Strokes of Melugu Melugu (Tamil) - wax/the one that melts
“When one spoke to the other, no sound was heard Could have whole conversations without saying a word�
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS If only it was easy to express my gratitude to the universe for where I stand today in a page. I am so thankful to Aranya Natural for letting me become a part of such a beautiful & peculiar family. For letting me experience and learn a lot from this heavenly set-up of a lovely place, people, work and food all at one place. I am thankful to Victoria Ma’am for her constant support and approachability towards all my experiments and ideas and for letting me try it all out, also for all her motherly care and love. For sharing her experiences over the time and letting me learn a lot from them. Indira Akka, Nithya akka and Simona Rawat for all their unconditional help and support regarding anything and everything. To all our discussions on the most random and weird topics followed by intense tummy hurting laughters - will treasure them forever. Bhanumati for being patient with my never ending doubts & questions and always explaining them with a big smile on her face. Her - ‘ No problem ya, we’ll try everything and see’ reply whenever we were unsure about anything made work so much easier and fun. Her spirit and enthusiasm is a huge inspiration for me. 4
National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
Fig 1
Bala and Siju for being extremely patient and approachable throughout the whole process. For being the best work partners and making the entire thing a huge learning experience for all of us. For helping me learn a whole new way of communication, giving me insights into so many new things. To all the jokes and laughters, mud throwings, fights and scoldings with just expressions and gestures - all hold a very special place in my heart. Thankful to all the artisans for all their love and care and for treating me like one of their kids. For teaching me everything they did regarding work and life. For showing me a new perspective and approach towards life that I will treasure and keep with me for life. Pati Maa for adding a smile to my face with her ‘Vannakam Ma’ with the cutest smile everyday. Muniandi and Arun for showering me with all their lovely food and hospitality. For teaching me some gardening and Malayalam cooking. Its been an amazing experience. My guide, Swasti Singh Ghai for guiding and inspiring me to collaborate, contribute and create something special with the artisans. Her expertise and experience have helped me plan my actions, learn and realize a lot of things on the field.
I am thankful to every faculty member who inspired and taught me at NID. My foundation programme faculties Chaula Patel, Immanuel Suresh, Swasti Singh Ghai, Sameer Bhatt, Andrea Noronha and Sanjay Ghuria for helping me build a good foundation. Carmina Fernandes for igniting the textile fire and passion in me. The entire faculty of Textile Design; Aarti Srivastava, Swasti Singh Ghai, V. Shakthivel, Vijai Singh Katiyar and Sucharita Beniwal for sharing their knowledge and experience with us and for all their guidance, practical advise and support. My amazing family for their unconditional love and support. Mumma, Pappa and Advait thank you all for being who you are - inspiring and encouraging me to be the best version of myself. My Nana for being the awesomeness he is. You fill me up with zest and are one of my biggest inspirations. Every person at NID is a story and inspiration in itself but your batch mates are obviously extra special. NID UG’13 we be the best. Filled with love, drama, action, tears, and lots of loud music and dance - My textiles batch is the best bollywood family there can be.
Chebs, Heta, Swato and Subbu you guys hold a very special place in my heart. For every moment I needed to go crazy on something happy, whenever I needed a hug and someone to blow off my steam with I had my closest friends with me. I am so thankful for your honest time, opinions and inputs on all things personal and professional. Thank you for all the love and motivation. Lattuchumi, Prachi, Shivani, Manila, Asfia, Aarthi, Jayneel, Sonal, Meghana Bhaskara, Monisha Mohan, Rohini, Asher Sir, Sushma aunty and Jaya & Balbir for being there, helping me look at things with different point of views, pep talks, encouragement, for the intense discussions and the insights I got from them - for just being who they are. Thank you. Thank you Abhishek Nirala and Vaishnavi Bhatkar for the lovely photo shoot. Thank you Arushi Jain for the those beautiful words. A big thank you to all the staff members of NID, all the kaka’s, ben’s and bhai’s for the help and effort to make our journey at NID smooth. Thank you!
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C O N T E N T S
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
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t r o d u c t i o n 1.1 National Institute of Design 1.2 Textile Design & Graduation Project
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o u t t h e 3.1 Sponsor Profile 3.2 Munnar 3.3 Initial brief
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a n ya N at u r a l 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Techniques and Process 4.3 Colour palette & Product range 4.4 Production Unit 4.5 Production 4.6 Market 4.7 Design Language 4.8 Brief Analysis
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a n d i n g 6.1 What is branding and Why? 6.2 Analysis and Scope 6.3 Brand Identity, Core Strengths & USP 6.4 Brand communication re-design
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- Role of marketing and need - Analysis and Scope - Marketing tool kit - Promotional Merchandise - Social Media Marketing - Evangelism marketing - Market expansion
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n d - P ai n t e d - Introduction - Batik set-up - Aranya - Steps of the Batik process - Approach
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s i g n P r o c e s s - Inception - Stage 1 - Collection 1 - Iyarkai - Stage 2 - Collection 2 - Malar - Challenges and experiences
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
Fig 2
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN The National Institute of Design is a multidisciplinary and multi-campus institution recognized for its design excellence and thorough understanding of design capabilities since 1961. It is acknowledged as a premier design institute contributing to the design profession and encouraging economic and holistic growth through leadership in education, research, and design service to the society. Through campuses in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Bangalore, NID offers professional education programmes at Undergraduate and Post-graduate level with different faculty streams and 18 diverse design domains. It is equipped with studios and state-ofthe art machinery and the Knowledge Management center(KMC) is one of the most equipped libraries across the world, comprising the best collection of books, magazines, documents and journals. NID has established exchange programmes and ongoing pedagogic relationships with more than 55 overseas institutions.
NID has also been playing a significant role in promoting design. It is a unique institution with depths of design intellect and a time tested creative educational culture. It functions as an autonomous body under the department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India, and was declared Institute of National Importance by the Parliament in 2014. NID’s successful evolution can be attributed to a core set of institutional capabilities and values that inspire its vision, and to the dedication and achievements of its faculty, students, staff, and alumni. Over the years, NID has restated its mandate and sharpened its vision while retaining its core values and building on its fundamental strengths. The rigorous development of the designer’s skill through a process of ‘Learning to learn, learning to know, and learning to do’ is what makes a difference.
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TEXTILE DESIGN The Textile Design curriculum at The National Institute of Design is a combination of experiential and explorative learning in order to understand and achieve a high degree of creative innovation. It aims at understanding and creation of textiles to solve design problems, understanding of traditional crafts and techniques as well as modern production methods. The programme helps build a wide variety of skills along with theoretical inputs and practical application. These include elementary technicalities, textile fibres, colour, composition, basic and advance weavingprinting and dyeing. Students are also exposed to sewing, construction of fabrics, surface design and different printing methods. The courses also include inputs in social sciences and technology as well. Students are exposed to a lot of different techniques, crafts and other know-how, but at the same time also given space to explore themselves and come up with unique interpretations. Each course offers a wide variety of learning goals through understanding of cultural, social and technological developments in the context of historical, contemporary and individual concerns. It encourages students to focus on their individuality as a designer- enhance and develop it and not become a slave to the industry. 10
National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
GRADUATION PROJECT The Graduation project at NID is the final design project as a student of the Institute. It is done in the 8th semester of the curriculum towards the end of the Bachelors in Textile Design programme. The duration of the project can be anywhere between 4-6 months. The project could be sponsored by a company from the industry or self sponsored. It is a guided project by one of the chosen faculties and could be research or design based. The projects give students exposure in terms of real life situations in the industry, the limitations and methodology. It is a reflection of one’s understanding of their academic experiences applied and used in real life industrial scenarios. The degree project document is a complete detailed record of the process and experience of the whole project. The degree is awarded to the student only after successful completion of the project.
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SYNOPSIS I always had my mind inclined towards nonindustrial set-ups, away from the city and corporate buzz that gives you a whole package of experiences, both personally and professionally. The same being my reason for choosing Aranya Natural to do my Graduation Project. It gave me an opportunity to get to know more about natural dyes on a larger scale and work with a very special group of artisans. Located in Munnar, Kerala, the place offers you one of the best soul foods you can find. It was nothing close to what I was expecting - it was so much more than that. I became a morning person just because of my walk from home to work being so peaceful, fresh and full of bliss. It made me appreciate this opportunity every morning. The people at Aranya are so warm and welcoming, and make you feel very comfortable. I had never seen such a beautiful and peculiar combination of the kind of work and people that contribute to this set-up.
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
tools and further using these for different kinds of marketing. Some efforts were also made to find different options for Aranya to expand their sales base. Along with all the above mentioned work that was happening, I was becoming more familiar with the set-up, setting my frequency in tune with theirs, understanding how they function and behave in different situations, etc. Basically becoming one of them to really understand how I could help and learn together. After the branding and marketing was put in execution, I analyzed the information collected, had a discussion with the programme coordinator about the different ideas I had regarding my textile collection. Since, I also wanted to add to Aranya’s skill sets along with satisfying the needs that the analysis suggested, Hand Painted Batik was finalized as the technique I would be using for my collection.
As my initial project brief was to first understand Aranya in and out, do some basic branding and marketing to help them expand their market and increase their sales, and then based on those analysis decide what would be the best technique to explore in terms of a textile collection.
