|
| Handicraft & Textiles |
|
|
A land rich in history, culture and industry, with an idyllic location for sea trade on the west coast of India and on the land routes between Delhi and Mumbai , Gujarat has been the breeding ground for an amazing array of embroidery, weaving, dyeing and printing techniques, handicrafts made from wood, stone and metal, and folk arts of the tribal communities. More than 4000 years ago, the bead factories, coppersmiths, potters and jewellers of Lothal and Dholawira achieved standards of excellence and maturity. |
The women of pastoral communities have embroidered clothes for their own trousseau for centuries, and the tribes of the hills continue an ancient tradition of decorating their houses with paintings, called pithoras, and terra cotta horses to ward off evil spirits. |
South Gujarat |
Most of all, Gujarat is known for its textiles, sought after the world over for generations. The textiles of Gujarat were exported to Europe and far east Asia from the port of Surat. The Mughals, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the British and the French set up trade and industry in Surat, realising the city's potential for producing fine artisans and the importance of its port. Today Surat is no longer a port but is still an industrial city with a major textile manufacturing base. Textile factories have mushroomed in and around Surat. |
Central Gujarat |
Ahmedabad has teen the home of the textile industry from 1861, when Ranchodlal Chhotalal set up Ahmedabad's first textile mill, and continues to manufacture and export fabrics in large quanities. Ahmedabad has a number of large textile markets in the walled city. In little corners and alleys of Ahmedabad, traditional fabrics like the Mata-ni-Pachedi and temple curtains are hand-painted by the Vagharis, and the Chippas continue the intricate art of block printing. |
|
|
North Gujarat and Surendranagar District |
North of Ahmedabad, the town of Patan has always been well known for its ikkat technique of silk weaving. Ikkat weaving involves tie-dyeing the warp threads before weaving to create designs on the finished fabrics. The precise movement of coloured threads during weaving gives ikkat designs their richnessA type of ikkat weaving typical of Patan is the double ikkat, which is twice as complex as the single ikkat. Both the warp and the weft threads are tie-dyed before they are set on the loom. This technique requires amazing precision, specially at the intersection of the warp and weft threads, and in consequence it can take months to finish a single sari. |
Kutch |
|
The highlight of a trip to Gujarat for many travellers is the variety of handicrafts produced by the villages of Kutch district, set between the desert plains of the Rann and the coasdands of the Gulf of Kutch. The crafts of Kutch district are well known for their delightful array of colours and motifs.
Master weavers in Kutch, some of them national award winners, work on traditional pit-looms and produce intricately woven fabrics for floor, table and bed coverings, cloth bags, shawls, quilts, and dress materials. |
The woven fabric is printed using carved wooden blocks, filled with herbal, mineral and other natural dyes. |
Saurshtra |
While Kutch has acquired international fame for its handicrafts, the Kathiawad peninsula too has a historic tradition of producing high quality arts and handicrafts. Thev finest of these handicrafts embellished the palaces, mansions and darbargadhs of die Maharajahs, Nawabs and Kathi darbars of Saurashtra: Permission is required to visit the properties of die erstwhile mling families, other than those thai are heritage hotels or museums.The heritage hotels of Gondal. near the heart of Saurashtra, are decorated with beautiful beadwork. silver and brassware. The town ot Gondal is known for its spinning, weaving, woodwork, silverware and other handicrafts. Udyog Bharau' is one the centres promoting handloom woven textiles and the art of making brass and wooden patara boxes. Further south from Gondal is Junagadh where richly embroidered carpets, some of them encrusted with gems, and other royal memorabilia, can be seen at the Darbarhall museum in a converted palace. Rupayrattan at Junagadh is promoting applique and other handicrafts of Saurashtra. The Junagadh museum has a memorable collection of folk arts. Enroute from Gondal to Junagadh, Jetpur is a textile town known for its screen printing and yarn dyeing factories. A few block printers still practise their intricate art at the printing units of Jetpur. Screen and block printed textiles can be purchased at retail outlets of the printing factories. Rajkot's Rashtriya shala, opened by the city's erstwhile Rajput rulers, is promoting ikkat weaving and other traditional textile techniques.
Like Junagadh, Gondal and Rajkot, Bhavnagar was an important princely city of Saurashtra, and has some living examples of the handiwork that the royals used in their palaces and mansions. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
