Call it comforting, enriching and soul-satisfying. That’s what it felt like upon entering Kala Raksha, an Indian handcraft artisan center in Kutch, Gujarat. Hearing the chatter and laughter of the women as they sat in a circle stitching, listening to … Read the rest
There’s sensuousness to reading a cloth, taking one’s fingers and lightly passing over the surface, like braille. To me, Indian bandhani is the braille of all artisan-made cloth resists; this is why I chose it as the ClothRoads scarf this … Read the rest
In this dry, desert Gujurat-region of India, the starkness of the landscape was a marked contrast to the vividness of the naturally-dyed cloth, the edges weighed down by rocks, drying in patches on the ground. A stones throw away, the … Read the rest
It was an exquisite day for a journey to the centuries-old, preeminent region of woodblock makers and printers–blue skies, clear air, rich vegetation surrounding us as our van climbed up the switch-backed road outside Jaipur, India. Lake Sagar below was … Read the rest
This I know–one cannot have too many scarves. And since the launch of ClothRoads, my drawers are brimming. I have a few cold-weather scarves—handmade, of course, but the others tend towards the “statement-making” variety. I’m often asked what compels me … Read the rest
“Khadi is the sun of the village solar system.”-Mahatma Gandhi
Standing in the middle of a Khadi Bhandars (a khadi sales outlet owned by the government), we’re taking turns looking through a thread-count loupe magnifier at the fabric of … Read the rest
“We have gold in our hands and we did not even know it.” –Aasif Ansari, weaver
Traveling through the northwest region of India and meeting one artisan after another was beyond exhilarating–it fed our textile-loving souls every second. Each encounter … Read the rest
Sometimes one is lucky enough to meet the maker—I’m talking artisan-made cloth here.
I’m in an elevator in corn country Nebraska in steps an exuberant woman wearing the almost exact replica of a handwoven, naturally dyed silk scarf that I … Read the rest
When I first touched the new Indian handwoven silk and blockprinted fabrics, I wanted to design something that would frame the beautiful scroll patterns and plaid-like weave of these natural-dyed prints.
Small patchwork pieces of silk on … Read the rest
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