Aranya Natural practiced batik on a smaller scale compared to their other techniques and that too with just one artisan. My task was to introduce hand painted batik to Aranya and make Batik one of their main techniques. The artisan working with batik at Aranya is hearing and speech impaired. The concept of hand painted batik was known to him but had never been practiced.
The branding and marketing involved identifying core strengths of Aranya, using them to create brand communications and various marketing
The whole experience of introducing this concept to the artisans without any verbal language involved is something I will treasure for life.
SYNOPSIS
Since I had no prior experience with giving inputs to an artisan and with communicating without words; understanding, discovering and exploring different ideas of making this into something meaningful for Aranya, the artisans and for me was challenging and amusing at the same time. It made me observe and appreciate so many minute details that go unnoticed because we usually take them for granted. I had to figure out different ways to not let communication be a hurdle and think of effective ways to convey what I wanted to in the best way possible. The whole process involved a lot of learning and unlearning. After a ride full of surprises we finally managed to make ourselves happy and satisfied with what we had achieved. There were two collections made with different techniques of hand painting and also some other products with old fabrics of Aranya. The whole experience has helped me grow so much personally and professionally. I have been able to offer and learn so much at the same time. I have fallen in love with nature all over again and have found a new love for unspoken communication, having experienced its beauty. Being able to contribute and make a difference with what I can offer is something I want to keep doing.
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
Fig 5 Fig 5
MUNNAR Srishti Trust is nestled among the lush green tea plantations and forests of Munnar. Munnar is a town in the Western Ghats mountain range of India’s Kerala state having cool climatic conditions all year round - home to a wide variety of exotic flora and fauna, endangered animal species and Nilgiri forests. A hill station and former resort for the British Raj elite who bought tea to this land, is surrounded by rolling hills dotted with tea plantations all over established in the late 19th century. The name Munnar is believed to mean “three rivers�, referring to its location at the confluence of the Mudhirapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundala rivers. The whole Munnar area is further divided into different tea estates, each tea estate having their own specialty. The houses in Munnar are also a very pretty sight -bright coloured, scattered all around the tea planted hills with frequent elephant visits.
The residents of Munnar are both from Tamil and Malayalam origin. The tamlians have migrated to Munnar from neighboring places in Tamil Nadu and have settled here since for occupational purposes in tea estates as tea pluckers or as tea factory workers. Major source of income for the residents is from the tea plantations. Munnar is a breathtaking place that is even more special because of the humble residents and infinite greenery with good weather.
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SPONSOR PROFILE Srishti- A Welfare Centre for the Differently-abled was founded as a part of TATA’s C.S.R initiative around 1991. It runs various programmes for the education, training and rehabilitation of differently-abled children of Munnar’s tea plantation workers. There are five rehabilitative programs that run under this trust. Many children are trained in vocational and communication skills and are given a basic learning of the environment at DARE School. These youngsters are then absorbed by Athulya, Aranya Natural, Deli or Nisarga depending on their skill and interests. All the different initiatives are located together at their beautiful campus in Munnar.
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
Fig 6
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DARE SCHOOL DARE or Developmental Activities in Rehabilitative Education was formed in 1991 for the differently abled children of Munnar. It is involved in training, educating, and rehabilitating disabled children of the tea plantation workers. The school has specialized curriculum according to the different needs and disabilities of the children. Children from the age 3 to 18 years are trained under this program. Then they either join mainstream education or start working with one of the units under Srishti. ATHULYA This was the first rehabilitative program at Srishti. It is a paper unit and vocational training center that was started to train the youngsters with different hand skills. They are taught to make paper and paper products using all natural materials. Athulya makes zero wood paper; and instead makes paper with old cotton fibers, banana tree, elephant dung, etc. They also use the local flora and fauna to add scents and for surface ornamentation to their products. ARANYA NATURAL This is a natural dyeing unit that works with differently-abled children that join Aranya after completing their studies and training at DARE. The organization was started in 1994 and works in an eco friendly environment with all natural materials from in and around the forests of Munnar to dye fabrics. NISARGA which is the Strawberry/Fruit unit is into making different all natural fruit preserves from locally available fruits, mainly strawberry. The entire operation of this unit is managed and run by the differently-abled youngsters absorbed from DARE. Their products include strawberry preserves, fruit jams, orange squash, etc that are sold under the High range brand.
Fig 9
DELI The Deli is a confectionery unit run by the differently able that are specially trained at The Taj President Mumbai. It is Munnar’s best bakery and caters to a majority of the resorts and hotels in Munnar. Fig 10 Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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INITIAL BRIEF Increasing the market and market reach for Aranya Natural. Aranya’s non-traditional USP of a medley of resist dyeing techniques gives it an innovative edge over the locally produced traditional textiles. It can address to the needs of todays people who are now seeking for a combination of global looks with an in-built sustainability approach and will pay for the value of it as well. Because of its location which is far away and secluded from the major market areas - Aranya has difficulties in reaching out to the wide available market. Aranya can go places by having a good strategic design management, strength building and wise design & production. By studying, analyzing and understanding Aranya in and out, and then• doing basic Branding and Marketing • Creating fresh textile collections aiming at a target audience to increase sales and cater new demands• while adding to Aranya’s skill base and knowledge inventory, - is to be the aim of the project.
Context : It is important for Aranya to further explore various ways and means of gaining more market and greater visibility in times where new brands and sellers who don’t have quality products but still make it big with other market tactics are always coming in. Aranya already has something so precious and valuable in terms of products, it just needs to understand and learn different ways to sell and market their assets and start exploring these possibilities for more success.
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
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Fig 11
Fig 11. The unit smells heavenly when dyes like Eucalytptus and Eupatorium are prepared. In the cold weather of Munnar - dyeing with hot water is therapeutic.
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
ARANYA NATURAL Aranya Natural is one of four projects at Shristi Welfare Centre, a community development project located in Munnar, a tea-growing region in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Srishti is supported by Tata Global Beverages Limited. Established in 1994, the idea of a natural dyeing unit was conceived by Mrs. Ratna Krishnakumar, Managing Trustee of Srishti Trust and headed by Mrs. Victoria Vijaykumar as the project coordinator. Munnar seemed to be the best location with the forests supplying raw materials and the PH level of water being optimum for natural dyeing. Aranya Natural is a very unique creation - it has the combination of a beautiful location with resources from the forests for natural dyeing and full support and contribution of their employees. Aranya Natural practices the art of natural dyeinga craft practice which reflects a harmonious and sustainable relationship with the local ecosystems and plant reserves. It exists for a higher purpose that goes beyond producing goods for salethat of ensuring sustainable livelihoods for differently-abled workers. Their goal is to cover their considerable overheads through sales of their natural dyed fabrics, making Aranya selfsustaining to ensure continued livelihoods of its
workers. They believe in conscious use of natural dyes ensuring survival of the pure natural dyeing art and livelihoods of their workers. Over the years, Mrs. Victoria has been trained under various dyeing experts along with the artisans of Aranya. The unit has been trained by masters from all over the world like Ms. Yoshiko Wada for Shibori & tie-dye, Michael Garcia for dyeing and colour & Axel Baker for indigo dyeing and its recipes. Many of the artisans have also traveled abroad to attend workshops & symposiums with textile artists to get trained and learn more. All year round there are experts coming and teaching what they know and learning what they don’t from Aranya. Aranya also conducts workshops for dyeing and other techniques with candidates coming from all over the globe. It started with just 2 youngsters & now has evolved to 35 of them running the unit successfully. Aranya believes that no one is less and that everyone and anyone can. It believes in high quality craftsmanship and every piece made here is a reflection of the artisans dedication & exquisite handwork. Aranya is into crafting beautiful and unique sarees, stoles & fabrics mostly aimed at the very high end market. All of
them are fully handmade & go through Aranya’s all natural process. The products are made with a great level of detailing & with very high skills. With natural dyeing, Aranya does different kinds of resist dyeing, mordant printing and block printing. Their products stand out both because of their rich colours and the attention paid to detail . They follow a very minimalistic yet classy approach towards their designs. The unit is equipped with full facilities according to industrial standards. They have a roller dyeing machine, calendaring machine, industrial gas, jigger dyeing machine, water boilers, indigo vat machine, pivoting machine, block and screen printing tables and other basic machinery at the unit. In terms of design Aranya is lucky to have a wide variety of languages and experiences. Over the past few years, some designers have worked with Aranya through short term engagements and mainly in the area of resist dyeing techniques such as tie dye and shibori as well as block printing and towards expansion of their natural dyes colour palette. Aranya’s design and design identity has evolved with the involvement of different designers and their contribution. As of now Aranya has a large inventory of sophisticated designs derived by using all the above mentioned techniques. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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IT’S PEOPLE The artisans of Aranya are children of the tea plantation workers, who are trained in DARE or are given vocational training and then employed at Aranya. Aranya has 35 differently-abled artisans with different skill sets and expertise. All these youngsters have been born and brought up in cool climatic conditions making it difficult for them to migrate to other places and adapt to those climate conditions. Through employment in Munnar there are able to give themselves a sustainable livelihood. Before they are employed at Aranya, each artisan undergoes a training of 6 months with all the techniques and processes practiced at Aranya. Depending on their skill sets and interest they are assigned for a specific job. Majority of the Artisans and staff at Aranya are Tamil as Munnar lies on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Some artisans have also relocated to Munnar for working with Srishti. The project head of all the units work on volunteer basis and are paid a minimum salary in return for their contribution. The unit also has full time employees for managing accounts, the store and the unit. Inspite of being differently-abled, the artisans are treated as strong individuals giving them strength to support themselves and their families. They are treated no less and do not feel or show pity for their 26
National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
disabilities. Language or medium of expression never created a barrier in communication as the artisans are well equipped to express everything in the simplest form. Over time, through their art and experience they have their own simple ways of conveying their ideas. They have become masters of their techniques and are forever ready to keep learning new things. New ideas, explorations and innovations give them a boost. All of them have worked hard, gained lots of experience and now nothing is impossible for them. They are the core value of the organization who bring their years of knowledge into each piece of Aranya’s products. They love meeting new people and learning new things from them. All of them are so warm, charming and welcoming which makes everyone feel a part of the Aranya family. Fig 12. The whole Aranya family is very close-knit and warm. Since all of them have been with each other since years, Aranya is their second home.
