Desi Wool

Desi Wool A collaborative approach towards sustainability

Reviving the Tradition of Desi Wool by two teams of stduents and weavers- Oony , Vartao

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Desi Wool A collaborative approach towards sustainability

Reviving the Tradition of Desi Wool by two teams of stduents and weavers- Oony , Vartao

Project undertaken by National Institue of Design, Ahmedabad in collaboration with Khamir, a Kutch based NGO 2018

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Desi wool after dyeing with indigo, harda and maddar

Acknowledgement

This is the outcome of an 8 week Design Project, conducted under the guidance of Textile Design faculty Swasti Singh Ghai and V Sakthivel.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for all the invaluable inputs from numerous visiting faculty - Priyanka Patel (course on Sustainability in Design), Lata T.(talk on Handloom related issues and challenges), Praveen Nahar ( Presentation on Systems Design), Anuj Sharma (3 day input on draping), Neha Lad, Ashish Kothari and Sumiran.

This project is an outcome of a collaborative effort of NID, with Khamir, an NGO facilittaing and supporting the weavers, among many other artisans of Kutch.

The project uses the approach of co-creation- between textile design students and weavers from Kutch, in an attempt to revive local wool use and traditions and promote the usage of indigenous cotton- Kala cotton; to create a sustainable future.

The Design Brief given by Khamir was to use design to promote the usage of kala cotton and Desi wool among the weavers in Kutch. Khamir intended to empower the local weavers by allowing direct access to home grown cotton and wool.This is an attempt to close the loop of local ecology in terms of resource, its use and degradation, which will eventually help in reducing large carbon footprints which contribute to global pollution.

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Content

Dinesh Bhai sizing woolen yarn with atta (wheat flour) in Bhadali

1. Introduction

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2. Approach

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3. Desi Wool

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4.Swot Analysis & 5W’s

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5. External Inputs

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Oony

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• Collaborating - Imaging & Working Together • Getting the Real Picture and Synthesis • Redefined Design Brief • Exporations • Alternative approach to clothing • Sampling and Prototyping • Final Outcome

Vartao

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• Collaborating - Imaging & Working Together • Getting the Real Picture and Synthesis • Redefined Design Brief • Exporations • Alternative approach to clothing • Sampling and Prototyping • Final Outcome

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Introduction Woven stories

COURSE BRIEF

About Khamir

A design project where approach of co-creation between textile design students and handloom weavers of Kutch is adopted to revive desi wool with the intention of contributing to cultural ecology and a sustainable future.

Khamir is a non-governmental organisation based in Kutch, Gujarat. It stands for Kachchh Heritage, Art, Music, Information and Resources. Khamir works to strengthen and promote the rich artisanal traditions of Kutch districts. It started in 2005 as a joint initiative of Kachchh Nav Nirman Abhiyan and the Nehru Foundation for developement. At Khamir, they strive to create a democratic and empowering space - a common roof under which a range of stakeholders can exchange ideas and collaborate.

Basic view Through this project, Khamir and NID have looked at a sustainable future by reviving the usage of local indigenous wool by looking at a new market and diverse design directions so as to encourage the weavers to weave with it, women to spin it and Rabaris to take good care of their sheep (for good quality wool). It is a way to bring back a lost practice by re-linking certain sects of society to create a localised production system.

Current status Number of handloom weavers in Kutch- 2000 approx.

Number of Kala cotton weavers in Kutch- 200 approx.

Number of Desi wool weavers in Kutch - 35 approx.

Number of wool hand spinners in Kutch - 100-110approx.

The Back story After the Earthquake in Bhuj 2001and the introduction of acrylic yarn in the market in the 1980s, weavers in Kutch all but stopped using local indigenous wool to weave with, as the Rabaris stopped wearing or spinning it. Sheep started being reared solely for meat and so the quality of wool also fell over the years and the wool producing breed dwindled in numbers. Wool as a material has warming and insulating properties which suited the climate in Bhuj as the temperatures vary a lot during the day and at night in the desert. Almost all the clothing worn by Rabaris these days is synthetic except for a few inherited items of clothing.

By bringing back value to desi wool, whole systems can be revived in the region of Kutch.

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Approach

Walk towards Sustainability

Co-creation

The first visit to Kutch was during our Design Workshop on Sustainability where we visited Khamir to collect data to calculate the ecological footprint of weaving Kala Cotton in Kutch. Interviewing the various stake holders in the value chain: farmers, ginners, spinners, dyers, weavers and people in the local market, we collected the relevant facts and figures of the system.

The students were divided into four groups (2 for Kala Cotton and 2 for Desi Wool) with one weaver in each group. All the assignment were discussed with both the students and the weavers and it was made sure that both the parties learn from one another.

This was to understand each stage of production which kala cotton goes through, starting from cultivation to being sold in the market.

The project was conducted by joining hands with the NGO, Khamir which works for the upliftment of craft traditions of Kutch and the local weavers and usage of indegenious fibres from Kutch.

However, we didnt do any research on the part of Desi wool which would have helped us more while finding the solutions to decrease the ecological footprints in the craft sector. This exercise was to understand the production cycle of crafts which helped us be aware of the real life conditions and aspects when it comes to doing a product with a weaver in Kutch.

