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World of Small Things

Carole Douglas – a new tradition for trash in Kachchh

Jun 11th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
1 comment

Carole Douglas is an Australian who has become deeply involved in a particular craft scene in India, the dyers and weavers of Kachchh. In 2001, her engagement has been deepened following the devastating earthquake in the region. She has now developed a project that honours these crafts and supports environmental awareness. This is her story.

Litter: India is no different from many other countries in its use of plastic bags. It dose however have an issue with litter. The products made by Tejsi Dhana will be used as a campaign to highlight the issue.

Litter: India is no different from many other countries in its use of plastic bags. It dose however have an issue with litter. The products made by Tejsi Dhana will be used as a campaign to highlight the issue.

Litter: India is no different from many other countries in its use of plastic bags. It does however have an issue with litter. The products made by Tejsi Dhana will be used as a campaign to highlight the issue.
Motif: Maldhari - cattle herder

Motif: Maldhari - cattle herder

Motif: Maldhari – cattle herder by Tejsi Dhana

New Zealand born Carole Douglas trained as an art teacher and studied textile design at Wellington Design School. During her early career she taught art and design at intermediate, secondary and tertiary institutions, worked as crafts coordinator for rural Northland and tutored in adult education. In 1980 she established her textile studio ‘Dyeversions’ from which she produced large public and private commissions and exhibition pieces. In 1981 Carole won the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts inaugural Fibre Art award. Before moving to Australia in 1986 she served two terms as vice president of the NZ Crafts Council.

In 1994 Carole returned to University where she merged her arts background with strong environmental interests and completed a master’s degree in Social Ecology. Her work since that time has been a fusion of art, environment and social advocacy. As recipient of an environmental citizen’s award Carole attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and later focused on creative usage of the waste stream.

In 1996 she travelled to Kachchh (India) in search of traditional, natural dyeing techniques and met with renowned natural dyer (late) Mohamed Siddequebai Khatri and his sons. Descended from a lineage of artisans the present generation traces their traditions back to Persia. During this and subsequent visits Carole forged strong bonds with local artisans and in 2001 following the devastating earthquake she put her efforts into raising funds to help them overcome trauma and rebuild lives and livelihoods. The exhibition ‘Resurgence – stories of an earthquake, survival and art’ was a direct outcome of these efforts. It opened at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum in 2003 and in 2006 it was acquired by the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai.

Since 2005, Carole has organized and led eight textile focused groups to Kachchh and beyond. She recently introduced carbon off-set taxes which, in conjunction with Shrujan Trust, contribute to an education and reafforestation project in remote areas. A group of Kachchhi embroiderers is currently employed to create images for a publication that will inform locals about the importance of trees.

In 2008, Carole was invited to curate an exhibition for the UNESCO conference ‘Education for Sustainability’ held in Ahmedabad. ‘New Voices New Futures’ is a collection of works by the new generation of Kachchh artisans and focuses on social and ecological sustainability. Carole also works with traditional artisans and the Victoria & Albert Museum staff to develop products based on the Museum’s collection.

Marigold temple garlands in Bhuj, Jabbar Khatri's main source of the flowers used to obtain vibrant yellow.

Marigold temple garlands in Bhuj, Jabbar Khatri's main source of the flowers used to obtain vibrant yellow.

Marigold temple garlands in Bhuj, Jabbar Khatri’s main source of the flowers used to obtain vibrant yellow.
Marigold garlands are sun dried on the rooftop and stored in a dark cool place. Many blooms are required to dye one scarf but the supply is plentiful.

Marigold garlands are sun dried on the rooftop and stored in a dark cool place. Many blooms are required to dye one scarf but the supply is plentiful.

Marigold garlands are sun dried on the rooftop and stored in a dark cool place. Many blooms are required to dye one scarf but the supply is plentiful.
Scarf is immersed in dye bath. Up to 250 gms of dried flowers is used for one piece.

Scarf is immersed in dye bath. Up to 250 gms of dried flowers is used for one piece.

Scarf is immersed in dye bath. Up to 250 gms of dried flowers is used for one piece.
The scarf is dipped into an alum mordant to fix the colour.

The scarf is dipped into an alum mordant to fix the colour.

The scarf is dipped into an alum mordant to fix the colour.
The process is repeated until the desired depth of shade is reached.

The process is repeated until the desired depth of shade is reached.

The process is repeated until the desired depth of shade is reached.
Untied scraves dry in the Bhuj sunshine. Centre colour is the result of marigold overdyed with iron (black).

Untied scraves dry in the Bhuj sunshine. Centre colour is the result of marigold overdyed with iron (black).

Untied scraves dry in the Bhuj sunshine. Centre colour is the result of marigold overdyed with iron (black).
The surprise comes when the thousands of tiny knots are untied and the design is released. The threads are collected and used again as cleaning pads in the automotive industry.

The surprise comes when the thousands of tiny knots are untied and the design is released. The threads are collected and used again as cleaning pads in the automotive industry.

The surprise comes when the thousands of tiny knots are untied and the design is released. The threads are collected and used again as cleaning pads in the automotive industry.
Close up detail of the motif. Each of the white 'dots' represents a tied knot that resists the dye. Thousands of woman are employed througout Kachhch in this tradition. Bandhani, as this tradition is known, is the greatest source of income in the hand crafted textile industry in Kachhch. The district also supplies tied, undyed pieces for dyeing throughout India.