Fig 12
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NATURAL DYEING At Aranya, natural dyes are the base of their textile production. In 1994, the idea of starting a natural dyeing unit at Srishti was born. Mrs. Ratna Krishna Kumar the trustee, visited Bangladesh to attend a natural dye workshop. There the whole idea took birth. She came back and with a group of 3-4 people they started Aranya. It started on very small scale with basic natural dye knowledge which kept growing with the contribution of different experts who came and taught the artisans. The dye stuff is sourced from local Munnar forests and from near by places like Coimbatore and Theni. Almost all the artisans at Aranya know how to do basic natural dyeing but 8 out of them are the experts and do it everyday. Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood— and other biological sources such as fungi and lichens. Archaeologists have found evidence of natural textile dyeing dating back to the Neolithic period. Around the world many civilizations have discovered different raw materials and methods to dye. They used what was at disposal to them. Natural dyeing is an art of using materials from your surrounding environment to create beautiful colours.
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
The essential process of dyeing requires soaking the material containing the dye (the dyestuff) in water, adding the textile to be dyed to the resulting solution (the dye-bath), and bringing the solution to a simmer for an extended period, often measured in days or even weeks, stirring occasionally until the colour has evenly transferred to the textiles. Some dyestuffs, such as indigo and lichens, will give good colour when used alone; these dyes are called direct dyes or substantive dyes. The majority of plant dyes, however, also require the use of a mordant, a mineral/extractions used to “fix” the colour in the textile fibers. These dyes are called adjective dyes. By using different mordants, dyers can often obtain a variety of colours and shades from the same dye. Dyes that are insoluble in water and are made soluble by fermentation in a vat/ vessel using other mediums or catalysts are called VAT dyes. Fibres or cloth may be pretreated with mordants, or the mordant may be incorporated in the dye-bath. It is a process of trial and error and keeps getting better and better with experience. Majority of the dyes at Aranya are plant based and used along with different mordants. The artisans who do natural dyeing have been doing it since 18-20 years and have very precious experience with it. Aranya has come a long way with natural dyeing and now is one of the places that has the most experience, knowledge and variety in it.
Raw Materials and dyes Used at Aranya Dyes Tea waste (TW) Eucalyptus (Eu) Manjeeshtha (MJ) Pomegranate PM) Red Creeper (Surlapattai) (Sur) Turkey red (TR) Catechu (Ca) Lac Kasmi (K) Indigo (I) Mordants Myrobalan/Kadka Alum Copper Sulphate Ferrous Sulphate Other ingredients Soda Ash Acacia Gum Turmeric Daiflower Soap nut Fabrics used at Aranya Natural Gada Cotton - 40 & 60 gm Tabby Silk 28gm 40 & 60 gm Silk Katau Silk Chanderi Maheshwari Kota Tussar Silk Linen Linen Cotton Chiffon Georgette Crepe Organza Wool Silk Wool Fig.13 Eucalyptus dye being cooled down after the extraction
Fig. 13
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Eupatorium
Fig. 14.4
Fig. 14.3
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Agiratum
Tea waste National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
Fig. 14.2
Fig. 14.1
Fig. 14
Eucalyptus
Fig. 14.5
Annato
Fig. 14.6
Fig. 14.7
Soap Nut
Indigo
Fig. 14.9
Catechu
Fig. 14.8
Acacia Gum
Fig. 14.10
Red Creeper
Fig. 14.11
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BASIC DYEING PROCESS The method of dye extraction and dyeing is the same for all the raw materials besides Indigo and Kasmi - each having different procedures.
Basic Process (For dyes other than Indigo & Kasmi) Aranya follows the same process for all the different fabrics they work with. 1. Fabric De-gumming - Yarns and fabrics are washed in hot water with a mixture of soap & soda ash to remove all the starch and impurities. 2. Weighing- Dried Fabric is weighed according to which weight of the dyes and other raw materials are calculated. (Fabric : Dye stuff - 1 : 1 + 2gm Soda Ash) 3. Pre-mordanting- The fabric is treated with Myrobalan/Daiflower before mordanting. It is done to fix the colour on to the fabric . 4. Dye Preparation/extraction - Different dyes need different types of extraction. As most of the dye stuff is dry it needs to be extracted. It is done by preparing a vessel with water, the dye stuff and Soda Ash. This mixture is boiled until the dye is nicely extracted. It is then strained through a fine cloth and kept ready in a tub. Soda Ash is added as it helps in good extraction of dye. 5. Mordanting- Mordants are primarily needed 32
National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
to fix the dye to the textile fiber mainly cotton. Cotton is the most difficult to dye in natural dyes because of it’s need for mordants to help in fixing the dye. Unlike this, silk and wool are easier to dye and often they do not need the support of a mordant. Most of the dyes except indigo, need a mordant to get fixed to the cotton fibres. The mordant thus appears to intensify or alter/change the colour of the dye. - Mordants at Aranya are dissolved in warm water and the fabric is soaked in it for a while before dyeing (all fabrics are soaked, just cotton is soaked a bit longer). 6. Mordants are dissolved in warm water and the fabric is soaked in it for a while before dyeing. 7. Dyeing Fabric - It is done by alternating between the dye bath and mordant bath until the right shade of colour is achieved. 8. Washing of fabric - The dyed material is dried (in good sunlight preferably) nicely and then washed with warm water and mild soap solution. 9. Post Mordanting/ Alum wash- It is done to achieve different shades of colour and get colour fastness. 10. Final water wash
Over time Aranya has developed their own ways and tricks to manipulate the final result. They combine different mordants and dyes, shuffle up the process etc which result in new colours and colour fastness. - With batik, while de-waxing - the boiling process completely changes the colour because of a secret ingredient. They either keep that colour or change it back while colour fastening. - They get different shades of colours by manipulating the amount and time of mordanting, adding secret ingredients to mordants. - Turmeric is one ingredient they use to achieve different shades with one dye. - By mix- matching a lot ingredients in the recipes of block printing pastes or while developing themnew colours come out. - There are many such tricks Aranya has that have come to be over the years, some calculated and done and some because of happy accidents.
Fig. 15
Pre-Mordanting
Fig. 15.1
Dye extraction
Fig. 15.2
Dyeing
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INDIGO Indigo is an insoluble vat dye material which needs an alkaline vat and subsequent oxidization to yield colour. At Aranya, extracted Indigo is sourced from Tamil Nadu in the form of cakes. These cakes are then powdered at Aranya for better mixing. Indigo dyeing takes place in a cold solution and requires a lot of water. Indigo at Aranya started Recipe Indigo : Caustic Soda : Reducing Agent (HydroSulphate) : Gelatine(Color fastness) : Water 10 : 3 : 6 : 1 : 10
Process
Fig. 16
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National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
1. Indigo powder is soaked overnight in water 2. Next day gelatine dissolved in cold water is added to the above mixture 3. Hydro sulphate and caustic soda are added to the same and mixed very well. The dye bath is kept away for 5 hours to let it react. 4. The bluish green frothy solution is then strained through a cloth to make a dye bath. 5. Fabric to be dyed is treated with Alum mixed in water. 6. The fabric is then dipped into the indigo bath for a while and then held in the air for oxidization which makes the fabric blue from green. This process is repeated till the wanted blue is achieved. The blue gets darker with each dip. 7. Fabric is washed nicely in running water twice/ thrice and then dried in good sunlight.
KASMI The black dye is produced by a fermenting process using rusted scarp iron, molasses/jaggery and gram flour. This solution/dye is known as Kasmi at Aranya. Recipe Scrap Iron : Molasses : Gram flour : Water 10 : 2 : 2.5 : 10
Process 1. All the ingredients are mixed together in an earthen/non-metallic pot and is kept covered for fermentation preferably in the sun, for 15 days. The mixture is stirred from time to time. This leads to the formation of a frothy layer on the surface. When the froth settles the Kasmi is ready to be used. This mixture lasts for several months. Raw materials are added to increase the solution when required. 2. Fabric to be dyed is treated with Myrobalan. 3. The prepared dye solution is boiled in water. Kasmi is always boiled before dyeing. 4. The above solution (dye bath) is kept in one vessel and Myrobalan solution is kept in another vessel. 5. The fabric is dipped in both of them alternately for 10 minutes each until the desired colour is achieved. 6. Fabric is then washed with soap, treated with Alum water and dried well.