The survey was to collect quantitative data for calculating the carbon footprint, though being at the primary stage, the data had gaps which needed to be filled but nevertheless we absorbed a lot of qualitative information in this process.

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About Desi Wool There are two breeds of sheep present in the region of Kutch namely the Marwari and Desi breeds. Before acrylic started taking over the market in the 1980s, the Desi variety sheep were in larger numbers in the region as Rabaris were dependent on their wool to make their clothing, also because the wool was softer. However, their numbers dwindled in the 1980s and now the Marwari variety is seen more as sheep rearing has become a practice solely for meat. The Marwari variety has coarser hair. This is why the quality of wool in the region these days is inferior to what it used to be, hence the spun yarn is coarser and the cloth woven has a rough texture. The softening of this coarse material is a challenge that we tackled as a team.

There are various other issues other than just the breed of sheep being reared for wool. The shearing needs to take place systematically and the hair needs to be allowed to grow to a certain length before it is ready to cut. These days, haphazard cutting with scissors before the hair grows out is what happens because the sheep herders don’t see a market for their wool anymore and just want to get rid of it. Even the nutrition of the sheep determines the quality of wool.

The quality of spun yarn depends on the women spinning it. Every woman has different skill with spinning and therefore a uniform thickness and strength are difficult to achieve.

The various challenges that desi wool present need to be worked out and seen as opportunities and this Design Project is a step in the same direction.

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Process

from the beginning till the end

SHEARING

SPINNING

The process of removal of the fleece from the animal is called shearing . Sheep are usually sheared annually in spring/summer months. Shearing is done using a blade. It helps the sheep by removing the heavy woollen coat which they do not require in summers.

The spinning is mostly done by the women using a charkha.

Spinning involves twisting of the fibers together to make it compact and strong. The count of the yarn depends upon the skill of the spinner. The spinning requires a very good skill because the fibers are of different staple length.

CLEANING

DYEING

The sheared hair is washed properly to remove dirt. The unwanted seeds that gets stuck on the hair are removed.

The yarn is then dyed into the desired colour. The dyeing of the yarn is done with natural dyes. Wool catches the dyes very well.

CARDING The woolen fibers are put through a series of combing steps called carding. This can be done with small hand cards that look much like brushes which one uses for a dog.

WARPING The dyed yarn is transferred to bobbins and then the warp is made depending upon the colour and width of the product.

STARCHING The warp is soaked in water overnight and then put on the loom and starched.

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S.W.O.T. Analysis SWOT, S for Strength, W for Weaknesses, O for Opportunities and T for Threats.

Swot Analysis is also a measuring tool for the features and qualitative aspects of a particular system or object which helps in understanding it better and deriving directions and opportunities to work on.

We undertook this excercise in the week of Design Project when the weavers had their first visit to NID and were introduced to us.

This was the time when the groups were formed and this was like a warming up assignment.

Swot Analysis of Desi wool helped us to know its properties better which eventually helped us to choose the design directions from the weaknesses and threats as we turned them into our opportunities keeping in mind the strengths of the material.

Strength

Weakness

localised production natural and biodegradable rustic look human touch (handspun) more resistant to insects than merino fibrous - makes warmer product felts naturally insulating material

material is weak because it is handspun seasonal - monsoon is not suitable and summers are too hot for weaving coarse material damages the looms short-lived material itchy

Opportunities awareness based on environmental, handmade and cultural properties natural dyeing explorations encourages traditional livelihood felting as a possibility combining with cotton using old and damaged products softening the material

Threat acrylic andmerino wool as competition very few people are engaged in handspinning changing cultural context and migration to cities affordability inavailability of good quality raw material

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5Ws The 5Ws is a method of self questioning the project to understand the focal point and the key factors of the project. This exercise gave us clarity about our primary subject in this design project.

What?

Why?

advocacy or a product

to give importance to local, indigenous wool

Whom?

Where?

niche market or people reaching out to their roots and long lost traditions

areas of localised production

How? creating an incentive to weave by making feasible products by utilising the rusticness of desi wool as an advantage

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External`s input Looking at different directions

Ashish Kothari Co-founder of NGO Kalp Vriksha

Lata Dastkar Andhra , an NGO established in 1995

Some of the key points in the direction of social, ecological and economical paradigms to work towards the framework for a world/ society/ community that is sustainable, equitable and just came from him. He gave us a pasthway in terms of key elements and principles on how to work on the framework in order to deal with the challenges and problems existing in our project related to Desi wool.

Mainly we got the inputs about the handloom industry of India:- The people who own handlooms are the owners of it .

- Enhance the handmade aspects of the textile products being sold in the market.

-Also the lack of value for handloom is because of the notion that handmade is cheap, But that shouldn’t be the case.

- In the handloom industry, unlike village weavers, who have a holistic veiw, the handloom industry weavers want a means of livelihood.