Close up detail of the motif. Each of the white 'dots' represents a tied knot that resists the dye. Thousands of woman are employed througout Kachhch in this tradition. Bandhani, as this tradition is known, is the greatest source of income in the hand crafted textile industry in Kachhch. The district also supplies tied, undyed pieces for dyeing throughout India.

Close up detail of the motif. Each of the white ‘dots’ represents a tied knot that resists the dye. Thousands of woman are employed througout Kachhch in this tradition. Bandhani, as this tradition is known, is the greatest source of income in the hand crafted textile industry in Kachhch. The district also supplies tied, undyed pieces for dyeing throughout India.

Carole’s current work includes the development of a range of sustainable textiles in collaboration with Kachchh artisans. Products to date include a marigold dyed scarf by Bandhani artisan Jabbar Khatri who collects used garlands from local Hindu temples. While Jabbar’s designs are generally based on traditional motifs, Carole prefers to integrate theme and process and in this case she herself has designed the marigold flower motif.

The ethic behind my work is to create items that consider environmental responsibility, social equity and economic viability and that also observe cultural mores. I do my best not to impose my design ideals onto artisans and prefer to find ways that satisfy local and international aesthetics.

We look carefully at resource, water and energy uses; we recognize that everyone needs to be rewarded and we work out prices that cover production and what the end market will bear. Sometimes we all have to compromise.

Another recent product was the result of discussions during the development of the UNESCO project when Carole suggested artisans look to the waste steam for potential materials. The resulting range of bags and place mats is woven from locally collected plastic waste using traditional techniques. The once-used bags are cut into strips and meticulously woven by Tejsi Dhana and his family. Each bag contains in excess of 100 discarded bags and are both beautiful and durable. Carole intends to use these products to launch an anti-litter campaign later in the year.

Collected contaminated plastic waste is carted to Mumbai for recycling. We collect clean waste for reuse.

Collected contaminated plastic waste is carted to Mumbai for recycling. We collect clean waste for reuse.

Collected contaminated plastic waste is carted to Mumbai for recycling. Clean waste is collected for use.
The Artisan's Loom: Tejsi works at his primitive loom and produces pieces of great beauty and durability.

The Artisan's Loom: Tejsi works at his primitive loom and produces pieces of great beauty and durability.

The Artisan’s Loom: Tejsi works at his primitive loom and produces pieces of great beauty and durability.
Tejsi Demonstrates the technique employed for making the waste plastic bags. More than 200 bags are used in one small item.

Tejsi Demonstrates the technique employed for making the waste plastic bags. More than 200 bags are used in one small item.

Tejsi Demonstrates the technique employed for making the waste plastic bags.
Tejsi Dhana Marwada (R) master Kharad weaver with his cousin Sumar who assists in the process. Please note the vegetable dyed wools in the background used for rug weaving.

Tejsi Dhana Marwada (R) master Kharad weaver with his cousin Sumar who assists in the process. Please note the vegetable dyed wools in the background used for rug weaving.

Tejsi Dhana Marwada (R) master Kharad weaver with his cousin Sumar who assists in the process. Please note the vegetable dyed wools in the background used for rug weaving.
Motif: Ploughing. Cattle herding along with dry-land farming is the backbone of the local economy and has been practiced in the Banni area of Kachchh for several centuries.

Motif: Ploughing. Cattle herding along with dry-land farming is the backbone of the local economy and has been practiced in the Banni area of Kachchh for several centuries.

Motif: Ploughing. Cattle herding along with dry-land farming is the backbone of the local economy and has been practiced in the Banni area of Kachchh for several centuries.
Motif: Animals We Depend on. (detail) The people of the Banni depend on Goats for wool and milk, Camels for transport and livelihood and Buffalo (water) for Milk poducts.

Motif: Animals We Depend on. (detail) The people of the Banni depend on Goats for wool and milk, Camels for transport and livelihood and Buffalo (water) for Milk poducts.

Motif: Animals We Depend on. (detail) The people of the Banni depend on Goats for wool and milk, Camels for transport and livelihood and Buffalo (water) for Milk poducts.

Sustainability remains a complex question in Carole’s view.

When we did the New Voices New Futures show one of the artisans gave an opening address in which he stated: “When I think about sustainability in the outside world it seems a very complicated issue. For me and my family it is very simple. Sustainability for us means two good meals a day and a change of clothes.” When I reflect on Chaman’s comment I know that if I lived as he and many others do then my life would be so much easier and my footprint so much smaller. It is food for thought. The artisans I know live simply, work creatively, interact richly and, as far as I can tell, are happy. I don’t believe that this is a romantic view although I have to be always mindful of this in India.

Carole Douglas writes about the artisan who wove from plastic bags:

Tejsi Dhana was born and raised in the small and remote border village of Kuran. The hamlet lies on the edge of the Great Rann of Kachchh and is the last inhabited place before the Pakistan border. Due to border sensitivities most foreigners are denied permission to visit. This is camel country and Tejsi’s ancestors wove udder bags, bridles and other camel trappings from local camel, goat and sheep wool. This particular style of weaving later evolved into coarse but durable floor mats for the local market and are traditionally camel (brown) and goat (black) in colour.