Fig. 17
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SHIBORI & TIE-DYE Aranya Natural’s most favored technique is Shibori. It is an intricate Japanese technique of stitch resist dyeing in many varieties. They first started with Shibori and then kept learning other techniques. Aranya is very well known all around the world for the kind of shibori it does and for their finesse and quality which is very hard to achieve. A wide range of Shibori is practiced at Aranya ranging from many types in hand Shibori to Tesuji and machine Kumo to Arashi Shibori to Clamp to Katanu to always learning more new ones.
Process 1. Fabric De-gumming 2. Drawing the design 3. Stitching the Shibori 4. Dyeing with great care 5. Opening the fabric 6. Post mordanting and washing 36
National Institute of Design | Textile Design (B.Des) | Graduation Project
Fig. 18
Fig. 18.1
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Fig. 19
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Fig. 19.1
BLOCK PRINTING IN NATURAL COLOURS Vegetable block printing at Aranya is done with 4 different pastes which give 4 different colours. They use a mixture of metal and wooden blocks designed at Aranya and crafted by Artisans from different places in India. It is a lengthy process and takes around 4-5 days for the fabric to be fully ready. This technique is doable only in good sunny weather else in moist weather the fabrics get patchy, pastes smudge and spread not giving the wanted results.
Pastes • Kasmi Paste (Black print) - Made with a fermented mixture of iron scraps, jaggery and gram flour. This mixture is fermented for a minimum of a month or so and then used for printing. • Alum Paste (Red print) - This paste is made by soaking Acacia Gum overnight in water and then mixing Alum in it the next morning. This paste does not take time and usually is made fresh in small quantities as the gum dries very fast. • Catechu Paste (Beige print) - Both Acacia Gum and the Catechu crystals are soaked overnight in water. It is then mixed together in the morning and used. This paste is also made fresh. • Secret Paste (Dark Brown print)
Process 1. Fabric De-gumming 2. Myrobalan Treatment - colour fixing agent 3. Block printing with the pastes 4. Drying in the sun for a day minimum 5. Dry steaming - Fixing paste onto the fabric 6. Developing- Along with the pastes, vegetable block prints also need to be developed to bring out the colour and to fix it on the fabric. Aranya uses Daiflower and Indian madder as their 2 developers. Daiflower does not really change the existing colour - just brightens and fixes it. Indian madder brings out the reds in all the pastes. The fabric is boiled in a mixture of water and Daiflower/Indian madder till the colours develop. 7. Dyeing if needed - The fabric is dried after developing and then can be dyed with another colour if needed. 8. Post mordanting and washing.
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BATIK Batik, also known as wax resist is a rather recent technique at Aranya. It is also one of the fastest techniques at Aranya. It is practiced with blocks. The block library is one for both vegetable print and batik. But not all blocks used for veg print can be used for batik as some of them are very thin for batik and some can get easily damaged due the heat of the wax bath. Also with batik, dyeing gets a little difficult as hot dyes cannot be used due to the presence of wax and some natural dyeing ingredients make the removal of wax difficult. Hence except while dyeing with Indigo(a cold dye and no mordanting), there are a few limitations with natural dyeing a batik fabric. Alum cannot be used at all while dyeing until the wax is taken off as alum fixes the wax on to the fabric making it very difficult to remove.
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De-waxing is done by dipping the fabric several times in a boiling mixture of water and soap. The wax used for Batik printing is a mixture of bees wax and paraffin wax. Both of them are melted together in a pot and then used for printing. Bees wax : Paraffin Wax 1 kg : 150 gm
Process 1. Fabric De-gumming 2. Batik printing 3. Dyeing with great care 4. De-waxing 5. Post mordanting and washing
Fig. 20
Fig. 20.1
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Fig. 21
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Fig. 21.1
ECO PRINTING Eco printing is a fairly recent trend. It is about getting direct prints from natural leaves and flowers on to the fabric. This is one of the most popular technique at Aranya. People get really fascinated by the process. Local leaves and flowers with inherent colouring substances are used for printing - the most used ones are Eucalyptus, Castor oil and Eupatorium leaves along with seasonal flowers. The Eco-prints made at Aranya look different every season. They are highly affected by the weather and moisture in the air. They come out best in the summers and not so nice in the monsoon.
Process 1. Fabric De-gumming 2. Treatment of fabric with mordant and soda ash 3. Placing leaves and making the fabric roll ready 4. Wet steaming 5. Dyeing, Post mordanting and washing
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COLOUR PALETTE The colour palette of Aranya is very vibrant and saturated. The colours come out nice and bright on animal fibre fabrics (silk and wool) while are pastel/muted on cotton and linen. Extreme light shades are avoided as being natural dyes they will tend to fade over time. Also each colour comes out different on different types of fabrics. The basic colour is the same but saturation, brightness,vibrancy and value varies. The colours shown in the picture is their primary/ basic one dye and one mordant colour palette. Other shades and tones are achieved by mixing and changing proportions of the ingredients in the whole dyeing process.
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Fig. 22 - First three columns - Cotton colour palette. Natural dyes on cotton take the longest to dye and also come out a little dull when compared to silk . They give a pastel look with most of the shades. Fig 22.1 - Last three columns - Silk colour palette. Natural dyes on silk come out the brightest and darkest. Silk catches the dye very quickly compared to cotton that takes longer.
Fig. 22
Fig. 22.1
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Fig 23 - 23.9 Aranya’s product range includes products that can cater to a wide variety of audience groups and do not have any target/audience specific products in terms of size/stitching.
Fig. 23
Fig. 23.4
Fig. 23.1
Fig. 23.2
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Fig. 23.3
Fig. 23.5
Fig. 23.6
Fig. 23.8
PRODUCT RANGE Aranya offers a wide range of naturally dyed handmade products that cater mainly to the female market. All their products have great finishing and are quality checked at each stage. The products are kept away or re-processed for any small quality fault/damage. Their product range includes • Stoles/scarves • Dupattas • Sarees • Dress materials/yardages • Cushion covers • Table linen sets (lean time production) • Runners (lean time production) • Pencil pouches & bags (lean time production)
Fig. 23.7
Fig. 23.9
Once the products are ready they are ironed, folded and entered in the production/stock register. The products have a basic tag attached to it before going for sale and are given in a brown paper bag made in Athulya. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig 24
The Artisan group is led by Mrs. Victoria Vijayakumar along with the help of Indira and Nithya Kala with the finance and accounting part. 48
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PRODUCTION UNIT Employees/Artisans at Aranya Natural have first attended DARE School as students and after graduating are employed accordingly at either of the 4 projects at Srishti - based on their skill and capabilities. Initially they are trained in all the techniques and then they specialize into what they like and do best. All of them have been trained by the best in the field. When experts get to know about Aranyathey come down, stay and teach the artisans their skills. Aranya has grown because of so many such kind contributors. A few artisans have also attended workshops worldwide to learn new techniques and teach what they know as well. The working environment is very breezy and relaxed, friendly and jolly. Some one is fighting over a petty issue in one corner, one corner some one’s leg is pulled and the other corner has people laughing hard. It is a very good combination of fun and work together.
Fig 24 - The Artisans of Aranya - Dyers - 8, Shibori - 8, Block print - 2, Batik - 1.5, Tailors - 2, Ironing - 1, Tie-dye, Arashi, Eco print - 2, Clamp dyeing, Tesuji - 1, MR staff/ Helpers - 9
Working System Working hours - 9am to 5pm lunch break - 12:30 to 1:30 two 15 mins tea breaks at 10:30am & 2:30pm Holidays - One day is given off on the occasion of Onam, Christmas and Adi festival + Public holidays • All the dyers(only) have to fill in the daily work register mentioning each day’s work. This helps keep track of all the production • Muster Register - Daily in and out time is to be entered and signed by all the employees. • Bags of all the employees are checked before they leave.
Welfare Srishti Trust being a CSR initiative of TATA Global Beverages and TATA Trusts the employees have a lot of privileges and benefits. • Provident Fund • Free medical services for each Artisan’s Family • Free schooling for all of each Artisan’s children • Free Firewood and subsidized lunches • Free transport • A house is given to each Artisan family after working with Srishti for a certain number of years. • Blankets are given to Artisans every 2-3 years • Crèche service for all the Artisan’s children Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 25
In this view major part of Aranya’s set up is seen - The dyeing area on the top, the two printing tables, Arashi Shibori table and the Batik tables. You also see two doors - one leading to the raw material storage room and one to the office and the Outlet.
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Fig. 25.1
The cabin seen is the shibori unit where all of them sit together and sew, the third printing table is also seen and up in the right corner is the sewing unit with 2 machines and one pico machine. Between the shibori unit and the sewing unit is the ironing and folding area.