Some of these key elements are as follows:1. Ecological -Diversity -Sustainability of use 2. Social -Equity -Basic needs - Soverighnty and well-being -Responsibilty -Policy integrity and coherence 3. Ecological -Social control of means of production -Meaningful livelihoods and work -Sustainable trade -Economy of caring and sharing

Some challenges for Handloom livelihoods:- Lack of continuous work & fair wage -Inappropriate technology intervention -Failure of govt. marketing bodies - Dividing local cooperative markets - Hard to convince the weaver to work on new products - Continuous innovation with the same skill set of the weaver .

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Oony

A collaboration between NID students and our weaver, Dinesh Vankar.

Dinesh Vankar Earlier there were 22 weavers in Bhadali but now there are only 8 weavers left. Dinesh Bhai is one of them. He studied till 8th standard and then joined Kala Raksha for one year to pursue design education. His father was also a Vankar and used to weave Dhablas using Desi wool. Dinesh Bhai, unlike other weavers who mainly work under a Master weaver, has never worked for one. He told us since the beginning he has a broad vision to be an independant weaver. This self motivation lead him to learn dyeing on his own while looking at the dyeing processes done by the Khatris. Now, he does Bandhani on woven merino wool fabric. He has also worked with designers in the past. Along with weaving, he also helps his family in farming.

Members in family- Dinesh Bhai, his wife and his two children, his mother and father, his elder brother and his family.

26 years old Home- Bhadali Work- Has worked with cotton, Merino Wool, Silk.

Interests- Interested in dyeing and bandhani, Experimental

Family occupation- His family is mainly engaged in farming of Bt cotton and castor. He is the only person in the family who weaves now.

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Aavrati Kushwaha

Sudeshna Saxena

Akash Kumar

Batch UG15 - Textile Design - NID Semester - 6th Homeland - Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Batch UG15 - Textile Design - NID Semester - 6th Homeland - New Delhi

Batch UG15 - Textile Design - NID Semester - 6th Homeland - Bokaro, Jharkhand

“This project gave us a new platform for mutual learning and promoted self sufficiency.”

“This project brought out a sense of responsibiity in us to bring back and re-establish a forgotten system.”

“Re-introduction of desi wool, bringing back the historic tradition and knowledge to life.”

Our Objective To promote the usage of handspun desi wool and in turn employ the handspinning skills of the women of Kutch.

This would also help in re-establishing the relationship co-dependence between the communities of Kutch.

There has been an attempt to reinstate the process of slow and mindful production with the weavers. Effects of certain material and dyes in the environment as well as on human life are topics we took u with our weaver in order to make him take conscious decisions in the future. We want to incorporate the idea of slow design as weaving is a part of it. Due to the introduction of acrylic, which has made weaving just a production process, it has changed the way a weaver works.

In addition to this, we have worked to enable a sense of a contemporary design direction to the products made out of desi wool. It is necessary as the context of it has changed in the present scenario.

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Inspiration

co-creation of the theme Looking back at precious memories that are lost in the new age of technology.

Shifting from an ongoing phenomenon of reduced outdoor activities/interpersonal relations due to westernisation and increased use of technology in daily life

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Developing Design Brief to reintroduce local, indigenous wool and promote its usage amongst local weavers in order to support traditional livelihood for localised production systems without de-skilling of the craftsmen and without loss of workmanship or cultural identity.

Co-creating a collection of drapable multifunctional clothing by drawing inspiration from the past and nostalgic memories but at the same time keeping in mind the cultural and social environment of our weaver and to be able to convince them to move in different directions to achieve our common objective.

Our Stakeholders in this project being: The Weavers Women who are spinning Khamir, as a NGO trying to revive Desi Wool Textile Craft Sector Craft enthusiast promoting Sustainable Design Textile industry Textile design students

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About Desi wool and its characteristics

bulky organic ethical difficult to weave sustainable bright colours techniques - tangalia, bandhni, wool + cotton blend, extra weft, embroidery, warp faced sheep are reared in Kutch and the wool is spun in Bikaner in Rajasthan, now spinning is starting in Kutch again (Khamir) sizing is needed because material is weak (atta is used) traditionally, was a medium to build relationships with other communities through a system of give and take (barter system) worn by rabaris as the material is cool in summers and warm in winters the beliefs and customs associated with wool are passed on from generation to generation. visually rough | rustic look | poky | fibrous | feels like jute absorbs water | insulating | dyeable | can be felted | acoustic properties traditional product range- dhabla | looni | kapadu | lobdi | kharad existing product range - stoles | cusrtains | mats | shawls | floor coverings | felted products

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User Persona user 1 NRI/ gujuratis settled elsewhere 30+ aware ofold culture and traditions want to re-connect with their roots and are proud of where they come from don’t mind spending money on genuine products male/female

user 2 craft enthusiasts foreign countries 30-40 years old can afford expensive items from colder countries appreciate the rustic aesthetic

Trend study

environment interactive space personal space

nostalgia inner self mind | body

a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past

wabi - sabi acceptance of transcience and imperfection

sustainability avoidance ofthe depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance

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Design Management or Branding The workshop by Neha Lad gave us directions to find a story to tell to the audience which would help in building a brand for our products.

