcript Eight
Transcript of interview with Mohammed Ibrahim Dar, crewel embroiderer, from Redwani Village, Kulgam District, near Anantnag, south Kashmir, 18/6/12
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
Business people from Srinagar, who have overseas buyers, bring us the work. My whole village, 400 – 500 people, are involved in this trade, not just my family.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
I work 2 or 3 hours each day on embroidery but mostly I distribute the work to the villagers here. I give them the yarns, the fabric and the designs that I get from the Srinagar people.
3. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
This work occupies my full day. I don’t have much time to do embroidery by the time I distribute work to 400 – 500 people, look at their progress and go to Srinagar to report on the progress of the work to the suppliers 2 or 3 days a week. In the evenings I do 2 or 3 hours of embroidery. Friday is a holiday and I work the other six days.
4. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
My wife also does crewel embroidery.
5. How did you learn your skills?
I learnt this art from Mohammed Maqbool Shah in this village about 25 to 30 years ago. He taught 5 to 10 people this work and they are now considered the best embroiderers. He used to give us very little money as we were taught. We realize that now. I don’t know where Shah learnt to embroider. It has been done for centuries in this area of south Kashmir so he may have learnt from someone in Islamabad or Anantnag.
6. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
I can’t say this work fully supports us we also need to do farming. I earn a little by distributing the work where I get a cut. The people who only do embroidery get very less money for the work.
7. Do young members of your community want to learn these traditional skills?
The girls are interested but not the boys. A boy can get a job labouring and earn RS400 a day while the girls can only earn RS150 – 200 per day doing embroidery. The girls can’t do a labouring job but they can embroider in the home and what they earn is sufficient to add to the family income.
8. Would you prefer to have another occupation?
No because I have been doing this trade for a long time. Also the people who I distribute the work to have advances from us of RS4000 – 5000. I am happy enough to do this work.
9. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 43 I don’t know. It is supplied to me, the colours to be used, fabric with tracing designs. I just distribute the work and do the embroidery.
10. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
No. We can only do the embroidery, not make the designs.
11. Have you ever worked with foreign designers?
No.
12. Have any foreign designers come here?
No.
13. How many embroiderers work on a piece?
One to 4 or 5 people work on a piece of crewel running cloth but only one person works on a chain stitch piece.
14. Do you think your position is respected in your community?
Yes.
15. Do you think your work/craft has any negative effects on your environment?
No.
16. Do you know what the embroidery is used for? What products are made?
No.
17. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
I left this trade for 8 to 9 years and became a tailor but then returned with my brother. We do it jointly. The quality is now not as good because the raw materials have become so expensive. The buyers, including foreigners, are not ready to pay extra for the embroiderer’s labour.
18. Can the embroiderers still do quality work?
There is no shortage of skill, the embroiderers can do high quality work but much of the work we are given to do is of inferior quality.
19. Do you embroider on other fabrics apart from cotton?
Yes. We work on silk, jute, velvet. We understand these are foreign customers.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 44 Transcript Nine
Transcript of interview with Kunwar Pal, woodblock maker, from Jaipur, Sanganer, Jaipur, 22/12/2012
1. What is your name and where are you from?
Kunwar Pal from Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh.
2. Explain who the artisan group is?
I am the owner of this woodblock-making workshop. I have been doing this for 30 years, and I am 45 years old.
3. What is your role within the artisan group?
I manage everything. I do the designs on the blocks, I give work to the people and I also carve the woodblocks.
4. How did you learn your skills?
Basically this trade started in Farrukhabad in UP, but the printing business died down there so the block makers had to move to where the block printing was taking place like in Rajasthan. They have gone wherever printing is being done.
I learnt this trade from a master block maker in Farukhabad and I am teaching people this craft as well.
5. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
Not everyone in my family are block makers but eight members are and some are printers. My parents are farmers.
6. Is this boy an apprentice? (Young boy carving a block in the workshop)
I employ three or four people. The boy is my son. He studies at school but is also learning my trade. He comes here after school and has learnt the craft.
7. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
We work 28 days a month with Sundays off but if there is a lot of work we also work Sundays. It is a full time job.
8. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
This does not fully support my family. We work eight hours a day but we need to work more because we don’t get paid enough for such labour intensive work. For example if a block is worth RS700 we will only be given RS500 so we have to work harder to support ourselves. I don’t do other jobs. I work overtime because this is the only job I know.
9. Do you think your role as artisan is respected by other members of the community?
No, this is an art but we are not respected. We rely on the printers to pay for the blocks that we carve and if they are bad paymasters we have difficulties.
Most block makers are illiterate because they start the trade at a very young age and so don’t study. If they study they probably will not be block makers.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 45 10. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
Yes, I would like to do something that gave me more prosperity. If the people who want us to carve blocks paid better well then I would like this job. This is my art so I am happy to do it but I need to be better paid. If we received more money we would show how skilled we are and make more artistic blocks
11. Where do the designs you embroider/print come from?
The designs come from my brain, I make my own designs. (He shows me a number of drawn designs – mostly flower based. He also shows me a woodblock that is very finely carved that he made 20 years ago. He says he can no longer make such blocks because his eyesight is not as good. He adds that printers would be unable to print such fine blocks now.)