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PRODUCTION Production at Aranya is priority and need based. It is also largely dependent on the weather. There are 35 artisans and 3 managerial staff members that look after all of it. All the 35 artisans are differently abled & practice different techniques accordingly. Production for the Outlet is done as and when required, when the stock is about to finish. Production for the Orders go hand in hand with the Outlet production and the orders are completed on first come, first serve basis. The buyer is notified the time frame for the same and then orders are confirmed. When huge orders come in, (Eg- Eileen Fischer orders 500 scarves of the same kind.- The colour finish, everything has to be same largely, some things are accepted under hand work) a team of artisans is assigned to complete it within a planned time frame to achieve same quality and outcome throughout all the pieces. Production for the fairs, exhibitions and conferences is started 2-3 months in advance. Everything to be produced is noted down in terms of technique, colour, amount etc based on the behavior of the place to be produced for and is written down in the Order Book. Before starting the production from scratch for the fairs, the outlet is checked and the items on the list are kept aside and the remaining are produced. This saves 52
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them time. Production for fairs, exhibitions and orders are prioritized over the Outlet production and viceversa depending on the seasons. Holidays or cultural events hardly affect the production as they do not have any long holidays just a one day holiday for their main festivals.
Production influenced by the weather Shibori and Batik - Produced all year round Eco print - Can be done all year round, but the rainy weather makes the leaves less potent and give murky colours - making it a little difficult. Block print- Not produced during the rainy season (need sunlight and dry weather) Natural Dyeing- Happens all year round but slows down a lot during the monsoons. As the monsoons make it difficult for a lot things to be produced, fabrics are prepared with batik or Shibori to be dyed later on. Also other products like bags, pouches, surface ornamentation, etc are also done during the lean time.
February - March Overall Peak time Year ending and beginning - Raw materials and fabrics ordered and stocked up -Major production - good weather - Production mainly for Paramparik Karigar, tourist season & workshops - International conferences
October - January Decent production - Winter specific raw material ordered -Exhibitions attended - SUTRA, 100 Hands, etc - Many workshops take place at Aranya - Experts visit
June - September Lean production - Exhibitions outside Munnar attended - Paramparik Karigar, Design One, etc - Stitched products made from Aranya’s fabric - International conferences
Capacity of the artisans As all the work at Aranya Natural is hand done and naturally dyed with a very limited number of artisans - the pace of production is slow when compared to other dyeing units or studios. Except for Dyeing and Shibori, all the other techniques have only 1 or 2 artisans practicing it. Therefore when bulk orders come in- the time frame is long. Also the artisans being differently-abled can do only
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MARKET Aranya Natural does not have a typical/ normal market a usual design studio or brand would have. Being in Munnar away from all the industrial hustle, Aranya’s market reach is very mixed and limited. Aranya’s market also gets a little more limited because of the kind of products they sell i.e they are naturally dyed, everything handmade therefore wash care is different and also prices are higher compared to other products. Aranya Natural has two main customer types Indian Market and Foreign Market. Preferences of both these categories are fairly different. They cater to these categories with an Outlet right next to the dyeing unit, Annual Fairs and Exhibitions, Online market (Facebook and Instagram), local and export orders and through workshops conducted at Aranya.
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Outlet (Location: Right outside the unit in Munnar) Munnar being a tourist destination - Aranya has a good advantage with that. A lot of tourists come to Srishti Trust to see the kind of work done by the artisans in all three units. All the tourists are given a tour of the unit explaining all the processes by one of the artisans and are then led to the Outlet. The tour of the unit helps the tourists connect with the story of Aranya and encourages them to makes purchases as well. All the tourists get very impressed with the whole tour and process. Indians who really understand the work and/or if products of Aranya fit in their budget - purchase things from the outlet. Foreigners really appreciate the work and the prices are also convenient to them and hence most of them don’t go without buying anything. A lot of the purchasing at the outlet happens due to the emotional factor after getting to know Aranya’s story and progress. After gaining so much experience in Natural dyeing - Aranya also conducts workshops for groups of people(Mostly foreigners). A lot of these groups have designers and textile artists who know the art and its value pretty well. During the workshop, the applicants buy out almost the whole outlet. Sometimes a group of textile designers come and empty out the place in a few hours. The sales at the Outlet, if to be compared is fairly more because of the foreigners than the Indians.
Orders
Exhibitions and Conferences
Online Market
Being a dyeing unit and not completely an independent brand/studio, Aranya accepts orders from other brands both small and huge - Indian and as well as export orders. Majority of them have first come down to Aranya - seen the place, how it works, the products and then have become loyal customers. A lot of Aranya’s products are exported to the U.K and U.S.A. They have long term collaborations with Eileen Fisher, L.O.V by Anoushka, Barbara Sansoni Exports, Julie Martin, Barefoot in Srilanka for export orders along with many other on-off foreign clients. In India they receive orders from Titan, Okhai and small brand start ups. The Indian orders are slowly increasing with the popularity of sustainable fabrics, natural dyeing etc in India. The big brands who already have a huge name in the market like Eileen Fischer usually place huge orders for the same product every year. Small startup brands who collect things from different places and sell it under their brand name, place different orders each time with a mixed variety of all the products. They usually come down see the new products and then place their order. What these small brands also do is they ask Aranya to not put their tag and give their own brand tags instead - not giving Aranya any credit or recognition. Whereas the big brands do mention Aranya’s name. The number of orders Aranya receives is completely dependent on its people reach and publicity. Orders are a great way for Aranya to make good sales but it does not get any recognition most of the times. For the ‘unit to brand’ transformation this needs to be worked on.
After the Outlet, Aranya’s next major market is the exhibitions and fairs they attend. Their main annual Exhibition is the Paramparik Karigar exhibition in Mumbai. They attend it every year without fail. At Paramparik Karigar, Aranya has a lot of loyal customers along with the new comers. The loyal ones want something new every year. Every year, they their signature products that are favourites among the crowd along with the new collection that the interns at Aranya make. They attend a few exhibitions in the big cities, Paramparik Karigar - Mumbai in August, Hundred Hands- Bangalore (Nov-Dec) and Kochi (Dec) and Design One - Mumbai (Sep) being the main and regular ones. With the experience Aranya has in natural dyeing, it gets invited to many conferences - both local and international. So over the course of time Aranya has represented itself in a lot of conferences worldwide and also sold products there. Products for these stalls are taken according to the place, kind of people coming and their taste. Sales at such places are unpredictable. The kind of people who make purchases at these fairs and exhibitions are people who appreciate hand work and design, understand the value and effort of the artisans; and there are people who buy anything they like irrespective of the prices. Being in a place like Munnar - Attending these exhibitions and conferences is very key for Aranya to reach out to the world, tell everyone they exist and gain more publicity.
Aranya Natural’s online market is Facebook. It has a pretty good following there. As of now it does not own an e-commerce website. They post pictures of their products on their Facebook pagepeople who like any product, message and ask for the price and details and then place the orders over email. The quantity of orders is mixed and totally depends on how many people is Aranya and their Facebook page reaching. The Facebook page is not very well-planned in terms of new products, quality of images, etc. Over the years there have been many new products made but not updated online. Aranya has worked with jaypore.com and a few other similar websites for e-commerce but it didn’t really work in their favour. They either ask for a lot of commission or their terms and conditions cannot be met by Aranya. Hence they don’t really show interest in that. Being under a trust also adds some regulations to such functioning.
Market Contemporaries Having a natural dyeing unit in a country like India which is gaining awareness and is moving towards a more informed, organic and conscious future -there is some competition involved. There are studios and brands like Mura, Colours of Nature, Aavaran Udaipur, Tvach, etc who do natural dyeing but combined with other techniques. Hence there is some competition at a certain level but what you get at all of these studios and Aranya are very different and specific.
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DESIGN LANGUAGE Aranya has a rather large palette in terms of its design language. The team does not find sense in following colour trends, forecasts or seasonal themes set by the industry, which in turn works for them and is their secret design language in a way. Aranya always aspires to make something new and unique. They invest in ongoing explorations and trying out different possibilities instead of being limited to a certain way/kind of work only. The combination of their techniques and the kind of colours natural dyes give together on natural fabrics is Aranya’s basic design language. Aranya has interns coming in for them who work on design collections every 6 months choosing a certain technique. This also has helped Aranya explore and have a wide variety of design possibilities with just those techniques. Over the years the design language has evolved and come to be with different design brains coming and going. Apart from the interns the artisans also tweak and modify designs and make new ones. 56
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Also the fact that everything is handmade because of which no piece is the same and is unique in its own way adds a cherry on the top. • Both contemporary and traditional • Constantly evolving • Play of techniques with natural colours - new aesthetic directions • Stand out art pieces • Practices all kinds of placements • High end
Fig 26 - Row one - Sayan Chanda’s collection Fig 26.1 - Row two - Meghana Bhaskara’a collection Fig 26.2 - Row three - Riddhi Jain’s collection Fig 26.3 - Row four- Aranya’s product range In all of these collections a visual design language can be made out which has developed over time at Aranya and in not standardized. It is an underlying one and comes together because of the techniques used at Aranya.