Wth desi wool,we tried to go back into the past and the memories which make you feel nostalgic like childhood memories, games , photographs etc. We tried to derive the motifs out of it in order to bring that feel.

For weavers, the use of desi wool itself triggered the nostalgic feel of weaving with desi wool. Therefore, not only in our customers is one trying to evoke nostalgia but also among the weavers.

We decided upon ‘Khel‘ which means ‘play or game‘ as our brand name during this workshop as we felt that the feeling of nostalgia is best evoked when one talks about games that one played in their childhood. This was later changed to ‘Oony‘ as we shifted our perspective to look at Desi wool itself as a nostalgic material.

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Getting the real picture & synthesis

Field visit to Kutch For 2 days Before we planned our 10 days’ visit to kutch, we decided to go there for 2 days beforehand to see the environment of our weaver and his lifestyle. The fact that our weaver lives in Bhadali which is a small village on the way to Nakhatranamade us look at the reachability issues.

In those two days, all of the team members got familiar with the weaver`s family and his working environment. The team also delivered the dyed yarns and other raw materials which they had got from Ahmedabad hence, saving the time of the weaver. In addition to this, the whole team including the weaver had a discussion on what has to be done before our next visit.

As the three of us were outsiders in the weaver`s environment, we had to introduce our project to everyone in his family and tell them how it is a step towards a more sustainable world.

We visited certain weavers’ workshops in and around Bhuj and were faced with resistance and hostility when we introduced our project and what we were working towards.

The fact that we were viewed as a threat gave us a more rounded perspective of the social context of our weaver.

The visit overall changed our perception when we came back to Ahmedabad to work on sampling. We were able to empathize with our weaver more and found out more about the missing links.

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Finding the Missing Links The session by Pravin Nahar gave us a new perspective in data collection and data organisation. We started looking at the scenario through the weaver’s point of view and came up with questions bothering him.

We placed ourselves in the shoes of a weaver and empathized with him. This led us to many unanswered questions about his life which we were not aware of. We made a mind map of what surrounds a weaver`s life and factors affecting his work.

We listed down primary factors affecting his life and profession and where we could factor in. While working on this we came up with a lot of gaps in the information about the weaver and created an excel sheet based on the missing data.

We visited Kutch for 2 days before the prototyping stage to fill in all the missing information to create a proper flowchart of the resources and factors affecting the weaver. We interviewed our weaver, Dinesh Bhai to clarify our doubts about the government schemes, exhibitions, his economic status, how the community works with helping each other and how resources are arranged.

This helped us understand our focus areas better to solve the necessary problems like how to cater to a new market, how to enhance colour stories, how to promote a material amongst the weaver`s community etc.

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Re-defined Design Brief

To reintroduce local, indigenous wool and promote its usage amongst local weavers in order to support traditional livelihood for localised production systems without de-skilling of the craftsmen and without loss of workmanship or cultural identity.

Opportunities which this project offered :- Re-establishing the co-dependence among different communities of Kutch -To lessen the accumalation of carbon footprint -Mutual learning between designers & craftsmen -Dyeing and treatments for softening at yarn level -Promoting the concept of slow design -To provide menaing livelihoods. As the desi wool is handspun, it provides employment to the women sitting at home.

-Promotes self-sufficiency -The use of natural dyes -”Workmanship of risk” as it is done by hand which gives it a unique characteristic and value -Plying desi wool with different materials such as Kala cotton

What we have done?

1. Use of Different materials for the weft

-only kala cotton(2ply)

- alternate 1 wool and @ kala cotton 2 ply

- all desi wool weft (1,20r3 ply) 2. Use of traditional techniques

- Tangalia with kala cotton and desi wool

- Sanchikor 3. Treatment for softening

-Used cowdung -Bleaching

-Washed with reetha and shikakai

- Brushing

-Washing with lisopal solution 4. Weaving techniques

-loose weft weaving

-weft heavy weaving

-balanced weaving

- closed beating What can be done further?

1. Making the warp by plying kala cotton and desi wool 2. More variations using tangalia techniques 3. Spinning after dyeing the fibres. Hence, creating different combination of colours.

4. Use of Bandhani 5. Weaving by doing variations in denting However in the end, the mix of desi wool and kala cotton works better and hence, we decided to go ahead with it in using it in the shrug as well.

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Sampling Our approach while doing sampling was to mainly find solutions for softening the Desi wool. There are many stages which can change the nature of the wool like- herding of the sheeps, the carding , the spinning and the process of sizing and starching while weaving and also washing after the product is made onto the loom.We also experimented at the fibre stage itself by trying to spin the dyed fibre oursleves.

After experimenting with the characteristics of Desi wool , we made prototypes on the looms of NID and incorporated traditonal techniques like tangalia and sanchi kor. Protyping helped us overall in deciding what can be done in Kutch while looking at the time limit we had there.

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dyeing with natural dyes - madder, indigo and -

experimentation at the fibre, yarn and fabric stages.

