MAIN CURIOSITIES ABOUT INDIAN HANDMADE PRODUCTS

September 08, 2017

LEARN HOW INDIAN HANDMADE WORKS AND DISCOVER THE MAIN CURIOSITIES ABOUT TECHNIQUES AND CRAFTS.

By far the Indian handmade is the most captivating type of ethnic fashion. A sea of ​​shapes, colors, textures and prints with unique and detail-rich pieces. We get to see behind the scenes of these creations day by day, and we can say that there are curiosities about the processes that make Indian handmade work even more appealing.

We know how much Indian craftsmen are exploited to meet the demands of the fashion industry, but here we always cherish clear and ethical relations, so we separate some curiosities that concern both the work processes and artisans, as well as the main techniques used, for everyone to become aware of how handmade in India works and to value even more this pot of gold and its riches.

 

LABOR

 

• There are about 7 million artisans in India in official accounts, but the truth is that unofficial estimates count for more than 200 million. The government takes into account only the chief artisan, but in many homes and families there are several craftsmen working in the same business.
• Most of them live in conditions of economic vulnerability and cannot invest more than $ 1000 per year in production costs, which is very little according to the demand.
• With the advancement of technology and in greater access, artisans have suffered a lot from the competition with machines, which make cheaper, but much worse than craft products in terms of quality.
• Because they do not have credit, artisans cannot get bank loans, so they end up turning to money lenders, which end up exploiting them even more.
• Each state in India has a different specialty of handicraft, from woodwork with mother of pearl, embroidery, hand weaving and sculpture to block printing.

 

PRINTING

 

• Tie dye is one of the most popular works, existing in several variations throughout Asia. In Japan, it is known as Shibori. In India, as Bandhani. There are different techniques of production and evidence that Bandhani exists since the 6th or 7th century AD.
• The block printing process of Ajrakh is one of the rarest, and counts with no less than 13 steps in its production. The dyes are all natural, extracted from plants, and we already wrote about how the process works here in this post.

 

PASHMINAS OF KASHMIR

 

• After tie dye, probably the most famous Indian handmade product are the Kashmiri pashminas, produced with the wool of a goat species that lives in the region of Kashmir in the Himalayas.
• With the popularization, alternatives have been created to the true pashminas, which are difficult to find, making the originals very expensive products.
• The pashmina fiber is officially cashmere. Originally handmade, cashmere products have been produced industrially in different countries, with different diameters and with certain variations in relation to Indian cashmere such as diameter of the fiber, the type of goat and some specific characteristics.
• The word "cashmere" come from the word Kashmir, the Kashmir region, and is used to identify certain types of fabrics, prints and even sweaters.

 

EMBROIDERY

 

• Hand embroidery is very strong in India and there are numerous types of embroidery.
• In northern India, each nomadic tribe is known for one type of embroidery. Thus, when visiting a particular region, it is possible to identify each tribe by their clothing and embroidery.
• In these same tribes, about 50 years ago, the embroideries were made only by women and for their own use. Each woman embroidered the trousseau she would wear after the wedding. Oh, and they could only get married after they finished the trousseau, so some girls, not to get married so early, delayed the end of the trousseau.

• With the arrival of tourists in the region, one noticed the commercial interest in these embroideries, so some women began to sell their pieces. Many of them are illiterate and live in extremely closed communities, so embroidery is their only source of income.
• The contact with them is very difficult, many do not even allow you to photograph them - or if they accept, they prefer not to show the face (like the woman in the above pictue), and others still need the authorization of the husband or children to be photographed.

Here in our blog, we have more stories about Indian manual work, you can check and learn even more amazing stories about India and handmade processes.

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