Fig. 26
Fig. 26.1
Fig. 26.2
Fig. 26.3
BRIEF ANALYSIS
ARANYA NATURAL Munnar, Kerala - Calm, Serene and Secluded Uses Discards of Nature to create Colours Unit equipped with industrial standard facilities Differently-abled Artisans Reaches both social and ecological ends • 35 differently abled Artisans • Trained by experts from around the world • Workshops attended worldwide • Working hours 9am-5pm, 5.5 days a week • Many welfare benefits • Project head work on volunteer basis • Permanent managerial and accounting staff • All natural and handmade • High Quality craftsmanship • Exquisite handwork • Detailing with very high skills • Consistency in quality and design • Minimalistic yet classy approach • Different designers contribute to the designs and product range • Dyeing done with minuscule accuracy which helps with achieving the same colours every time. • Natural dyeing • Shibori and Tie-dye • Vegetable Block Printing • Batik • Eco Printing Raw materials • Locally procured from the forests of Munnar • Others are sourced from parts of Kerala and TN • Fabrics are sourced from all around India where they are best available.(From weavers and suppliers both) 58
Design language and Identity • Rather large palette in terms of design language • Does not follow the mundane forecasts, colour palettes or any themes. • Own unique colour palette & visual identity • Handmade, handcrafted look and feel • Flow of work is spontaneous giving vast opportunities for explorations along with the artisans • Forever exploring resulting in new and fresh collections each time • Influence and contribution of different designers • The combination of natural dyeing with their techniques on natural fabrics is their basic design language. Clientele • Lovers of handcrafted and handmade products and the irregularities that come with it • Who understands the value of the techniques • Is aware, likes to & can afford to contribute to the cause (keeping the price factor in mind). • Has a style of their own and loves to experiment • Majorly the female market. Awards and achievements • Aranya Natural - FICCI Award 1997-1998 In recognition of corporate initiatives in Training and placement of persons with Disability • Aranya Natural - FICCI Award 2008 In recognition of corporate society responsible award • Shri. Arumugham - Award for Innovation Excellence award of innovation “Aru Shibori” • Smt. Bhanumathy - Excellence Award For achieving excellence as an all-rounder • Aranya Natural - Master class challenge piece Maiwa Hand prints Limited, Canada • Aranya Natural is recognized as one of the best natural dyers world wide. • It is also recognized for its Shibori at the International Shibori Symposium
Market
Production
Online 15%
Winter 40%
Orders 22%
Exhibitions 9% Monsoon 10%
Outlet 54%
Summer 50%
Summers Good sunny weather Peak Production All techniques are practiced
Winters Partially sunny weather Normal Production
Monsoons Moist damp weather Lean Production Very few techniques are practiced at a slow rate
• Priority and need based production • Speed of Production is average - handmade by 35 differently abled artisans • Artisan capacity - average • Highly influenced by the weather • Not at all influenced by annual holidays • Peak time - Summer, Lean time - Monsoon • Turn over - 1 Cr (approx)
Production Process Fabric is ordered (Advance paid) ——Returned if damaged Fabric received and checked (Full payment) Fabric processed at Aranya ——Damaged pieces are kept away/re-processed Finished and quality checked Out for sale
• Local orders • Exhibitions
April- May Good Outlet Sales Workshops
• Outlet • Online • Workshops
June- Sept Lean time at Outlet Mumbai exhibitions
• Export orders • Conferences
Oct- March Peak time at the Outlet Workshops
Conferences and other fairs and exhibitions are distributed all year round. Loyal Orders Eileen Fischer LOV Project Titan Anjali, USA
Main exhibitions Paramparik Karigar 100 Hands Design One
• Not a typical/Standard market type. • Affected by the location of Aranya, range and kind of products • Limited marketing hence limited market reach • 2 main customer types - Indian and Foreign • Tourist market in Munnar • Strong marketing point - Story of Aranya and their all natural process. 59
SCOPE OF WORK After understanding Aranya’s overall way of functioning and work language, The scope of work includes :
Branding and Marketing Aranya Natural has all the variables to reach out to more people and make more sales but has not been able to figure out the right tact. This attempt of theirs, to expand market base, ushers in some good scope of work. • Putting together Aranya’s core strengths and developing it into a brand identity. This will be done through brand analysis and by creating charts formulating Aranya into a brand. • Adding more value to their brand through creative marketing- tags, taglines, brochures, etc. The above mentioned will be done keeping in mind the brand value and making sure these reflect the same as well. • Marketing and promoting it on different social media platforms Exploring different kinds of marketing tools that would be suitable for Aranya & finding ways to implement them. Social media is a very important tool for marketing in today’s world & Aranya needs to get on track with them. • Finding new possible market links to expand sales. As Aranya is in a very secluded place, finding new possible market links for them to expand their market and sales will give them many options to plan and decide their year in terms of sales.
Product Range Aranya’s products which include stoles, sarees, yardages, etc are created with various resist dyeing techniques like different types of Shibori, tie-dye, clamp dyeing, batik and printing techniques like- block printing, mordant printing, etc. The work flow being very spontaneous at the unit gives vast opportunities for explorations along with the artisans. Also the immense enthusiasm and eagerness among the artisans to try new directions and come up with new possibilities for the organization is an added plus point. The artisans there are highly skilled and their work is very sensitive towards quality and finish. This indicates the preparedness of this group to try new possibilities and in turn help Aranya grow. Therefore after clearly understanding Aranya’s core strengths and the market • Creation of products using Aranya’s set of USPs to cater to and reach a wider market. • Getting the pulse of the demands and accordingly incorporate them into their products • Enhancing or introducing a new technique to Aranya in turn increasing sales and market reach as well as adding to their skill set. • Introducing new stitched products to be produced during the lean time from left over/ damaged fabrics • Doing all this while paying attention to the brand language and while having a target audience decided As Aranya Natural is a project that is also for ensuring sustainable livelihoods for its workers, helping the workers learn more will help them expand work wise as well. Focus will also be on empowering the artisans through set of activities aimed towards building of their design capacity.
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Br
a n d i n g
6.1 What is branding and Why? 6.2 Analysis and Scope 6.3 Brand Identity, Core Strengths & USP 6.4 Brand communication re-design
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BRANDING What is Branding and Why? Branding is the expression of the essential truth or value of an organization, product, or service. It is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is and is not. A brand will help encourage someone to buy a product, and it directly supports whatever sales or marketing activities are in play, but the brand does not explicitly say “buy me.” Instead, it says “This is what I am. This is why I exist. If you agree, if you like me, you can buy me, support me, and recommend me to your friends.” Branding is strategic. Marketing contributes to a brand, but the brand is bigger than any particular marketing effort. The brand is what remains after the marketing has swept through the room. It’s what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service, or organization—whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy. The brand is built from many things. Very important among these things is the lived experience of the brand. Branding makes loyal customers, advocates, even evangelists, out of those who buy. This works the same way for all types of businesses and organizations. All organizations must sell (including nonprofits). How they sell 64
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may differ, and everyone in an organization is, with their every action, either constructing or deconstructing the brand. Every thought, every action, every policy, every ad, every marketing promotion has the effect of either inspiring or deterring brand loyalty in whomever is exposed to it. All of this affects sales. Branding is as vital to the success of a business or nonprofit as having financial coherence, having a vision for the future, or having quality employees. Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company or products from competitors, aiming to create a lasting impression in the minds of customers. The key components that form a brand’s toolbox include a brand’s identity, brand communication (such as by logos and trademarks), brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding strategies. The concept behind branding is to make the products relatable so that people find an instant connect with you.
Fig. 27
Analysis and Scope Current Situation Aranya Natural was started as an effort to provide employment to the disabled youth of Munnar. It was not initiated with the thought of creating a brand or for making a place in the market. Therefore they don’t really have well formulated branding. Everything was done without any planning & not having a target audience in mind. But with the huge success of Aranya in terms of their beliefs, story, techniques and products - being very well received in the market and having got a good response with what they do - by adapting to and making branding a part of their organization will help them add more value to their work and grow much more in various directions.
Scope After having a good understanding of Aranya : • Putting together Aranya’s identity and core strengths will help them concrete and understand themselves in a very efficient manner. Also help them set new goals and aspirations leading towards the growth of Aranya. • Strengthening their brand communication components/tools - like the logo and brand tag (these being the face or one of the first things they see of a brand) will help them communicate themselves better to the audience and make an impression.
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External Brand Experience What our audience sees/feels USPs • Story of Aranya • Natural dyed, handmade, high quality products by highly skilled Differently abled artisans in Munnar • Reaches out to both natural and social ends • Eye Candy that is Soul Food
Internal Brand practices What we do CORE Aranya Natural is a very closely knit organization that • Provides a sustainable economy to differently abled people • By creating natural dyes from discards of nature • Along with various surface ornamentation techniques
Internal Core Brand Values What we believe CORE STRENGTHS • Location - Local Abundant Availability of Resources • What comes from nature goes back to nature • Hardworking dedicated artisans • High quality handcrafted products by highly skilled differently-abled Artisans • Limitless Will and Possibilities to explore • Unique combination of Natural Dyes and their Techniques
BRAND IDENTITY - ARANYA NATURAL The outward expression of a brand – including its name, trademark, communications, and visual appearance– is brand identity/personality . Brand identity is the message the consumer receives from the product, person, or thing. The brand identity will connect product recognition. It is fundamental to consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand’s uniqueness and differentiation from competitors. By establishing a brand personality, businesses can form emotional bonds with their consumers which in turn establishes future behaviors of brand loyalty.