12. Have you ever worked with foreigners?
No. In 1987 some foreigners came to see me and got some blocks made. They wanted to take me to England but I didn’t want to leave India, I was very young then. I have kept their photograph.
13. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
Life is getting expensive. Living costs are getting high but we are getting the same wages so we are not doing exclusive work like the fine block that I showed you. Also my eyes are not so good.
We use seecham wood, which is hard, for the blocks and sagwam wood which is soft for finer work.
14. Is most of your work for the local market.
Yes, for the printers here in Sanganer.
15. Do you know what the product is used for?
Yes, we know the blocks are used to print saris, suits, bedspreads, quilts. For example this fine block is going to be used to print silk saris.
16. Do you know where these products are sold?
Local markets and for export.
17. How long does it take to carve a block.
It depends on the detail of the work and the design.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 46 Transcript Ten
Transcript of interview with Dinesh Chippa, block printer, from Sanganer, near Jaipur, 22/12/2012
18. Explain who the artisan group is?
This is my family’s work. My father, my grandfather, we are all chippas or woodblock printers. Chippa is our caste. I have six brothers and they are all chippas. All the brothers have separate printing businesses for the last fifteen years. We were a joint family but with marriages and children the family got too big so we made separate businesses. Our children get better education when we have separate businesses.
19. What is your role within the artisan group?
I employ ten people as printers. Some are from my caste but others are from other castes, like Kashwar and Sammar, and other states, not Sanganer. They have fixed pay and are paid twice a week, RS350 per day for eight hours.
My role is master colour mixing/matching and fabric measuring. I mix the colours for the printing every morning.
20. How did you learn your skills?
From my father, he was a block printer.
21. How do you get business?
From the local market, for the local market or local export. It is like job lots, they give me the fabric, the designs and tell me the colours to use.
22. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
I have my own business and my workshop is beneath my house so I can survive OK even if there are ups and downs in business.
23. Do you think your role as an artisan is respected by other members of the community?
Yes, the chippa caste is respected here, most the people are chippas in this locality.
24. Would you prefer to be involved in another occupation?
No I am happy with this work.
25. Do your children want to learn these traditional printing skills?
It is their choice but I think this would be good work for them. Once they do their studies and can’t get a job I think this will be a good job for them.
26. Where do the designs you print come from?
The designs come from foreign designers and the local market. It is good that foreigners get printing done because it provides employment to lots of people. The foreigners come up with the designs and a lot of things are being exported.
10. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
Yes I could make my own designs.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 47 27. Do designs from foreign designers that you have worked with interest you?
I prefer the traditional designs instead of the designs from foreigners because the traditional designs are part of my art. But we do their designs, it is their choice.
28. Has interaction with these designers from outside of your community had any positive effects?
They like block printing so it has kept the craft alive. Many of the traditional designs are exported as well as sold in the local market.
29. Have you seen any changes in the quality of the materials you use over the period you have been involved in this work?
The four or five fabrics that we use, silk, mul mul, cotton, sheeting etc, change with the season. The quality of the woodblocks is not as good now. The carvers don’t carve them deeply so they don’t last as long.
30. Do you know what the product is used for?
Dress materials, bed covers, cushions and curtains, running cloth, full handicraft items.
31. Do you know where these products are sold?
Local markets and exported to other countries, mostly Europe. In Europe they like the traditional prints.
15. Do you think your work/craft is good for your community?
Yes.
16. Do you think your work/craft is good for your environment?
Some colours are chemical and some are natural but we use chemical with natural extracts so they do not harm the environment. We use water but do use as much as the silk screening businesses. (there are many silkscreen businesses now in Sanganer area)
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 48 Transcript Eleven
Transcript of interview with Prakash Dosi, designer/fabricator, from Jaipur, Rajasthan 28/12/13
1. Explain what is this workshop?
I make designs of bags, cushions, wall hangings, many things and I make my own designs or designs of my customers. I do the production, quality control, everything is under me.
2. How many people are employed here?
Around twenty people. Bandhani, dyeing, stitching is all done in different sections. I explain the designs, then they make and I check the work. Not all the work is done here but in different places.
3. How did you learn to do this?
Actually this is my family business. My father and brother did this for the last 50 years. Before we made it in our village but slowly as the business increased I came to Jaipur where I do export.
4. How long have you been in Jaipur?
I have been in Jaipur 25 years but I am from Barmer.
5. Are the goods you produce based on the traditional crafts from Barmer?
Yes first we did embroidery, needlework, applique work from Barmer but slowly people asked for change so we started printing, bandhani and kantha also. We do more things as per the requirement of our customers.
6. How did you acquire your skills, was your father an artisan?
My father was a businessman. He supplied the interior (villages/households near Barmer) with cloth, my uncle made designs, my brother made new designs. We worked as a group.
7. How much do you work per week?
I work 12 hours per day, sometimes 15 hours, but not on Sunday so I work six days a week.
8. Are other members of your family involved in this business?
My son and brother are involved in this business. My son has finished college and now controls printing and dyeing. My son wanted to do an MBA but he was unsuccessful so now he is in the business.
