One of the most recognisable textile handicraft tradition that has emerged from Rajasthan is block-printing. Uncluttered patterns of simple motifs stamped in natural dyes, usually on cotton, chanderi, light linen or pure silk.
This trail takes us through the life-cycle of this craft, with visits to workshops, conversations with contemporary designers who have documented the history of this craft extensively and demonstrations by second- and third-generation crafts-women and men of the entire process from raw materials to the final product.
At age-old centres of this craft, we see intricate traditional motifs, and even modern symbols, carved delicately out of a piece of teak, creating the ‘block’. We witness the many hues mixed and stained using organic dyes and we even get to try, and mostly fail, to imitate the unwavering, precise, and yet briskly rhythmical, ‘stamping’ of the craftsmen.
Image courtesy: Manglam Arts | Copyright 2018