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Visual brand language is also a very important part of a brands identity. Visual brand language is the unique “alphabet” of design elements – such as shape, colour, materials, finish, typography and composition – which directly and subliminally communicate a company’s values and personality through compelling imagery and design style. This “alphabet”, properly designed, results in an emotional connection between the brand and the consumer. Visual brand language is a key ingredient necessary to make an authentic and convincing brand strategy that can be applied uniquely and creatively in all forms of brand communications to both employees and customers.
ARANYA NATURAL - A PERSON DESIGN LANGUAGE
SIGNATURE ELEMENTS (Elements true to just one person, Eg - Birthmarks) • Location : Calm - Serene - Secluded • Artisans : Differently abled - Well trained - Highly skilled - Hardworking and Dedicated • Dye Stuff : Discards of nature - All natural - Eco friendly - Locally procured • Fabrics : No synthetics - Wide variety - Natural fabrics - Nationally procured • Unique Colour Palette : Natural dyes - Unusual colours and combinations
(DNA of a person) • Artisans + Natural Dyes + The techniques • Handmade and handcrafted • Constantly evolving • Does not follow any forecast patriarchies • Play of techniques with natural colours - new aesthetic directions • Minimalistic • High end
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES (Unique qualities/behavior of a person) • Combination of people who make it, place where it is made and materials it is made with make an extremely special produce • Many special welfares for the artisans • What comes from nature goes back to nature • Each product is unique • High social and ecological value
(Beliefs/objectives of a person) • Sustainable economy for the Artisans • Minimal waste • No pollution • Towards sustainability • Natural Dye empowerment • Artisans + Designers
PERSONALITY • All natural • Closely knit • Very Hardworking and Dedicated • Inspiring • Ever ready to keep learning • Eco-friendly • Partly sustainable • Caters to both natural and social ends
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LOGO Logos are a critical aspect of business marketing. As the company’s major graphical representation, a logo anchors a company’s brand and becomes the single most visible manifestation of the company within the target market. For this reason, a well-designed logo is an essential part of any company’s overall marketing strategy. A logo identifies a business in its simplest form via the use of a mark or icon. It does not sell the company directly nor rarely does it describe a business. Logo’s derive their meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes. In a nutshell, what a logo means is more important than what it looks like. It is also important to note that only after a logo becomes familiar, does it function the way it is intended to do much like how we must learn people’s names to identify them - this is where marketing comes in play. The logo identifies a business or product in its simplest form.
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ORIGINAL LOGO The tree of Aranya was very mixed up and lacked clarity - in turn creating similar impressions on the audience. Also Aranya did not have any good resolution soft copies of the logo for official and marketing purposes. The logo had also not been registered or trademarked. There were also confusions whether it should be Aranya Natural or Aranya Naturals - they were using both on different platforms. Original logo
Fig. 28
Aranya’s logo had been made long back in its initial years and lacked clarity & finesse. Since 23 years this logo had become Aranya’s identity - We thought it is wise not to completely change it as it may loose some audience. Therefore not to change but to revamp the logo was decided upon.
REVAMPED LOGO The original logo was traced and re-drawn and tweaked in way to make it look more clear and refined. Things like the colours and font were changed to suit the image of Aranya. The ‘Naturals’ is now ‘Natural’. Initially they were using both in different places and had to finalize on one for registration purposes. This logo has been updated everywhere and is in the process of registration as a trademark. It does not miscommunicate the image/values of Aranya and is a better version of the original logo to remember and make a mark in the audience’s mind. Revamped Logo
Fig. 29
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HANG TAGS Hang Tags are like business cards. They relate important information about your product to the customer. They are your voice when you cannot be present so the design should reflect your branding and the message you may be trying to give. Hang tags are great at grabbing attention, creating an emotional state, up-selling additional products, collecting demographic information and otherwise promoting your products. Professional hang tags increase the value of the product they hang on due to the additional level of attractiveness and information provided by the tag. Hang tags aren’t just plain, boring tags hanging from a product providing the sales price; they can convey the very essence of your business by attracting as well as informing your customers. Strategically placed tags with relevant information can encourage a shopper who’s unsure about a particular item to make the purchase thereby making the product more sell-able. 70
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Existing tag Aranya’s original tag was made just to convey the price and material to the buyers. It served the purpose initially but now when it has grown so much and wants to expand it’s market, reach out to more people - a well thought clever hang tag is needed to serve with the same. The whole process of mentioning the dyes and materials on the tag was also very tedious and time consuming. It also made the tags look very unprofessional and unfinished not matching the high quality products.
Fig. 30.1
Fig. 30
The current tag of Aranya’s is a very lengthy & untidy process. The stickers of the material and dye used are cut randomly in without maintaining the same size or font in all of them. Over all the whole tag is not professional at all and does not reflect the quality and finesse of products that Aranya has.
Old pixelated logo
Old logo and badly designed font size and placement.
More than Aranya’s official website, their facebook profile is viewed and visited more. There that should be mentioned as well, which is not on this tag,
This area has stickers paper cut outs pasted on them to mention the respective details that look very unprofessional and untidy for a paper tag of a brand.
The wash care is not mentioned with the correct symbols
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NEW TAG After studying tags of brands similar to Aranya Brands who are ethical or environment friendly, make handmade products, etc and observing their placement of information, what kind of information they give and why, what effect it has on the consumers, consumer’s psychology, etc The new tag had to be designed understanding and keeping mind details like 1. Care and pricing information to make your brand feel more transparent. 2. Background information about your brand to get your customers personally invested in your unique story and products. 3. A materials list, especially since Aranya uses Eco-friendly ones that appeal to environmentally conscious shoppers and grab attention. 4. Background information on a product’s origins, especially locally made items for consumers who enjoy supporting their community. 5. One-of-kind story/details about Aranya’s unique products for those who don’t want massproduced merchandise. 7. Distinctive logos that make your products stand out and help customers immediately identify your brand. 6. Promotional data to plug your brand’s website and/or social media handles. 72
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Along with the mentioned points, the whole process of mentioning the dye, material and technique details on the tag were to be made easy to do, neat and a faster process. The stamp tag (Tag 3) was intentionally kept different from the main tag to keep all the hand work on one separate tag. Also since all the details had to be mentioned only after the product was fully done and hence could not be printed before hand. The whole process of mentioning those details was very untidy and time consuming, an easier way had to be found. Therefore rubber stamps of all the details were made separately and will be stamped on small fabric pieces as and when needed. These can be customized easily in a very clean and professional manner not spoiling the whole look of the tag and is a quick way of doing it as well.
Tag 1 is about giving all the basic information that one needs/ sees before purchasing a product. It has information regarding all the where, who, why and hows.
Aranya Natural - Main motive and names of supporters to keep the buyer informed.
Contact information & Social media handles for the buyer to further contact Aranya or look it up online for more orders or information
Logo / Visual Identity of Aranya Natural
Wash Care - Important to mention properly as Aranya’s Natural dyed products need specific care to maintain their beauty.
Giving the customer a background about Aranya Where it comes from, how their products are made, who hand crafts them and what do they believe in Aranya’s Motto.
Price box - Price will be hand written/ printed then and there as prices change due to addition and substraction of different processes.
Tag 1
Tag 2 - Why?
Mentioned right below the price box as Aranya’s products being handcrafted with natural dyes are priced high and buyers have to be reminded why they are priced so to answer their second thoughts about buying the product after seeing the price. Giving the buyer a personal message to convey how special Aranya’s products are and why you should have one. Also thanking them for buying it as they are supporting a socially and ecologically viable cause - Which will in turn make them want to buy it.
Understanding the product category of Aranya which is Handmade, Handcrafted and Natural dyed by the differently-abled - it becomes a special/unique product . Being a social cause along with caring for the environment it has a special value in the market. All this information needs to reach the customer in a creative way that sells your product along with making the buyer feel happy and socially contributive.
Aranya’s Tagline - Very few things are good to see/use (eye candy) and at the same time harmless to anyone - make your inner soul feel good (soul food) - Aranya’s products do. Tag 2
Tag 3 - Stamp Tag As Aranya’s products have different techniques and dyes used and is all natural - People want to know the details. But Aranya’s previous tag where all of this was mentioned was very shabby-ly done and looked messy - It was also very time consuming. Tag 3
Therefore after evaluating the whole process of doing that and possibilities of making it easier and neat looking at the same time - Ink Stamps of all the technique names, dye names and material names were made. These are stamped on small cloth pieces ( Aranya’s left over fabric) to make the third tag with all the mentioned details.