9. Does your business support you? Is your work respected?
Yes. I am very happy with what I do.
10. Where do your designs come from?
We mostly use traditional designs but sometimes for something new for printing say we use fruit prints, vegetable prints, animal prints, bird prints. New embroidery for a change.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 49 11. What type of printing do you do?
Block printing, silkscreen, tie-dye and bandhani, but mostly blockprint.
12. Are you interested in making your own designs?
Yes. Clients bring new ideas and we work out how to produce them and then I develop the designs.
13. You work with foreigners. How has their input influenced your designs?
We sit together and blend their ideas with traditional designs.
14. When did you first work with foreigners?
Thirty years ago. There was one guy from Belgium, one from Germany and one from Greece. At that time I could not speak English but slowly I learnt English. Now we have new customers but they still come, they are like family members.
15. What did your first customers buy?
Wall hangings, cushions, bags, then bed covers – embroidery, needlework and applique from the Barmer area.
16. Do traditional techniques suit foreign designs?
Now things have completely changed. When we started it was very detailed handwork now machine embroidery is also done. Now the hand embroidery is ten times more than the machine embroidery. The foreign clients want to use machine embroidery because it is cheaper.
17. What other changes have you noticed in the materials used?
Mostly we use cotton but because clients want the products to be cheaper we use synthetic also. We mostly use cotton and silk because people everywhere like that and we can disclose this without problems.
18. Does your work help your community?
Yes, the people are habitual. They like to do this work and they can do it at their houses and they also get money. It keeps the crafts going.
19. Does your work harm the environment?
No, there is no pollution. Maybe some from dyeing but only a little.
20. You export overseas and you have an export licence. Do you know what your products are used for?
I have an idea. For example I know in Germany which colours and items people like, in Italy which colours and items people like. It varies from place to place. Over the 25 years I have been in Jaipur I have discussed with customers the products so I know the purpose of the product.
21. As you know the purpose of the product does this influence your designs?
Yes.
22. Do you know where your products are sold?
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 50 We have many customers and we know if they are wholesalers or have retail shops.
23. Have you ever met a retail customer who has bought one of your products?
No such single customer has ever come here but I have had friends and friends’ families who have shown me items they have bought in Italy, Germany that I have made here.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 51 Transcript Twelve
Transcript of interview with Abdul Salim, bandhani/ tie dyer, from Sanganer, Jaipur, Rajasthan 31/12/13
1. Explain who the artisan group is?
I am not in an artisan’ group, it is my family’s business. I learnt this craft from my parents and began the work when I was ten years old.
2. What is your role within the artisan group?
I dye bandhani and tie-dye pieces, I am a master dyer. The bandhani embroidery is done by women in Siker village 120km from Jaipur and sent to me for dyeing.
3. How much time of your day/week is spent involved on this work/craft?
The work has become less because fabrics are getting expensive and the dress code has changed. Girls are wearing jeans and tops, not the traditional dresses. I work seven days a week.
4. Are other members of your family involved in this craft?
All my family is involved including my wife. She also does bandhani embroidery.
5. Are you respected in the community?
I am respected in our community. People appreciate my skills, my family’s skills. The only thing is due to people now wearing tops and jeans there is less work.
6. To what extent does your work/craft support your family?
It’s OK, we eat two meals a day. It’s not great. (Salim’s wife interjects that he has another job to supplement his income). I go each day to Chokhi Dhani at 3.00pm to do demonstrations of tie-dyeing for tourists.
7. Do young members of your community want to learn these traditional skills?
I have four daughters and two sons. They all learn this craft but they also go to school. I would like them to go into the family business. His wife interjects that it would be better if they did something else that pays better.
8. Would you prefer to have another occupation?
No. My wife does some bandhani embroidery and is paid by the piece. Payment depends upon how much work is in each piece. On average she makes about RS500 per day.
9. Have you ever worked with foreign designers?
No but I have been to NIFT Jaipur to give dyeing workshops to fashion students.
10. Are you interested in creating your own designs?
I make my own designs. I make exclusive designs that you can’t get in the market.
11. Do you have any technical problems?
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 52 Only the weather is a problem I can’t do the dyes properly. When it is cold and cloudy the colours don’t match perfectly.
12. What materials do you use?
I use silk, cotton, georgette. A lot of artificial silk is used now.
13. Do you know what the fabrics are used for?
Yes, suits, saris, kaftans, scarves.
14. Do you know where they are sold?
At Jauhari Bazaar, Jaipur for the local market. I supply locally, it may then be exported but that is not in my contact.
Deborah Emmett Artisan Voice | Part II: Collaborative Project 53 Collaboration: People and Motifs
54 Guide for Colour Combinations codes from Telephone Embroidery Yarn swatch chart
55 Examples of motif patterns
56 Motif 1
57 Motif 2
58 Motif 3
59 Motif 4
60 Motif 5
61 Motif 6
62 Motif 7
63 Motif 8
64 Motif 9
65 Motif 10
66 Motif 11
67 Motif 12
68 Motif 13
69 Motif 14
70 Motif 15
71 Motif 16
72 Gallery exterior and exhibition space
73