Organic Connect

Blue Lotus - Pushkar

Pushkar is the "blue Lotus"
reference to the lake around which the city is built
said to be one of the oldest cities of the world

JOURNEY 1
Delhi to Jaipur- NH8/ 297kms /approx 7hrs, late evening drive

Gurjars are the most original inhabitants here

BUSY highway
"ek Lakh truck " carting colourful cables, vehicles - very commercial hard good stuff

JOURNEY 2
Jaipur to Pushkar- NH89/ 142kms /2.5hr

NOSTALGIA
Bagru, water bodies, open fields, trees, Aravallis, a super road

blue

blue green pond, atleast 100yr old neem & some moss on the fields beneath

Pushkar hosted the Blue Lotus Festival - a super line-up of musicians & other events
hosted at the Anant Spa & Resorts - an inspired space set against the Aravalli range

the streets are strewn with rose petals because minutes before a funeral procession passed by

ghats

Pushkar town is busy this time of year, the season is on
there was no room in the city near the ghats

the streets are fun - italian cafe`, Dali inspired painters, falafel joints, etc. etc.

the Mahant of one the temples, adorned in fine jewellery/ women wearing Balotra lenghas in the city market/ a magician in the making!

neon pugris

phallic forms, color, nandi & a shiv temple!

Antique dealer & other miniatures

Leather form Kutch @ Winter Weaves, Dastkar

Leather in Kutch is a traditional practice,
owing to the large number of cattle & live stock in the area.

The Meghwal community living in the Banni area, Northern Kutch, are skilled leather workers.
Originally they would cure & tan the leather too.

Horse Saddlery used to be in great demand & continues to be practised
all the decorative value additions in the collection below arrive from here.
Punch work, Tassles, Foil work, etc.

The Kutchi horse is said to be a pure bred & hardy animal for the region, probably a descendant of the Wild ass

LEATHER FEATURE :

Shankar Bhai,
though he always wears an informal turban/gamcha,
for the shot he preferred this styling

Shankar Bhai Raychand Bijlani

Specialist of Leather work
Sumarasar Sheikh Bhuj Kutch 370 001 Gujarat

PRODUCT RANGE :

Jewelry Box / cut work leather

Shoulder Bags, Totes, etc.

Footwear

Jhalani Jutti, the authentic women's wear of Kutch

Contemporary versions of "Champal" with tassle detail

Shankar Bhai's style has emerged as clean forms of intricate cut work patterns
clear forms, stitching details & use of color

a Dastkar regular, it interesting to see his interactions with the customers
explaining patiently the skills, culture, etc.

Kullu Naati @ Winter Weaves, Dastkar

Winter Weaves,

Dastkar

at Kissan Haat, Andheria Morh

20 - 25 December 2012

Winter Weaves has a special focus on winter textiles - silk, wool, "what-can-I-say-so-beautiful" Pashmina from Ladhak, new styles from Kutch, woollen from Uttrakhand,

&

the Kullu dance

Kulluvi Nati is the traditional folk dance of the Kullu Region in Himachal Pradesh

A high energy performance, beautiful smiling faces, graceful soft body language

accompanied music

Narsingha in brass with relief patterns
Nagada's stringing create tessellations

WIND instruments

Narsingha - the long pipe/ bass sound

Shenai

PERCUSSION

Nagada is the flat based drum

& Dhol the popular Punjabi/north Indian beat drum

& COSTUMES

as Laila observed that designers could learn a bit about how cleverly the pattu (woollen shawl) is draped by the women dancers

Pattu is a generic garment worn through out North, West India - Himachal, Western Rajasthan, etc.

women drape a single Pattu, the silver neck piece doubles up as a clasp to hold the garment
men wear finely pleated skirt style kurta

:-)

Visit to Pilkuwa - Women on Wings

A first Women on Wings field visit to Pilkuwa

Pilkuwa is a block carving centre
in the northern textile belt including Meerut, Panipat, etc.

on route to the small yet prosperous town
there is a railway station named "chippiyan Buzurgh" (printing venerable)
is there a still older town than this town

large blocks, streets at right angles, semi- covered drains

the houses are a large block with the ground floor dedicated to the cloth business
& no women in sight
traditionally a block carving & printing "industry",
graduated to canvas for military use in the 20th century

now acidic printed towels, bed linen, etc.
& some great examples of fine hand skill

BLOCK MAKING :

the outline & color fill of the one motifs

Each block motif may have 4/5/6/7 parts
they say upto 100! for the famous Sooraj Mukhi pattern

each new color, line & fill demands an individual block
the image above show only two of many

the block maker

the units are small 3X5' cabins, that house a shelf of blocks & maybe two carvers.

this street is chippiyan ka Mowhalla ( Printer's Street)

PROCESS

hard woods like indian rosewood (shisham), teak, etc. are used

blocks for printing are carved on the vertical face of the wood to ensure durability

generally wood is used along the horizontal grain

the vertical face is high in compressive strength to withstand the impact while printing

Sajawat Handicrafts is one of the larger manufacturers here, a unit hosting 10+ carvers, finishing equipments, etc.

wire inlay

so fine the pattern hardly visible

Recently Azhar Kamal & his uncle have been jointly awarded the Certificate of Merit in block carving from the Government

exploring the skills, product

Dhanya vaad = Danke Well

Image Credits : Irma van Zand

Textures @ Nature Bazaar

Texture 1 : PEOPLE

faces & black clothes

Laila talks to the students

While talking to the new batch of fashion students Laila observed that current trends are not complimentary to our climate - dark color, thick jean, etc.
so true all in blue/black slacks - Zara clones

instead a sari drapes over an individual in an individual style
there is a wisdom in traditional clothing with respect to the context & individual styling possibilities

with Pooja, Ratnakar

Himanshu Verma

Laila

Shelly

Texture 2 : ROUGH

Felting - Patchwork

Sunrise Arifa, studied Design Management at CDI (Craft Development Instittue)
started her business "Incredible Kashmiri Crafts" with a project of CDI - renewing the patch work technique in felting
Running her third successful year at Nature