The 2001 earthquake destroyed ninety percent of Kuran village and when I first met Tejsi, 4 months later, he was ‘squatting’ on a hillside near the village of Kukma some 25 kilometres from Bhuj. He saw the earthquake as a “God given” opportunity to move his extended family closer to services and to outlets for his work. By that time (May 2001) the family group had built several ‘bhungas’ – typical Kachchhi round mud homes with conical thatched roofs – and he had set up his primitive Kharad loom under a thatched shelter.

It was from this hillside and on this loom that Tejsi wove his remarkable wall rug ‘From Kuran to Kukma’ for the exhibition Resurgence in which he graphically recreated his search for a new place to settle. Beginning with his original home under the lee of the legendary black hills of Kachchh Tejsi wove his journey from horror to peace at ‘lilu drasia’ (green view) his then current place of domicile. From this new vantage point he had a vista of green fields rather than the arid salt marsh that is the great Rann of Kachchh, his children attended the local school and he could get his goods to the market in Bhuj or nearby Bhujodi – the noted village of weavers. He however he knew his time at ‘lilu drasia’ was limited due to the government policy of resettling all earthquake refugees in their home villages.

Meanwhile back in Sydney, photographer friend Jenny Templin, noted for her Indian images, raised money through an exhibition at Bondi Pavilion. She later handed me $2000 to help a family in need and with an extra $500 donated by my husband it was enough to allow Tejsi to buy a large plot of land near Kukma where he could build homes and a weaving studio.

Six years later Tejsi’s studio is well established, he employs two other family members and his work has evolved significantly. While he still uses the original loom, he has become an expert in natural dyes and creates rugs of great beauty using the subtle hues that pomegranate, indigo, lac, sappan, iron and other substances yield on local sheep wool. He has extended his design vocabulary and constantly researches traditional images. His son Samat, now 21, is now also a master weaver and chooses to make rugs that explore environmental themes. His piece ‘Trees are Life’ shows the story of changes to the land through the loss of trees and to the future. The plastic bag bags and place mats, an outcome from earlier discussions about waste materials, are created by Tejsi and his cousin on a simple Kharad loom and use local packing string for the warp and handles.

Today the future of the family’s products is precarious. Economic factors play a large part in the survival of marginal crafts such as Kharad weaving. There are now only two families in the entire district who are engaged in the tradition; the goods are difficult to sell for many reasons including limited production capacity, design factors, lack of appreciation, the high cost of transport and competition from much cheaper goods. Desert Traditions is currently working on a narrative range for an exhibition (hopefully at Bondi Pavilion). This will complete a circle, promote traditional work and, at best, find an appreciative buying audience for this ancient craft.

The use of found materials, particularly recycling, is something we normally associate with craft inspired by Western modernism, as an expression of style over substance. In the case of the Indian artisans that Carole Douglas works with, it is responding to local environmental issues. Recycled art is usually in response to a local problem. Can we share these problems in a feeling of solidarity, beside not being our own problem?

Thanks to Carole Douglas for images and text. You can see these works in the World of Small Things exhibition.

Jonathan Baskett – a tequila sunrise for glass craft and design

Jun 9th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
2 comments
Jonathan Baskett

Jonathan Baskett

Jonathan Baskett at work in Nouvel

Jonathan Baskett is a Canberra-based glass designer who works in collaboration with Nouvel, a glass studio in San Andrés Atoto, Mexico

Born in Canberra, Jonathan Baskett first encountered glass blowing as glass assistant at the Isle of Wight Glass, England. He eventually took up glass at the Canberra School of Art while working occasionally in New Zealand, England, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Sweden.

In 2001 Jonathan got a call from Michael Kramer, to whom he’d been an apprentice in Germany. Kramer had been employed as director for the Mexican glass company Nouvel Studio. In 2003 Jonathan started making his own work at Nouvel, then returned in 2005 to work with them as a designer. He is back there right now helping with their research and developing his own work.

For Jonathan, there’s nothing like Nouvel Studio in Australia. The Mexicans cater for a broad range of techniques, from hand-craft to full-automatic. Jonathan’s role in the research team is to find a way of taking designs from paper, through initial manual production eventually into automated processes through CAD designs—‘I’m the guy on the floor exploring particular techniques’.

On the floor of Nouvel Glass Studio

On the floor of Nouvel Glass Studio

On the floor of Nouvel Glass Studio

While this may seem a step away from pure craft production, Jonathan sees this as a reality of contemporary glassware. Even Swedish companies that previously prided themselves on handcrafted products, now are operated by robots behind closed doors. Whereas at Nouvel the handmade still has a place, with 9-10 artisans devoted to craft processes.

My role is to work with the designers and the glass blowers. I interpret the designers’ ideas and relate them to the glassblowers sought of a go between. We work as a team and ideas are shared. The director is interested in texture and colour; it was my idea to use glass frit on the outside of the pieces. I also suggested the use of wire to make instant moulds however the execution of the pieces was left to the designers as I was then working with the glass blowers on technique.

Jonathan is currently working on a series of tequila bottles, to be sold for $2,500 each. With colleagues, he has been experimenting with textures, which lead to the use of frit that will feature in the range of his own bowls that he has on display in the World of Small Things. He enjoys the creative environment. The director is continually setting challenges—‘It’s like art school, you’re always experimenting.’ While there are some subtle class differences between the designers and workers, Jonathan finds little sense of hierarchy and certainly no colour prejudice.

