In its 25th year, Vastrabharana the annual flagship event of the Craft Council of Karnataka (CCK) is taking its masterpieces and their creators to a new soil. In its Mumbai edition, Vastrabharana is riding high on experimentation and revival. “We have very painstakingly worked with artisans around the country to create different types of saris, stoles, yardage and also jewellery. There will be different types of block prints and weaves each of which has a special story to tell," says Purvi Patel of CCK.
Takli weave with entire yarns woven on charkha which is then dyed in natural colours, ashavali saris in kimkhwab weave depicting the popular folk tale characters tota and maina, block prints inspired from Panchtantra tales, revival of old dhakais, paithani in khadi etc...Vastrabharana has several aces up its sleeve. “You know there are saris that you can read. Rizwan was invited by the Calico museum in Ahmedabad to study some rare paithanis. These museum paithanis inspired the collection he is showing at the exhibition. Abdul Khatri has revived some bandhej patterns, which had got lost in the last 60 years. And there are many more examples like this. I can go on and on. With every textile, we thought what new can be done in this,” explains Purvi, who is hoping to find many takers for these fine specimens in the financial capital of India.
Design intervention, revival and research are the high points of Vastrabharana’s Mumbai outing. Talking of revival, she adds, “Weavers are not just reviving old weaves and motifs but also recontextualising them. Artisans weave what they see and during British times, they would see motorcars, hunting scenes etc. We have revived them but also brought in a sense of modernity.”
With some extraordinary block printers such as Ghanshyam Sarode, Sufiyan Ismail Khatri on board, CCK has made some interesting design interventions in the technique.
“The layouting is what we have really worked with,” explains Purvi. Sufiyan Ismail Khatri, will present a collection of Ajrakh work, taking inspiration from Asmaangiri. The birth of the word 'Ajrakh' stems from a beautiful piece of handwoven textile and block print that was used to shadow the emperor (Asmaangiri), who then ordered that the piece of textile be preserved and kept - 'Aaj-Rakh'.
Cambodian ikats, block printing with kasuti embroidery by Metaphor Racha, Aavran’s works drawing from pichwais, are some of the other highlights of the exhibition.
Dwaraka plus, a network of rural women artisans in Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh, has worked on the revival of Kalamkari.
(Vastrabharana will be held at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai from April 13-15)
