Textile Swatches

A visit to Yountville

 

On a recent visit to Napa valley, we stayed at the Bardessono in Yountville- one of three LEED- platinum certified hotels in the U.S. Enjoyed the sleek, contemporary design, paired with the warm attitude of the staff.

Enjoyed learning about the Tillandsia plant- an air plant, that grows without soil, gathering nutrition and moisture from the air- through its leaves.

The Bardessono has a wonderful 'Tillandsia wall'

While strolling in downtown Yountville, we came across this exhibit

How it's made: Clamp Dye Resist fabric.

 

One of our new textiles, 'Colaba' from our soon to be released collection, 'Bombay Glitz' is handmade by a Clamp Dye Resist process, also called Itajime.

It basically involves making folds in the fabric and then using a carved wood shape as a resist. This wood resist needs to be placed on both sides of the folded cloth and then is held together tightly with a clamp.

Here are some images from our process-

Bringing in the muscle to tighten the clamps!

The clamped fabric is then soaked in water to make it more absorptive to the dyeing process.

It is then placed in the dye bath.

After it is removed from dyeing.

And the clamps are removed, but the fabric is still folded...

And voila! the finished product...

And here's a short video documentation. 

What do you think? Do you like the result?

Here's a great book, 'Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing' if you have an interest to explore this technique. It's written by my friend and mentor, Yoshiko Wada, and Mary Kellog Rice and Jane J. Barton.

Making of our Textiles: A visit to the Dyer

We are in the midst of getting our new collection 'Bombay Glitz' ready for launch.

One of our new fabrics-  Colaba, is a handmade clamp dye. More to come on this process in the next post.

We went to visit the dyer in an old part of Bangalore while making the prototypes. Here are some images of what we saw along the way...

This was the entrance to the street. A beautiful archway made of flowers and plantain leaves. Probably a wedding or celebration in the community. And we captured a flower vendor entering the street!

Each home had beautiful Rangoli designs hand drawn at their entrance.

We encountered these calves!

The things we take for granted. Water is in short supply and running water is not a given for most people. So we saw their matkas and buckets waiting to be filled when water does come in the neighborhood tap.

Patterned and brightly colored buildings.

 

A weekend of Color!

We celebrated Holi this weekend with my daughter and her friends. Holi is the Indian festival of color- a festival that celebrates the victory of good and evil and a celebration of spring and harvests to come. The ritual of Holi is throwing colored water and powders on friends and family. During this festival the country is painted in vibrant colors.  Here are some images from our celebration.

The colors we used were all natural 'Rang Dulaar" by eCoexist .

Here is some video of the fun that was had!

  

To continue the feeling of color and merriment today, we did a project on marbleizing paper. We used a mixture of cornstarch and water- about the consistency of thick buttermilk. We used tempera paints, added water to make them an inky consistency. We used a dropper to drop our diluted colors into the cornstarch solution. We started seeing the beautiful swirly patterns on the surface. We then gently placed our watercolor paper on the surface to 'catch the pattern'.

Here are some images from our explorations:

Pink is the Navy Blue of India

'I adore that pink, it's the navy blue of India', declared Diana Vreeland, former editor of Vogue, in 1962. By this she meant that, just as navy blue in the Western culture signifies conservative respectability, pink exemplifies tradition and balance in India.

This was also the title of a photography exhibit I visited at Tasveer, last evening in Bangalore.

It is an exhibit of the works of British photographer, Norman Parkinson. 1913-1990.

In a career that spanned seven decades, Norman Parkinson dazzled the world with his sparkling inventiveness as a fashion photographer. His long association with Vogue, and his numerous assignments for Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country and other international magazines, brought him worldwide recognition.  Standing at 6 feet 5 inches tall, Parkinson was unable to remain unobtrusive behind the lens and instead created ‘Parks’, the moustachioed, ostentatiously elegant fashion photographer – as much a personality as those who sat for him, and frequently more flamboyant. 

His trip to India, in 1956, was an incredible experience for him and for the readers of Vogue. After the austerity of the war and the focus on Europe, Britain was eager to embrace the larger world. When British Vogue suggested that he do a major photo shoot in India, Parkinson welcomed it. He instinctively knew that his readers wanted to see not only his fashion but also the country. In the 1950s, flights were still expensive and infrequent, so for many people their window to the world was through magazines and papers. His plan was to take Western fashion and combine it with Indian style. It was an ideal marriage, the clothes blended beautifully with the surroundings.

A morning in Malleswaram

While in Bangalore, a few friends and I decided to start the morning in Malleswaram. We picked up South Indian breakfast at Veena stores and then we headed over for a picnic at one of the pretty neighborhood parks for a laughter filled start to the day!  

Malleswaram is one of the cultural hubs of the city and is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods. Filled with trees, parks, lots of Hindu temples, a fantastic flower and vegetable market and the hustle and bustle of stores and activity. It is one of my most favorite parts of the city to wander in and feel inspired. It also inspired the fictional book 'Malgudi Days' by author R.K. Narayanan. The title Malgudi is based on 2 neighborhoods of bangalore- Malleswaram and Basavangudi.

 

 

 

                                                                             

 

 

Here are some visual treats from our walk through the markets in the neighborhood.