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Ether | The Fifth Element

These collection of textiles by Sayali Goyal is a contemporary, abstract interpretation of the five elements – Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether that are often venerated for sacred meanings embedded in them. They are believed to form the basis of human life and the cosmos while also serving as a bridge between the worldly and divine realms.

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Sufna | A day dream

Songbirds call, signalling the break of dawn. With a cup of tea in hand, her mind is brimming with thoughts. She puts pen to paper, and conjures up a world. This is an everyday prayer. A ritual of love. A place of solace. The words pour out of her. The dreams and hope, the gifts of youth, the pangs of first love, the restlessness and desires that sprout from change.

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Jaipur, the design capital of India

Jaipur, the City of Pink, resplendent with history and culture, never fails to charm you. Once the modus operandi of the Mughals and the Rajputs, this city is filled with archaic monuments that engrave the streets with remnants of the past while buzzing with art and craft forms that keep many a creative seeking for more. What used to be a slow paced charming city is today a creator’s sought after hub for experimenting with and delving into the world of craft and textiles rooted in tradition and indigeneity.

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Via Qatar

When visiting Qatar, do not let preconceived notions or lazy assumptions stop you from visiting the souk. Souks across the Middle East are the oldest known marketplaces in the world and even today hold immense importance as a historical epicentre. Qatar is the eminent point of East-meets-West; with its map resembling the shape of a hand, it holds together both the worlds and transcends through time, melting the old and the new.

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Visiting Frida

La Casa Azul or The Blue House was where Frida Kahlo was born, lived most of her life, and also died in. She stood by her home, her country all her life and chose to rest where she was born, which is an admirable trait. A person can be born at one place. However, s/he may die several times elsewhere; in heartbreak, in trauma, in oppression. Reading about Frida’s life, how difficult it was since the beginning and how it never came to be easy till her last breath, those words came to life while visiting her house.

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An Afternoon at Emma Boomkamp’s Studio

Emma Boomkamp’s studio gives away a sense of curious juxtaposition in just a single glance. Even before you have started exploring, studying her wide range of craft work, it is a space that commands attention, demanding that the viewer follow the lines, patterns, and layout of her designs like a traveller hiking through a forest trails born out of human footfall.

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Symbolism

The term ‘symbolism’ traces its origin from the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, prominently his Les Fleurs du mal. As a literary movement, it flourished in late 19th century Europe and was soon incorporated in painting, architecture, and other mediums. As an art movement, it followed a distinct pathway and revived a romantic tradition rooted in mysticism, metaphors, and mythology. The European symbolic art movement emerged as an interesting interplay between ambiguity and intuitions, imagery and metaphors.

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Textile and Traditions of Mexico

One of the greatest allures of nature is its endless bequeathals that clothe our bodies and adorn our homes. In the rugged mountainous state of Oaxaca, the southern Mexican home to various indigenous groups of people, the craft of textile-making is an ode to nature and the intricate relationship of the indigenous communities with natural resources.

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Living cultures in Oaxaca

In Oaxaca, food is an integral part of the community and grown entirely in the countryside. Like everything about the culture there, food evokes a sense of passion that transcends the immediate anthropological language it provides. Food is the very essence of transcendence, actually. If you visit the homes of the common people, like we did, you will see women of the households spending hours and hours in the kitchen, all in the name of preparing the daily meals.

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Materials and World Trade | Then and Now

Textiles have been intertwined with the advancement of human civilization and everyday living for ages. From sacred rituals and surface decoration to daily attire – their usage has been widespread. Textiles and spices were the primary commodities forming part of international commerce in the pre-industrial period. In those days, India was renowned for its textile quality and efficient trade practices with Far and Southeast Asia. The unique status acquired by Indian textiles is evident in the fact that many words like calico, pajama, gingham, dungaree, chintz, and khaki entered the English language.

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Journey of Maheshwari Cotton Silk

Along the river Narmada, lies Maheshwar, (two hours south of the capital of Madhya Pradesh) a princely town that thrives on it’s handloom industry. Ahilya Bai Holkar could be called the mother of Maheshwari sarees. During her reign of 30 years in the late 1700s in Maheshwar, she encouraged weaving of cotton silk sarees that had simple patterned zari borders and two pallus.

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Textile Journey Through Bengal

It all came together as I was looking out of the window of my life for something that would liberate me from my financial dependence on my family and the materialistic quality of life. To have the freedom to invest my time and energy in things that call out to me to explore and I did not know how to explain this to my family as these were intangible mostly.

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Behind the Mother Goddess

Themed around Devi, Mata Ni Pachedi is a 800 year old art form that the Chitara community is preserving in Gujarat. Also known as Kalamkari from Gujarat, the artform tells stories of Hindu Mythology and Indian folklore depicting scenes from epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. As Kirit Bhai, a 9th generation artist holds a bamboo stick dipped in allum and mador ( natural colour to achieve deep red).

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Textile Narratives | Museums and Galleries in London

Textiles are a key component of our material history, the importance of which cannot be understated. They need to be considered holistically; each piece is not only a product, a design, or even a piece of art, but is also a method of passing on a story. On our recent visit to London, C&J visited a range of textile exhibitions to observe the role of textiles in telling stories across the globe.

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