Rolling the glass in frit

Rolling the glass in frit

Rolling the glass in frit

Resulting texture in bowls

Resulting texture in bowls

Resulting texture in bowls

While glass is not a traditional Mexican material, Jonathan finds that Mexicans have a creative flair —‘Everyone you meet will have an opinion about whether or not they like that particular colour or combination.’ Pragmatically, producing from Mexico gives Jonathan access to the USA market. Thanks to Nouvel, his work is now stocked at Moma in New York.

Jonathan’s work in Mexico leads us to question how craft techniques might survive not in opposition to industrial processes, but alongside. And even though glass is not a traditional Mexican material, when we look at Jonathan’s work do we think of the exuberance and colour of Mexican folk culture? Is there a particular style of working that makes Australians well-suited to operating between designers and makers?

Timor-Leste – A king’s granddaughter helps re-weave a nation

Jun 8th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
4 comments

The following text is from Sara Niner, courtesy of the Alola Foundation:

    Dom Alexio and Ofelia's grandfather Magno

    Dom Alexio and Ofelia's grandfather Magno

    Luirai Dom Alexio Corte Real of Ainaro and WWII hero (Centre) with Local Chiefs and Antonio Magno (far right). Aileu, Portuguese Timor 1938

    The back-strap loom common to Timor and surrounding islands was brought down by migrants from the Bronze-age Dongson culture in mainland South-east Asia around 500BC. Today, geometric Dongson patterning and designs from Indian cloth traded by Arabs and Europeans for slaves and spices in Timor in the second century are mixed with motifs from indigenous myth and lore such as boats and crocodiles representing the original ancestors’ journeys to the islands. Local ceremonies and rituals of birth, marriage and death employ exchange of such cloth to bind together and integrate the worlds of the living and the spirits, expressing a desire for union and balance between the two worlds. Cloth is the physical embodiment of femaleness and, as sacred Lulik objects and heirlooms, they possess special powers.

    Partially completed weaving on backstrap loom from Timor-Leste. Loom design by Ofelia Neves Napoleao

    Partially completed weaving on backstrap loom from Timor-Leste. Loom design by Ofelia Neves Napoleao

    Partially completed weaving on backstrap loom from Timor-Leste. Loom design by Ofelia Neves Napoleao

    The motif here is a floral design from Portugal—the colonisers of Timor from the 16th Century until the Indonesian invasion of 1975. The designer Ofelia Neves Napoleao is the child of a Portuguese father and a Timorese mother who was the daughter of the Luirai or local king of Ainaro, Antonio Magno. In the feudal-style society of Ofelia’s childhood, Luirai families constituted the upper class ruling over a common farming people and below that, a caste of slaves. In the wet season she watched her royal grandmother, Antonieta Varradas Magno, prepare the cotton, and tie it off with palm leaves for dyeing and then in the dry season, dye and weave the finished cloth. Ofelia also learnt patterns from her fiancé’s royal family, the Napoleaos, of Oecussi, the old Portuguese enclave resting inside Dutch, now Indonesian West Timor. As the eldest grandchild of the last Luirai of Ainaro, Ofelia is accorded a certain respect and status in Timor.

    Luirai Dom Alexio Corte Real of Ainaro and WWII hero (Centre) with Local Chiefs and Antonio Magno (far right). Aileu, Portuguese Timor 1938

    Luirai Dom Alexio Corte Real of Ainaro and WWII hero (Centre) with Local Chiefs and Antonio Magno (far right). Aileu, Portuguese Timor 1938

    Luirai Dom Alexio Corte Real of Ainaro and WWII hero (Centre) with Local Chiefs and Antonio Magno (far right). Aileu, Portuguese Timor 1938

    These old royal elites were close to their Portuguese colonisers and, like Ofelia, spoke Portuguese. Led by Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese colonialism was rooted in the glorious beginnings of the ‘Age of Discovery’ when the Portuguese set out to explore the rest of the world reclaiming millions of lost native souls for the Catholic faith while growing rich on trade and conquests. Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Spice Islands of which Timor was part early in the 16th century and Timorese myth characterized them as younger brothers, recalled to Timor by the elders of the mountains to rule in worldly affairs.

    Ofelia Neves Napoleao at work

    Ofelia Neves Napoleao at work

    Ofelia Neves Napoleao buying cloth at Oecussi, 2008

On the day of the bloody Indonesian invasion in 1975 Ofelia was a young woman forced to run zigzag across their courtyard with her little brothers to dodge bullet sprays. Fleeing the Indonesian occupation she followed her Oecussi fiancé to Perth, spending 20 years there trying to help her family in Timor, raising two sons and becoming a skilled craftswoman. After the destruction of the final Indonesian withdrawal in 1999, she returned and found her place helping local women rebuild their lives by running weaving and craft programs. She now works with the Alola Foundation managing the Taibesse Sewing Centre, in a hot and cavernous shed, part of an old Portuguese Army barracks, overseeing 25 staff sewing handbags from the hand-woven cloth. She visits weavers in the countryside and buys cloth according to the principles of fair-trade. In 2008 she prepared this loom for a Melbourne Exhibition to demonstrate the intricacy and skill of the weaving process.

Sara Niner has been researching the life of East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao for ten years and will publish his biography this year. She visited East Timor as a backpacker in August 1991 and the country and its struggle has become a big part of her life since then. Travelling around the island in 2000-1 searching out sites of significance in Gusmao’s life she found the land beautiful and solemn and beginning to soften after the immense raw devastation of 1999. She also saw how utterly exhausted the people were and the enormity of the task ahead for them and the agonising frustrating slowness of reconstruction. Yet after one trip far into the east of the country she wrote:

I was filled with euphoria and hope after a rich and emotional day of communication with people of vastly different experience that made it seem as if all things might be possible.

