Nakshi Kantha Wrap A N N I V E R S A R Y E D I T I O N T H E K A N T H A S T O R Y D I S C O V E R A R T O N S I L K Presenting to you these gorgeous silk wraps with a story. Covered in all-over and illustrative hand embroidery, showcasing the finest of the nakshi kantha tradition of West Bengal, India. One wrap takes about 6 months to complete. We present to you a very special edition as part of our one year anniversary at Bona Buni! We have only TWO, of these unique, completely had- woven beautiful silk wraps. Each piece is made by a single artisan who is employed by a women's cooperative in West Bengal, and sourced by our partner House of Wandering Silk. Under the auspices or 60 year old Takdira Begum, a national awardee for her kantha work, 100 skilled women artisans hand embroider this beautiful fabric. The artisans pick the fabric from Takdira and take it home to work. They Discover two of can take as long as they need and drop the finished work when it’s done. Some these stunning take months, some take up to a year. Fine nakshi kantha is a rare art; the time, hand-stitched skill and patience required to create a textile which may take up to 6 months or wraps from our more to create is uncommon. Passed from mother to daughter, The special beauty of this work is that not only does it build on the existing skills of the anniversary artisans, it fits comfortably between conflicting needs: the desire of the edition women to work for themselves and earn an independent income, and the demands of their society that they fulfil their expected "traditional" roles. T H E K A N T H A S T O R Y D I S C O V E R A R T O N S I L K Once the fabric is distributed to the artisans for stitching - one woman will work on one cloth. The more skilled the artisan, the more complex the work given to her is. Taking the fabric home, she'll work when she can, between household chores and caring for her family - usually between 2-5 hours per day. The kantha embroidery itself is done with 2 anchor threads and a needle - the most simple of tools. Fine running stitch is made through small jabs into the cloth, held taught by a bright, plastic embroidery frame. The artisans are incredibly adroit; they can embroider the smallest of stitches very quickly. Finished work is brought back to Takdira's house and the artisan is paid. Nakshi kantha is a traditional running Nakshi kantha is stitch from Bengal, made up of motifs influenced by the culture and lives of the a traditional women stitching them. The creation of our nakshi kantha is a lengthy process, running stitch laboriously undertaken in the verdant from Bengal, villages of rural West Bengal. The first step in this process is the India design of the pattern to be embroidered, which is then drawn onto tracing paper. This is done by Takdira Begum herself, who also decides on the colour palette. T H E K A N T H A S T O R Y D I S C O V E R A R T O N S I L K Next, the lines of the pattern are punctured by hand with a pin and the paper is then laid over the silk fabric. A paste of chalk and turpentine is rubbed over the paper, and seeps through the small pin-holes onto the fabric below. Now the silk has the pattern lines traced onto it. It's ironed and distributed amongst the artisans who take it home and stitch the kantha. Once complete, the fabric is hand washed several times to remove any stains and the tracing lines. Any variations or irregularities are part of the design and inherent to the production process. The cloth will be hand washed several times to remove dirt and the feint trace lines. After ironing, the tussar silk is crisp and clean. Tussar silk is inherent to this part of India and is the base of these Now available beautiful wraps on which the kantha is embroidered by hand. At Bona Buni, we online! Our have a story of a very special relationship with Tussar silk and Kantha embroidery. anniversary Our founder originally comes from this special part of India and has grown up with tussar and kantha all around. In this part of India, babies have their 'kantha blankets' and tussar is a common festive fabric. T H E K A N T H A S T O R Y D I S C O V E R A R T O N S I L K This most humble of cloths gave free reign to the imaginations of the women in Bengal as kanthas told of folk beliefs and practicies, themes and characters from mythology and epics and the social and personal lives of the artisans; their dreams, hopes and every day village life. Although there is no strict symmetry to nakshi kantha, the traditional design usually has a lotus as a focal point, with stylised birds, plants, fish, flowers and other scenes surrounding this. Discover the two wraps we have and see which one is more your style and colour.... Range slightly in size: 90-98" in length and 39-47" in width. Shop online Hand embroidery on hand woven tussar silk. today! Versatile size: large enough to wear across the shoulders as a shawl, soft enough to scrunch up and wear scarf- style around the neck, beautiful for use as a throw or to hang on the wall..