Sampling done at NID For softening the wool

Experimentation at yarn stage velvetrol

not much difference

bleach

softer but weaker

scouring

not much difference

lux sil

not much difference

pu soft

not much difference

cow dung

softer

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Atta (sizing)

Washed with cowdung

Experimentation at fabric stage

Scouring

Lisopal and brushing

Machine wash

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Use of Tangalia using Desi wool

Use of Tangalia on Kala cotton weft along with Desi wool warp

Use of the technique Sanchi kor in the centre

Carpet weaving

Prototyping of samples

Kala cotton 5ply warp with different plied desil wool weft

Loose weft weaving

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Draping Workshop Alternative approach to clothing

This workshop was conducted by Anuj Sharma of Buttonmasla. We mainly learned about how the drape of fabric takes place. Our main focus was to invent on-loom products in order to empower our weaver with options of loom textiles rather than tailored constructed garments. Hence we tried to make our products on-loom products (rectangular or square pieces of cloth) and also tried using different drapes to make shrugs and bags.

Making drapes using two piece of fabric of equal sizes

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More explorations done using single and double piece of fabrics

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Field visit to kutch for Prototyping (10 days) The third Kutchh visit aimed at weaving prototypes. The yarns were dyed in the colours of Kutch inspired from the theme board at Khamir.

They were then taken to the weaver’s place for warping and sizing. Since the prototypes were all going to be woven with hand spun yarn, warping was difficult in the beginning. The bobbins were first to be filled from hanks and then could the yarns be used for warping. After the jodhni, the warp was ready to weave. Other than the motifs, the colours and specially the structure of the warp and weft made using the combination of desi wool and kala cotton had to be kept in mind while plannnig the product.

Before we came to Bhadali, Dinesh Bhai had already put up a 7 metre long warp of white Desi wool. He initally wove one stole using his own design sensibilities. After that we all together wove two stoles and luckily the shrug as well. Even though we planned our products beforehand like the size of the motifs and the size of the product itself, some decisions had to be taken on the spot while weaving . The visual play of the material enforced us to do that. This happens because every medium has a different visual sense . Hence, while weaving the whole visual aesthetic changed.

The fact that we first started with the stole was because he has always made stoles and to be able to switch to a completely new material with a new design would have been difficult for him. We just introduced tradiotnal techniques like tangalia and warp binding .

About the shrug, we struggled with the coloured warp which had to be put separately. This happened as desi wool is handspun and it is hard to assess its quality and strength. Our aesthetic key point here was the use of sanchi korr as the technique. Sanchi korr is a traditonal technique used to make the borders more highlighted and it is always made on the sides of the product. But here we put it in the centre hence going away from the usual order.

Initially it was hard to get adapted to the slow paced lifestyle of the village but eventually we realized that is what slow design is about. We didnt put any pressure for getting the products made as soon as possible. Our main objective was to make him feel assured and content about using the desi wool in weaving and to be able to convince him to use it in the future as well.

Time management was another important aspect as the weavers prefer to work in the sunlight. They stop working at 5 in the evening which limited the time frame for weaving 4 prototypes in 10 days. The display at NID welcomed many respected and renowned people of Textile industry with their much thought upon feedbacks. The feedbacks included understanding the need to find costing, need for closure, variations in sizes so that the garments can be a part of wardrobe of different sizes and genders, placement of the motifs and to keep up with the good colour story.

Uniqueness of the garments can be highlighted by using different colour story for each garment.

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On-loom process

Sampling done at Kutch

Rough samples made by Dinesh Bhai in Bhadali

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Dinesh Bhai weaving the Neer stole using kala cotton in the weft.

Dinesh Bhai at his workplace.

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Rough sketch of the Neer stole using tangalia

Rough sketches of Godhuli stole and Raas shrug made in Kutch

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Final outcome Going back to the past

The final deliverables were prepared entirely by the weaver and our team during our field trip in Kutch.

Our collection comprised of three fully finished on loom products which had similar colour story and different combinations of dyed and undyed Kala cotton and Desi wool.

We incorporated different traditional techniques such as tangalia, warp binding and sanchi korr. We also attempted to use kala cotton in the weft and desi wool in the warp. We had the challenge of how we can utilize the coarseness of the wool as a strength and to make it visually apealing. We did it by playing with the combination of desi wool and kala cotton in warp and weft.

The motifs are all inspired from the old memories of all of us like the game pitthu, etc. Before moving on with the product onto the loom we always discussed with Dinesh Bhai and made changes accordingly. We made him understand our design aesthetic and at the same time we tried to undersatnd his as well.

The idea and concept of our shrug is still being thought upon as we still have to deal with the coasrsenss of the desi wool if used alone with no combination of other material.

Luckily, the other two stoles seems to be working as the final outcome of our project.

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Product 1 “RAAS”

Shrug made out of Desi wool using the technique of Sanchi Kor. It is made with three rectangular pieces of woven cloth

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Product 2 “NEER”

Stole made with Kala cotton and Desi wool using the technique of Tangalia

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Product 3 “GODHULI”

Stole made out of Desi wool and Kala cotton using the warp wrapping technique and miri at the border

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Transformative framework More than the final outcome, this whole project was also about convincing the weaver to go back in time. By that we mean, to goback to the use of Desi wool before acrylic wool came into their lives.