She has worked with the textiles and the weavers since that time to put on exhibitions, research and write about the craft and assist with a program of craft development and economic empowerment.

I feel that this half finished weaving embodies the new country of Timor-Leste where the task of rebuilding continues. Hope prevails but is often hard to sustain in the difficult post-war environment where violence and poverty mean hard lives for many women and men. Yet people continue to struggle everyday working to care for their families and communities and revive their culture.

For more information, download this document.

    Sara Niner at work (second from left)

    Sara Niner at work (second from left)

    Sara Niner at work (second from left) with sewing co-op Metinaro IDP camp, 2008

Sara Niner has been researching the life of East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao for ten years and will publish his biography this year. In 2003 she produced a travelling show Weaving Women’s Stories which promoted East Timorese tais, showing the strength and beauty of this traditional weaving . She now works with the Alola Foundation and is an instructional designer with the Ministry of Finance, Timor-Leste Government (RDTL). She is also completing a research project Strong Cloth in Timor-Leste: Women’s Craft and Development at Monash University.
The loom and products can be seen on display in the World of Small Things, Craft Victoria, 18 June – 27 July 2009.

Afsaneh Modiramani – nomadic life in the city

Jun 4th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
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Afsaneh Modiramani

Afsaneh Modiramani

Afsaneh Modiramani at the loom

I am fascinated by textiles as a whole. I take great pleasure in weave, patterns and the use of colour. It is a privilege to be involved in one of the original expressions of art in human civilization. I seek to create contemporary pieces using those very traditional concepts and images. I have participated in number of local and international textile group exhibitions.
Afsaneh Modiramani – 2009

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Afsaneh Modiramani is an Iranian weaver who draws on traditional motifs from nomadic peoples in her region. She was first introduced to weaving seventeen years ago by Leila Samari, who now teaches loom weaving and textile design at Tehran University of art and runs the Haft Samar gallery. Afsaneh learnt weaving at Pardis University in Isfahan.

Afsaneh’s BA thesis was on equestrian textile accessories used traditionally by Iranian nomadic tribes. She was supervised by Parviz Tanavoli, a renowned Iranian sculptor and author of key reference books, including Shahsavan, Gabbeh, and Bread and Salt. From Parviz, she learnt about the nomad’s use of colour and traditional Iranian motifs. She has incorporated the lion, the evergreen tree and the shrub into her loom-made textiles. The lion which has a long precedent in Iran’s culture and for years was the emblem of Iran’s national flag backed by the sign of sun.

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As part of her BA thesis on ‘horse cover weaving’, Afsaneh travelled to the mountains to find nomadic peoples. She visited Bakhtiyari, Qashqa`i and Turkoman nomads, spread across central, southern and northern Iran. The Persian name for ‘horse cover weaving’ is “Jol” and it is used as a decorative piece placed under the horse saddle. She found that they had changed and the young nomad generation has gradually forgotten the traditional motives and use of colours and has resorted to weaving simple non-traditional pieces.

Afsaneh is also interested in the ‘paisley’ design, which was first woven in Kashmir around 11th century and then was brought to Iran, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 15th century Iran, the name was changed from Sanskrit to the Iranian name ‘Shawl’ and eventually ‘Shawl Termeh.’ As Afsaneh says ‘I am very interested in pastry motives, shiny brocades and nomadic motives and using my imagination I combine them with colourful warp and weft which has been chosen very carefully’. Her work features the motif of the lion that is characteristic of the nomadic designs.

For the past eleven years, Afsaneh was working as manager for the design at Mahestan carpet company. She is now devoted full time to her own weaving.

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Afsaneh does not pretend to belong to the class of nomads who are the inspiration for her weaving. Would we look at this differently if it was woven by a Western artist?

Sara Thorn – handmade in Indian cities

Jun 1st, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
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Individual designers have been travelling to traditional craft communities for decades in order to develop product using the skills they so admire. But as more rural villagers move to the city, there is a fear that these skills will vanish. However, there are signs that they are re-appearing in urban workshops and factories. Sara Thorn is a Melbourne-based designer who has discovered ways of working with these new urban-based artisans.

Sara had previously worked with traditional artisans in a number of countries, including Vietnam, Sawarak and India. In 1980s, she established the popular Abyss Studio and Funkessentials labels and Galaxy retail store in Melbourne. In the late 1990s she moved to Paris, where she designed textiles for Christian Lacroix and Michiko Koshino, and Bella Freud in London. Sara was awarded the Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2001 to study jacquard silk weaving at the Lisio Foundation in Italy. As part of the project, Rubelli wove her fabrics. She was Curator of Design at Museum Victoria during 2004. Sara exhibits regularly and her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria and the Powerhouse Museum, Australia.

Sara has recently teamed up with architect Piero Paolo Gesualdi to create the new WorldWeave enterprise. WorldWeave embraces the fusion of Ancient and Modern—honouring age old traditions and skills and working with new technologies pioneered by Indian ingenuity to extend traditions in a contemporary way.

