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How an exhibition on textiles in the Capital points to self-reliance and reimagining nature's bounty
'What we call slow fashion is actually not slow, it is actually on time. These are processes in sync with nature,' says Shubhi Sachan, the curator of Weave the Future 2.0, an ongoing exhibition organised by the Ministry of Textiles to draw attention to Indian textiles and their links to nature and communities.
For Sachan, who is the founder of the Material Library of India, a research firm dedicated to reimagining waste in India, the focus has always been on understanding specific regional nuances of weaving and textile in a landscape gearing towards the mass production of fast fashion. This philosophy reflects in the regenerative materials and native techniques used by the 30-odd brands at the exhibition, which started on August 7 on National Handlooms Day and is on till August 17 in the National Crafts Museum premises.
One of the standouts at the exhibition is an installation by Kora Design Collaborative, a Hyderabad-based design and research organisation focusing on creating community-based projects in rural India. This installation showcases 12 native varieties of cotton seeds and traces their journey through the entire indigenous cotton processing cycle, from harvesting to seed separation to fiber cleaning and weaving.
Poludas Nagendra Satish, who heads Kora collective, outlines the organisation's thought process: 'We isolate things when we look at our communities. They are all interlinked. And this leads to erasure of knowledge. At Kora, we help communities rediscover traditional skills and adapt them to today's needs by combining traditional craft techniques with simple, contemporary designs.'
One of the projects undertaken by Satish and Kora is 'creating a desi cotton ecosystem' to bring back spinning and weaving to cotton-growing areas and to battle the perception that American cotton or genetically modified cotton is 'superior'.
The idea, Satish explains in his blog, is to 'create a system where rural communities can process their cotton locally, without having to depend on external machinery, experts, or industries for their day-to-day needs. This ecosystem is rooted in the idea of self-reliance, where knowledge, tools, and resources stay within the community.' Collaboration and communication is key to this. Explains Satish: 'There is an interesting technique of (indigenous cotton) weaving that's still practiced in Bengal. We try to actually integrate all this. We brought this to Andhra, where we grow our own cotton. We are still using simple tools. We weave on a handloom. And you can clearly see the difference in the quality.'
Kora also creates small-scale tools that could be used by individuals, whether it is a farmer, a weaver, or a home-based artisan — 'to spin and weave yarn for their own family's use or for local markets'. This year, Kora hand-crafted mini sample looms for a design school that were made by a small team of people from the Duggirala Village of Andhra Pradesh.
Another example of Kora's work is in the Kothuru village of Andhra Pradesh. In collaboration with the Crafts Council of Andhra Pradesh, Kora helped the weavers use natural dyes, shift to cotton yarn, and experiment with new design patterns.
For example, Kora sent the local artisans a design graph with three to four suggested colours. The artisans then sat together 'to discuss, and come up with two more colour variations' in the ikat wefts.
The exhibition will also offer a soundscape installation by Sonam Khetan, capturing the disappearing sounds of the natural world as a result of human activities through the recordings of California based soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause.
The show presents behind-the-scenes work by grassroots implementers such as Udaanta Trust, KORA Collective and Khamir, while brands such as Eka, Viraj Bhoomi and Lafaani have showcased their products as well.
Alongside this is also another installation, which is an eco-printed panel, marked with petals and hand-appliqued dried flowers.