The fact that it is easier to weave and you dont have to deal with the whole process of dyeing it made them inclined to use acryluc wool more. When we first told our weaver to use Desi wool by saying,” Yeh Nahi tute ga. “ “This wont break”,he said that it will break no matter what we do. Actually we were also very skeptical about it as when we were wokring with Desi wool at NID, it broke a lot unless you strach it and weave it properly using a good quality handspun wool. Our weaver very well understood all of it. He initiallly struggled with the warp and completely gave up. During that period of time, we werent there with him in Bhadali. But he nonetheless kept working on it and after weaving 7-8 inches he succeeded. He was able to weave without letting the yarn break. This was just one step towards our goal.

Later on, when we were working on our shrug the coloured warp kept breaking and we students gave up because there was so much pressure . But then Dinesh Bhai gave us the light of hope by saying it wouldnt break . Just have some patience. We can make it work. This moment really made us eternally happy.

Another such incident happened like this when our weaver`s brother and father started weaving using Desi wool. Earlier they both used to weave using Desi wool itself especially his father. And they were not having any troubles while weavingwith it. Then Dinesh Bhai also wove on same loom as theirs. That moment when all the weavers in the house wove using Desi wool really made us feel accomplished what we came for.

This transformation will take more time for it to work in the long run. This is just the story of one weaver in kutch and Khamir`s goal is to convince more weavers like him who are not afraid of change and experimentation.

Costing & feedback Costing

Feedback

For natural undyed handspun desi sheep wool

We got our feedback from the people like Sushma Iyengar, Ashok Chatterjee ,Laila Tyabji and Krishna Patel. To be honest, they believed this whole project was a great attempt with an approach of co-creation between the wesvers and designers. About the final outcomes, they said the shrug “Raas” is not wearable because it is wholly made of Desi wool. But the stole “Neer” in which we combined the Kalacotton and Desi wool worked wonderfully. They emphasized how that combination can also be used further for the shrug and many other on-loom clothing.

There were many more suggestions given on how the shrug could have came out to be. For example, to add a closure or lining to it and ofcourse to find other way to make it more softer.

Cost Dyeing (cost+labour) Transportation Weavers labour charge per mt/product

650/kg 700/kg 500 500

For finishing of products Pom poms(funkas) per product

100

Tangalia (per dot)

0.5

Labour cost of binding warp technique

2

Stitching charges

500-800

Lining material Muslin Ajrakh Kala cotton

40-60 260 400

Warp 4metres Yarns weighing 135 kg costing 950/kg Sizing

1250 25

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Vartao

Lalji Vankar Laljibhai is a young and enthusiastic weaver from Kotay. This village has a number of weavers who weave independantly or for masterweavers, just like Lalji bhai. He studied till 10th grade and years later was part of the first batch of weaverstudents at the Handloo School in Maheshwar.

From there he has gained immnese exposure of the market locally and outside. He now aspires to connect to customers from around the globe and bring his craft to the notice of the world. This perhaps helped us decide with the inspiration and theme later.

Members in family- Lalji Bhai, his wife and his two children, his mother and father, his younger brother and his wife and his younger sister.

Family occupation- His family is mainly engaged in weaving.

His father was also a weaver but has now retired. His younger brother will become a teacher.

31 years old Home- Kotay Work- Has worked with Cotton, Merino Wool, Silk, Acrylic Aspires to weave saris, contemprorise his range of products, weave something for a ntional award.

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Geet Vidyarthi

Ishita Karelia

Mohit Saxena

Textile Design- B.DES 15 - SEM 6 Hometown - Allahbad, Uttar Pradesh

Textile Design- B.DES 15 - SEM 6 Hometown - Mwanza, Tanzania

Textile Design- B.DES 15 -SEM 6 Hometown - Vadodara, Gujarat

Throughout the entire design process of this course, there has been a lot of learnings in terms of, working with craftsmen, understanding their lifestyle, communicating with offices such as WSC (weavers service centre, DCH and many more.

This opportunity has given me a greater understanding about craft sector, and how everything connects.

Working in the field and living with the weavers, has given another dimension to my journey of design specially regarding the craft sector.

Looking at design in terms of sustainability, the entire thinking process and design process transforms and allows to create and innovate with a very broad mind, keeping in mind every possibilities and opportunities.

This project with has created a new path for me and given me a direction in which in the future I may choose to work in the craft sector. The participatory approach of this project has made new tracks for us and the weaver. An opportunity to co-create also gave a real life experience.

This project was a unique opportunity to experience work done at the grassroots level where we got to engage with real life situations involving the issues of the weavers and their families, the material , the communities .

This opportunity proved to be very helpful in learning and dealing with such situations where the material, craft , communities and design organisations join hands to bring the best .

Our Objective To bring out those rich tales which are generally passed orally from generation to generation but are now getting lost in this fast moving world rushing towards technology and loosing our cultural identities. It is an effort in preserving and promoting them using local material and craftsmen and enabling them to bring out their stories through their creative genius on handwoven fabric.