Their first collection includes hand embroidered cushions, hand screen printed jute rugs, Australian Merino Virgin wool throws and scarves—all produced in India. Sara took artwork to India, specifically the North of India, Delhi and Amritsar in the Punjab and researched finding makers to work with and execute the ideas. Initially the idea was to focus on hand weaving. However, on spending several months in India researching potential makers, Sara was surprised to find businesses which had merged the lines between artisanal and contemporary traditions. They allowed her to create designs which honour hand traditions but also use state of the art international textile technology. Generally these were small textile, home furnishing businesses already exporting internationally.

Whilst developing the new collection within India’s contemporary textile industry Sara discovered a complex state of affairs where hand skills, new interpretations of traditions, ingenuity and an undying passion for and knowledge of textile production prevailed side by side. This encouraged Sara to work with techniques that were challenging and innovative which allowed her ideas to take forms beyond her original concepts.

Consequently the pieces in the exhibition are products of this ancient modern fusion.

The Acrobat cushion and Mermaid cushion-Ari embroidery on wool felt

Sara Thorn cushion

Sara Thorn cushion

Sara’s designs for these cushions were influenced by Egyptian circus tattoos and Indonesian tattoos. Sara was inspired to translate body decoration into the format of textile that could decorate a space and be useful as well as decorative.

These cushions were embroidered in Delhi by a Kashmir company who have adapted the hand Ari embroidery technique to a machine Ari embroidery stitch done on a sewing machine. Technically the embroidery is neither hand nor automated machine, as each piece is guided by hand and interpreted by the embroiderer through the machine, ensuring each piece is different.

The Acrobat hand silk screen printed jute rug

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This rug extends the Acrobat design into a rug format. Again it combines a combination of hand skills and technology. In the first instance the design was created in Photoshop, blown up and hand silk screen printed onto computer loomed natural jute. The company is based in Delhi, the Indian business centre but the actual rug is produced in the South of India utilising the rug making traditions of the South.

Taken crudely, Sara’s work in India evokes the way factories in China have been used to outsource textile manufacture. Yet for Sara, the conditions in the Indian factories are sympathetic to the handmade that she so values. Are the new urban craft factories able to sustain the handmade traditions that might otherwise whither when isolated in villages? Can we admire the traditional craft skills even when the designs are foreign?

Sara Thorn’s new WorldWeave collection puts her once again at the frontier of world craft design.

Thanks to Sara Thorn for the text and images.

· www.worldweave.com.au

Embroidering survival in Palestinian refugee camps

May 28th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
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Though you might lose the world around you, you still have your hands. The Palestinian refugees have been living in refugee camps for almost sixty years. Women maintain their culture partly through embroidery. Luckily, there’s an organisation that can assist in helping their work find a market. For a modest price, you can obtain not only a beautiful object of use, but also a message of survival.

Inaash was founded and registered in Lebanon since 1969 as a non-governmental organization by a devoted group of Lebanese and Palestinian ladies motivated by their deep concerns for the deprived families in the camps. Over the years Inaash has trained around 2000 women up to a professional level.

Inaash aims to preserve and promote traditional Palestinian embroidery, and create jobs for women in the camps thus helping them to be economically independent. The embroidered items are made by Palestinian refugee women who were expelled from Palestine after Israeli occupation of their country in 1948. They moved to Lebanon and settled in camps. Some of them knew how to embroider: as young daughters they grew up watching their mothers. Others were taught how to embroider by the Inaash art committee.

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Embroidery is a traditional craft practice for Palestinians. Designs are passed on from mother to daughter, each generation changing a little and adding new inspirations. The repertoire is constantly changing and evolving. It varies from place to place in Palestine. Inspiration for patterns came from uniforms, creamies, printed fabrics, architectural motifs and nature.

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Many names of designs come from village life and are symbols of certain concepts, such as eternity and wealth. There are more than 200 floral and geometric motifs passed on from one generation to another. Many objects were embroidered, including cushions, runners, dresses—some for daily wear and others for special occasions like weddings. Embroidery dresses are not only beautiful but also told stories. Women chose what statements their clothes should make. Some lavish embroidered dresses have over 200, 000 cross-stitches.

The art committee of Inaash prepares the design, colors and provides the ladies in the camps with the raw materials needed (canvas, threads, silk). Women are paid by piece, finish the product and sell it. Inaash is hoping to develop its program by cooperation with volunteer fashion designers to bring in new ideas and by expanding the marketing of its products.

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The story of Samar, who embroidered the tea cosy for the World of Small Things:

My name is Samar. I am 50 years old. A mother for four children. I am from Java in Palestine. My family came to south of Lebanon after the Israeli occupied our country in 1948. My grandmother managed to save some of her beautiful traditional embroidered dresses and brought them with her. They were the most valuable things she ever had! I grew up in Rushdie camp watching my mother and her friends. Embroidering is an identity, it is our identity. It is part of my life not only to support my family financially but also feel proud participating in preserving our traditional heritage. In the afternoons, my kids study on their own and I socialize with my friends each having an item to embroider. If and only if those items can speak… they will tell you all the stories of the neighborhood!

I enjoy distributing colors and deciding what to put and where. It needs creativity. The most enjoyable moment is when I look at my finished lovely work! I do it with love that is why it is always wonderful! This tea cozy took me 120 hours (on average) I used DMC threads. My challenge for you is to count the number of cross-stitches! This tea cozy should only be enjoyed by people who appreciated hand work.

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One of Samar’s tea cosies.

Thanks to Souad Amin for the material for this post. Souad works with the Association for the Development of Palestinian Camps (Inaash) where she develops products made by Palestinian refugees living in camps in southern Lebanon.

Rwandan grass meets German silver

May 13th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
2 comments
Jewellery of natural fibers from Butare, Rwanda, designed and made in cooperation with Martina Dempf, Germany

Jewellery of natural fibers from Butare, Rwanda, designed and made in cooperation with Martina Dempf, Germany

Jewellery of natural fibers from Butare, Rwanda, designed and made in cooperation with Martina Dempf, Germany (photograph by Sebastian Ahlers)

The range of jewellery made by Martina Dempf in collaboration with basket weavers from Rwanda shows an intriguing combination of cultures. The vibrant designs and fine weaving of African grass is housed within elegantly crafted European silver. How did this collaboration come about?

Martina Dempf is a jeweller based in Berlin. She studied jewellery at Pforzheim under Rheinhold Reiling. While still a student, she took half a year to work as a volunteer in a project by Swiss Aid based in Lesotho (Southern Africa) with a jewellery company called the Royal Crown Jewellers.

At the end of her course, Martina travelled with her husband through the whole African continent  (Egypt to South Africa), where she decided to study anthropology. She completed a MA thesis in the Free University of Berlin (‘People Adorned. The Material Culture of the Toposa in Southern Sudan and the Turkana in Northern Kenya’). During the 1980s, she conducted field trips in Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea, Dschibuti and Yemen. Her recent field trips have included Turkana, Kenya (2006) and Toposa, Southern Sudan (2008)

INTASHYA; natural body black pattern; Component: inside bamboo decoration swamp grass

INTASHYA; natural body black pattern; Component: inside bamboo decoration swamp grass

Intashya style basket made by the cooperative of Nyamagabe (COPAF) incorporating natural body black pattern; Component: inside bamboo decoration swamp grass

Martina Dempf, Necklace “In the eye of the snake” 2002, 925 silver, snake bones, length 60 cm,

Martina Dempf, Necklace “In the eye of the snake” 2002, 925 silver, snake bones, length 60 cm,

Martina Dempf, Necklace “In the eye of the snake” 2002, 925 silver, s

During one of these trips in 1986, she visited Rwanda, where she saw the fine grass-woven small baskets and thought they could be used to make jewellery. Traditionally, small baskets were made for the royal court. In 2007, she approached GTZ (German Technical Co-operation) and was invited to work with a group of 40 women in Butare who were organized in a crafts association (Rwanda Art). Martina found a thesis on traditional Rwandan crafts and together with the women, they created a collection of grass jewellery. The women created the grass centre while Martina makes the silver casing. Martina is also working with artisans in Laos and Cambodia.

necklace with 4 pearls round and 3 disks in swamp grass

necklace with 4 pearls round and 3 disks in swamp grass

Necklace with 4 pearls round and 3 disks in swamp grass made by women in Butare

The Rwandan craftswomen continue to produce jewellery designs that emerged from their collaboration with Martina, and Martina also continues to source Rwandan components for her jewellery.

The swamp (papyrus) grass jewellery is made by Dafan Mukantabashwa, Virginie Uwizeyimana, Pelagie Nyirahabineza, Alphonsine Urayeneza and Valentine Nyirakimonyo. The sisal jewellery is made by Anizerata Nyitanteziyaremye, Suzanne Uwitije, Daphrose and Libératha.

As with any collaboration between artisans from rich and poor countries, we are left with many questions. What does jewellery mean to Rwandans? Is it something purely for export? Were there new skills required in adapting basket-weaving to jewellery making? Can the aesthetic worth of Martina’s jewellery be distinguished from its ethical value? Does its ethical value make us predisposed to enjoy her work more or are we wary that our appreciation is predetermined by our politics?

Thanks to jewellers like Martina for opening up these issues, as well as making objects for us to enjoy. And thanks to Rwandan craftswomen for sharing their culture in a medium for us that we consider precious.

You can see the jewellery produced by Martina and the Rwandan woman at the World of Small Things, in Craft Victoria 18 June – 25 July.

Links

· www.martina-dempf.de

· www.rwanda-art.com

An Africa of Small Things

Apr 7th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
No comments yet
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Sculpture by Geraldine Fenn

The jewellery scene in South Africa has kept a very low profile. Perhaps here’s why.

Three jewellers from Johannesburg have an exhibition at Bell Roberts Gallery titled Tales from the Mantelpiece. Philippe Bousquet, originally an architect, works with family identity as a link between vintage objects. Geraldine Fenn, with a background in archeology and art history, works with trophies and glass domes. And Marchand van Tonder, a jeweller for 25 years, has created ‘Tales of Grimm’ that explore the dark side of fairy tales.

With such a taste for the miniature, clearly you have to look very hard to discover what jewellers are up to in South Africa. But it seems worth the effort.