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Inspiration

This is a tale which has been passed through several generations, Once on the mountain of Dhinodhar, Dharamnath baba meditated for tweleve long years on a betel nut with his head on the nut, balancing his body. It has been said that, he had so much power and brightness in his eyes that whichever place he would glance at, would be destroyed to ashes .

Before opening his eyes, he felt that on one side there was life and the other side there was the ocean, therefore he opened his eyes facing the ocean. Because of the power and brightness of his eyes, the entire ocean dried hence the rann was created and Dharamnath baba became a saint.

Peace

Amalgamation Textural

Folk Traditional

Belief

Diversity

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Developing Design Brief In a co-creation manner, in collaboration with the weavers of Kutch and understanding the cultural richness and the human value of workmanship to enhance and revive the cycle of the consumption of desi wool by incorporating and re-interpreting the traditional weaving traditions. Also to enable our weaver to interpret tales and stories of his region and incorporate them in products using his skills and contemporizing and expanding his product range which will help him reach out to a wider audience.

Our Stakeholders in this project being: The Weavers Women who are spinning Khamir, as a NGO trying to revive Desi Wool Textile Craft Sector Craft enthusiast promoting Sustainable Design Textile industry Textile design students

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User Persona user 1 NRI/ gujuratis settled elsewhere 30+ aware ofold culture and traditions want to re-connect with their roots and are proud of where they come from don’t mind spending money on genuine products male/female

user 2 craft enthusiasts foreign countries 30-40 years old can afford expensive items from colder countries appreciate the rustic aesthetic

Trend study

environment interactive space personal space

nostalgia inner self mind | body

a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past

wabi - sabi acceptance of transcience and imperfection

sustainability avoidance ofthe depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance

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Design Management or Branding Vartao, is a brand , rather a brainchild of the ideation done as a part of co-creation and participatory approach undertaken with the weavers of Kutch and the students of NID.Upon engaging with them, we realised this unique salt- desert is a home to a very rich and diverse cultural , social and ecological system.

During the course, we, the students wished to help our weavers enable themselves to become storytellers and bring their stories to the world.

Hence, we at Vartao are comited to the cause of culturvation, promotion of our weavers and their crafts .

Also working with wool, promoting the use and revival of this indeginous material which creates a sense of awareness towards the idea of sustainability and a sense of connection and relation to this region and culture through the products.

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Getting the real picture & synthesis

Field visit to Kutch For 2 days This desi sheep wool project undertaken by the students and weaversof Kutch in a co-creation manner largely focused on building a healthy and an active participatory approach which should be initiated from both the ends. For this, there were multiple visits from the weavers to the campus and vice- versa.

The 2 day visit was a real eye opener for the students.

Eventhough one has visited the region, but this was the first opportunity for the students to sensitise themselves to the real life situation of the weaver, understand his ecosystem and workspace.

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Finding the Missing Links After a few rounds of discussions with experts, SWOT analysyis , and a session with Praveen nahar on data collection and organization, we prepared ourselves to ask questions in the context of the situation of the weaver, the material and the socio-ecological system affecting it.

We prepared a questionaire for all the stake-holders in the process. Building the questionaire from the process chain and finding the corelation between each of them we realise of the missing gap of information we had .

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Re-defined Design Brief

In a co-creation manner, in collaboration with the weavers of Kutch and understanding the cultural richness and the human value of workmanship to enhance and revive the cycle of the consumption of desi wool by incorporating and reinterpreting the traditional weaving traditions. Also to enable our weaver to interpret tales and stories of his region and incorporate them in products using his skills and contemporizing and expanding his product range which will help him reach out to a wider audience.

As we were three students in a team, we decided through our design solutions, we wish to provide three different kinds of solutions that cater to the needs of this problem in a short term, medium term and a long term basis.

This went ahead with giving ourselves three briefs so that we could provide the weavers and our stakeholder a more flexible and varied option depending on their skill set, resources available.

We think this approach helps give the weaver enough freedom to implement and adapt to these solutions , which was the motto behind this.

The briefs were: Short term: Using his exixting skills of extra weft weaving,

developing/ planning on the loom and then finish

ing the products off the loom by stitching or using

the skills of the women embroiderers in the house.

Mid term : By incorporating other weaving techniques

from the region like tangaliya and doing Ikat in

the warp , making on loom over garments . Also

finishing it with mirror work and miri.

What we have done?

• We tried to make wool softer by plying one wool and a kala cotton yarn. And using kala cotton weft. And beating it tightly and loosely.

• Dying of yarns make the fiber stronger • Exploring of dying techniques like ikat • Plying of kala cotton and desi wool and 2 ply desi wool to make it stronger.

• Experimenting with the warp by adding border and by using two colors.

• Sizing of warp in different ways.

• Using tangaliya and sachi kor • Using extra weft technique for patterning and narrating stories.

• Edge finishing and simple stitch finishes • Hand embroidery using abhala (mirror work).

Long term: Experimenting with the yarns in the warping

stage by plying, adding kala cotton alongwith desi

sheep wool to make on loom over garments meant

to be draped.

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Field visit to kutch for 10 days During the final 10 day kutch visit, our aim was to weave the final prototypes. Yarns were dyed by Naresh bhai in colours inspired from the inspiration board.