Let the beads do the talking

Feb 25th, 2009
by Kevin Murray.
2 comments
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Hlengiwe Dube is not only one of South Africa’s most accomplished bead artists, she is also responsible for much of the vibrant craft that emerges from KwaZulu-Natal, thanks to her work with the African Craft Centre. Finally, she has been able to distil her considerable knowledge of beadwork with this new publication. Zulu Beadwork: Talk with Beads promises not only to contain images of great work, but also decode the complex language of beads themselves. Here’s a blurb from the publisher:

Most of the studies of African art available in this country have been written by outsiders. And, while these accounts can be informative, there is a level of understanding that only an insider can provide. For this reason, Africa Direct is proud to present Zulu Beadwork: Talk with Beads. Its author, Hlengiwe Dube, is a Zulu woman raised in a traditional family. She has been director of the African Art Centre in Durban, South Africa, for many years. Her relationship with Zulu beadwork is direct and personal, much of it drawn from her own experience or stories passed down by her mother and grandmother. In Zulu Beadwork: Talk with Beads, she makes her expertise available to readers everywhere. In an engaging, conversational style, she talks about the “unspoken words” of traditional beadwork designs. Each color of bead, and each combination of colors, creates a different message. From the white beads that assure a lover, “Whenever I see you my heart goes white as the milk of cattle when they are milked in the morning,” to the green beads that proclaim, “I am going to wait for my husband as he works in Johannesburg,” Hlengiwe Dube leads us through the fascinating complexities of beadwork messages. Illustrated throughout with beautiful color photographs and including chapters on historical and regional trends, Zulu Beadwork: Talk with Beads is a must-read for anyone interested in learning about African art from the people who create it.

Observations on the Olympics of Chinese craft

Nov 16th, 2008
by admin.
No comments yet

The World Craft Council General Assembly in China provided an opportunity to see aspects of a craft culture that is ancient in a very modern way.

We were taken on an official visit to the Zhongyi lace factory, which is one of the economic jewels of the Toglu province. The showroom featured a performance by a dozen or so lacemakers embroidering designs with great concentration.

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This factory specialised in ‘wanlus’ lace, originally imported from Venice in 1919. It has transformed this technique into a major industrial enterprise, as we saw when we strayed from the showroom into the factory complex. Solitary young women supervised rows of massive and loud mechanised looms producing lines such as polyesterlace.

Within the context of the Western craft movement, this contrast between the tranquil scene of traditional handiwork and the mechanical world beyond would normally be something ironic. But the factory owners seemed proud that both could exist together.

In association with the General Assembly there was a huge exhibition of crafts, mostly Chinese. Two in particular seemed worthy of note.

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The pride of the exhibition was the Temple of Heaven Pray Year Palace. It was manufactured by Hong Kong Huangyungguan Bijouterie Co.Ltd, planned by Huang Yunguang and Wang Yongqing, and designed and supervised by Wang Shuwen.

This work transforms a historic architectural monument into a piece of jewellery. The original palace in Beijing was made for the Emperors of Ming and Qing to pray for a successful harvest. The exhibition piece is a quintessential piece of ‘rich craft’. It includes:

  • micro-inlay technology
  • 5,693 golden gemstones
  • 10,000 inner and outer door arches
  • 100 kg silver
  • 200,000 diamonds
  • cadcam technology
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As with the lace, this work is presented in a way that sees no conflict between modern technology and traditional craft values. The work ‘integrates oriental traditional cultural characteristics with modern civilization’.

This year’s Beijing Olympic opening ceremony demonstrated a similar reverence for traditional crafts, particularly calligraphy. The craft and sports Olympics both avoid any reference to the history of modernity, leapfrogging from traditional to contemporary. The craft on display seemed completely divorced from the everyday experience of people living in China. Is this the inverse of the Cultural Revolution, when the traditional was banned in order to focus exclusively on the modern struggle? In today’s China, is the traditional something quite new and fresh? Many questions are left hanging after this brief encounter with craft. As China eventually becomes the world’s leading economic power, we would not be remiss to consider these questions a little further.

Some other observations:

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In a more traditional vein, the exhibition included work by the revered master of Tiny Sculptural Calligraphy, Zhang Yuanxing. Recognised as ‘exclusive work in China’, this work consists of miniature calligraphic script carved into jade. According to his brochure, this craft relates to ancient Buddhist mythology:

A legend in the Buddhist stories says that the Buddhism has the boundless power so he can put a huge mountain into a grain of millet, which is magically spectacular.

Zhang Yuanxing has an interesting personal history. He grew up in the village of Shenyang during the Japanese occupation. While the period is regarded as a tragedy in Chinese history, he combines both Japanese and Chinese script in his work as a gesture of harmony between the nations. It’s an interesting example of ‘craft diplomacy’ through ‘small things’, which enable cultural exchange by slipping through the net of international relations.

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Zhang Yuanxing with his granddaughter Xu Jingmei who hopes to continue his craft of tiny sculptural calligraphy.
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The pendant on the bottom right has a script that advocates filial piety. Mr Yuanxing sells this for half price to encourage its message.

On a more sensory level, there seemed a particular taste in the Chinese aesthetic for complex rhizomic forms. This monumental sculpture of a monk emerging from the ground won much praise from visitors:

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 And in the nearby tourist attraction of Westlake, many of the features reflected an inscription set in a chaos of rock.

 

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And from Shanghai airport, the Remy Martin ad for cognac tries to appeal to the same kind of aesthetic.

Perhaps like the rich ginger sauces of Chinese cuisine, these wild baroque forms offer a kind of visual pungency. Yet at the same time, the word of authority emerges from its core in a way that cannot be traced back to any root.

The Chinese showed a great commitment to craft in hosting the World Craft Council General Assembly and creating a virtual Craft Olympics around it. Like the other Olympics, the organisation was flawless. The world of craft owed a great debt to China, and one that it should seek to repay in starting what should be a rich and long-term dialogue.

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