Adapting to the timings of Lalji bhai, we were able to complete our first two prototypes in three days with the help of Lalji bhais brother, ashok bhai and his friend, Rajesh bhai.

The fact that the wool was handspun, it was very delicate to work with, each and every process was thoroughly carried out, from warping to sizing to weaving. We had three warps in which our first warp was only Desi wool and the next two warps were of Desi wool and Kala cotton plyed.

The traditional touch which we gave to our products was by telling stories through extra weft, tangaliya and sanchi korr.

No one in the village had ever practiced tangaliya, initially lalji bhai faced a few difficulties when he had to create dots but soon he got the hang of it. Soon his brothers and friends also wanted to try tangaliya therefore they also got the hang of it too. Weaving with only desi wool required a lot of patience because of the amount of threads which would break.

Patience was one of the main things which we adapted from our weaver.

Living with the weavers family for 10 days, there was a very strong bonding between us and everyone in the family.

Helping in household chores to taking care of the weavers children made us feel like we were part of his family. The whole family and the weavers friends participated in the prototyping.

The first warp was an Ikat warp which was only Desi wool, as soon as the jhodni was done, the warp was read for weaving, however we struggled a lot in weaving the first inch because the 20 reed was too small for the handspun yarn, luckily we could get another 12 reed from NID which made it easier for Lalji bhai to weave. As soon as the weaving started, Lalji bhai’s sister would fill bobbins and also helped in warping of the next warp.

Our routine changed. The day started at 7am everyday, Lalji bhai’s mother and wife would prepare breakfast and after breakfast we would start working at around 8:30 am. It was a much better idea of starting work earlier because during the afternoons, the scorching sun would directly come on the loom. Hence, we would take a three hour gap after lunch and start work after Lalji bhais afternoon nap.

Our main objective was to convince our weaver to use desi wool in the future too. “I am the first weaver in Kotay who is using desi wool” this was the first thing Lalji bhai told us, which showed how proud he was for being the first one and this somehow also convinced other weavers around the village to just try using desi wool and that is how other weavers came to help in the prototyping. After putting up the Desi wool and kala cotton plyed warp, the yarn breakage decreased to almost 5%, in which Lalji bhai was very happy and comfortably weaving. “Now if i am asked to weave with desi wool, I am sure I will be able to do it.” After hearing this from Lalji bhai, we knew we had achieved what we aimed for.

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Final outcome Connecting Kutch to the world

Our final deliverables were woven in Kutch by the weavers of Kotay, Laljibhai, Rajesh bhai and Ashok bhai.

Our collection comprises of seven finished products, made on four different warps. While two warps are dyed in the colours of our theme board , two were kept undyed, in their natural colours.

The journey through this course was challenging as well as enlightening. Few of our major challenges was to induct the weaver to use desi wool., to get control of the breakage of desi wool yarns throught the entire process. (warping to weaving) , to develop the yarn quality to make it apprpriate for weaving, to integrate the traditional weaving techniques with contemporary design aesthetics, to contemplate the possible product ranges, keeping in mind the properties of desi wool.

Through this collection we were able to bring out the story of Rann, using the weaving techniques and craftsmenship of the weavers of Kutch, giving them an opportunity to take up this indeginous material and provide a range of products that can acter to the needs of a wider audience.

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“JEEVI”

Over garment made out of Desi wool with Ikat dyeing in the warp, Tangaliya .

Aabhla work and Miri in finishing

“AMOLI”

Stole made out of Desi wool with Ikat dyeing in the warp, Tangaliya .

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“EKA”

Shawl made out of Desi wool and Kala cotton using extra weft technique, saachi kor and pom poms in finish.

“ESHA”

Shawl made out of Desi wool and Kala cotton in the warpusing extra weft technique, saachi kor and pom poms in finish.

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“CHAKOR”

Hippari inspired jacket woven with naturally colured wool, stitched by hand Lininf of ajrakh patchwork.

“TAPAS”

Hippari inspired jacket woven with natural undyed desi sheep wool with extra weft motif detail in the back.

Muslin lining and ajrakh collar detail.

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Costing of the products For Natural undyed desi sheep wool , Cost Dyeing ( cost + labour ) Transportation Weavers labour charge per mt/ product

650/kg 700/kg 500 500

For finishing of products Pom poms ( Fumkas) per product

Embroidery (depending on work in the product ) per day charges

100 50-150 1000

Stitching Charges 500-800 Lining material

Muslin , per metre 40-60

Ajrakh , per metre 260 Kala cotton 400 Tapas Hippari jacket Warp 4mts, Yarns weighing 1.35 kg costing 950/kg Sizing

1250 25

Further design solutions To obtain ways to make wool more soft.

To strengthen yarns by experimenting with different counts and twists or by plying with other yarns and dyeing.

To experiment with warping patterns (dyed stripe borders, single colour body, ikat) To seek different weaving traditions such as patterning in extra weft, tangaliya and sachikor to add value and explore further. To explore different types of finishes in terms of tye-dye, hand embroidery, joineries and edge finishes.

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