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TAGS OPTION 1 74
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TAG OPTION 2 Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Ma
r k e t i n g
- Role of marketing and need - Analysis and Scope - Marketing tool kit - Promotional Merchandise - Social Media Marketing - Evangelism marketing - Market expansion
MARKETING Marketing are activities of a company associated with buying and selling a product or service. It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to people. Marketing is about trying to get the attention of target audiences by using slogans, packaging design, celebrity endorsements and general media exposure. Marketing is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. Marketing unearths and activates buyers. Marketing is tactical. There are four P’s of marketing - product, place, price and promotion. Product refers to an item or items a business intends to sell. When examining a product, questions should be asked such as, what product is being sold? What differentiates the product from its competitors? Can the product be marketed with a secondary product? And are there substitute products in the market? Price refers to how much the product is likely to cost. Place refers to distribution of the product. Key considerations include whether the product is going to be sold through a physical store front, online or made available through both distribution channels? 78
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Finally, promotion refers to the integrated marketing communications campaign. Promotional activities may include advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, public relations, direct marketing, sponsorship and guerrilla marketing. One must be aware that consumers associate a product’s price and distribution with its quality, and would be prudent to take this into account when devising the overall marketing strategy. Marketing differs from selling because - Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. Marketing has less to do with getting customers to pay for your product as it does developing a demand for that product and fulfilling the customer’s needs. Your mission is only as successful as far as it can spread and have an impact. If you are indeed working to make the world better, you need to be actively marketing what you do
Analysis Current situation During the initial days of Aranya, marketing was not a very important part of their work, it was just through word of mouth. They did not really need to and weren’t really aware of its benefits. But over time they realized that reaching out to the market is really crucial to improve their sales and gain more publicity. Having realized that - they do try from their side but don’t really have professional help with it. They are not aware of the trending and effective ways to do so and hence lack behind with the same. Given Aranya’s background in terms of their secluded location far off from the market buzz, ways of selling, types of markets, etc marketing is a very important aspect to cater to for expansion. As of now Aranya does its basic marketing only through their Facebook page and through word of mouth. It also gets some publicity through the brands/boutiques that sell Aranya’s products at their stores in India and abroad. They do not have any set of basic marketing tools that they use before bringing out any new products in the market or before any big exhibition.
Scope Aranya can achieve better market reach and help itself expand more by adapting to a few marketing techniques like Fig. 40
• Forming a kit of marketing tools i.e Story, tagline, motto, etc • Making brochures and postcards for the tourist market to help spread the word • Better social media promotions and presence on platforms like Facebook and Instagram • Collaborating with brand evangelists for added promotions and reaching new audiences • Finding out new market links/places where Aranya could go and exhibit/sell Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 41
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MARKETING TOOL KIT Tools are funny things. If you’re familiar with the problem you need to fix, and you understand how, when, and why to use each tool, they’re incredibly helpful. They save you time and money and help you do a truly professional-quality job. But if you just want to fill a big toolbox full of shiny new tools because you think it’s necessary for some vague reason, they’re a staggering waste of time and money. Every company/organization needs/has a set of marketing tools (story, tag line, motto) using which further marketing is done. These will be the subject or will give direction to all the other marketing activities. This kit is not false/made up but a nicely thought out, well written set of content about the company, what it does and stands for that will help the audience relate to the brand, spread and have an impact.
It is about putting all the details, stories and facts of the brand in creative and attention grabbing words and pictures. It should encompass everything a brand is and stands for, brand’s main selling point, etc in sweet words. Marketing tool kits also help brands themselves understand what they are, what do they want, whether what they are and what they want fall in line or not, what sort of audience do they need to target keeping in mind what they are, etc. v
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Fig. 42
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Munnar, a tea-growing town that lies in a valley hemmed in by hills, and fed by three pure streams of mountain water, is nestled deep in the Kannan Devan hills of Kerala in South India. This perfect heaven for nature lovers is the birth place of Aranya Natural dye project. Aranya gathers the natural bounty that nature discards - leaves, seeds, flowers, nuts - in this beautiful this mist-clad hill station. From these precious gifts of nature, we use traditional techniques to prepare a range of natural dyed fabrics in vivid colours. Aranya’s dream is to provide sustainable livelihoods, through sales of our natural dyed fabrics, for our craftsmen, the differently-abled youngsters of Munnar. Our products are a result of judicious selections made at each and every stage where finest quality natural fabrics are sourced from all over India, keeping in mind only natural fabrics like cotton and silk take natural dye. The SITR Association certifies Aranya’s colours as ‘excellent’ for their fastness that qualifies us for international trading. The obsession with creating true-to-life colours at Aranya extends even to the choice of water. Only Munnar’s natural, unpolluted streams offer a plentiful supply of sparkling, chemical free and crystal clear water - helping create colours of a depth and richness not seen in any urban environment. The entire process of making dye and fabric at Aranya is environment-friendly, from the use of natural raw materials to the sophisticated treatment of wastewater and of residue. We channel our waste water into an effluent treatment tank and recycle it for use in the grading project. The residue of the raw materials used goes into making organic manure or to the paper making unit for making handmade paper. All of this is done along with sophisticated machinery giving a good finish to our products. Quality is not just another watchword for us at Aranya. It is woven into every step of the process.
STORY OF ARANYA Aranya Natural has had a very interesting journey of growth, learning and unlearning up till now. Their story is very inspiring, motivating and makes people want to know more about it. Being a very peculiar set-up - Aranya’s story can be used as a marketing tool to connect with the audience on an emotional level, tell them that such a place exists and make them more curious. The story had to be written in a way that grabs the audiences attention and tells them, makes them want to come see Aranya and know more.
While Aranya Natural’s products are undoubtedly gifts of nature, they are also a tribute to the human spirit. Aranya Natural has grown at a phenomenal pace over the past years. Our success owes everything to our workers. These young people have shown exemplary determination in their endeavour to rise above their challenges, against the odds, and achieve economic self-sufficiency through projects like Aranya. The flair and creativity of our differently-abled workers has found expression in a magical array of products, earning the appreciation of discerning clientele around the world. Every product mirrors their personal involvement and dedication. Collecting the discards of nature and extracting their vibrant colours has in turn added colour, joy and prosperity to their lives. Aranya invites all of you to visit out workshop, meet our team of dedicated workers, view our processes, get a feel of our products, and experience first hand magic of Aranya with the backdrop of the beautiful hill town of Munnar.
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MOTTO
TAGLINE
Aranya whole-heartedly believes in and practices that what they take/use from nature should go back to it and that no cycle should be disturbed. Everything at Aranya - the raw materials, fabrics, dyes are all natural and environment friendly. All the water that is used for dyeing is fully treated at their water treatment plant on campus and then re-used for dyeing or farming. The solid remains from dye extractions are transferred to the compost pit on campus and later used as an organic fertilizer for their garden and farms. All of this is a major part of what Aranya stands for and believes in. Also in todays times and lifestyle the whole concept of minimum waste, sustainability, Eco friendly, indigenous, all-natural, etc are values that people look out for and gravitate towards. Therefore the motto of Aranya was derived from the above understanding and reasoning. Along with providing sustainable livelihoods to the differently-abled of Munnar, Aranya Natural believes and stays true to their motto “What Comes from Nature goes Back to Nature�
The number one strength of Aranya is that it has and is creating a vision and model of how the world could be and can be. With persistence and consistency in their high quality of materials and techniques and innovative designs - Aranya is both socially and ecologically viable. It works towards making the world a better place by following an environment friendly process - setting examples along with providing sustainable economies to the differently-abled. There aren’t many examples where your eyes are happily satisfied and at the same time it is good for your soul. Hence the derived tagline Eye Candy that is Soul Food
People today want to be socially and ecologically aware, help out and work towards it. Slowly the market is becoming aware of things they purchase, how they are made, who makes them and where are they made. Aranya being a place where you get to see and know everything makes it an ideal place for people who are in search of such products. Therefore this becomes a good marketing tool to reach out to more audiences by spreading the word and letting people know what Aranya is. • This marketing tool kit can be used in different marketing activities that Aranya will do, exampleon brochures, tags, social media marketing, etc. This will be the crux of all the marketing activities and content of Aranya. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 43
Fig. 43.1
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PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS Online campaigns, social media, TV ads are all frequently used channels to engage with consumers, and often promotional merchandise/ products are forgotten or undervalued. However, it’s important to recognize how these can really help with your company’s branding and go hand in hand with your marketing strategy. It invokes brand loyalty in over three times as many recipients as the effects of the mediums of web, direct mail and TV. Unlike other forms of marketing, these products have longevity and can take your brand in to the real world resulting in increased brand awareness for both the person using the product and those around the recipient. When choosing products, it’s important to be creative and consider your client’s brand values and how this can be translated in to meaningful promotional products.
Munnar being a very popular tourist location for both the Indian and foreign crowd - Aranya is highly influenced by the same. Many tourists come to Aranya to see the whole unit and process, and are then led to the Outlet to have a look and buy the products of Aranya. People coming to the outlet include tourists from all over the world - backpackers, family travelers, solo travelers, travel bloggers, etc. Purchases at the outlet happen based on their likes-dislikes, affordability, etc. Some of the purchases also happen because of catharsis- after seeing the whole unit’s process, story, the cause and kind of people involved; the audience connects to and feels good about the whole brand and its products and makes purchases in that emotion. Understanding and keeping in mind this whole emotion certain products were created to - make it easier for the people coming to Aranya connect easily with the brand - to strengthen the emotion and bond - help promote and spread a word about Aranya Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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BROCHURE • All the tourists who come to visit Aranya are taken around the whole unit by one of the artisans who speak Tamil, Malayalam and basic broken English only. A lot of the tourists many a times do not understand what the artisans are explaining due to various language problems and loose interest or don’t really feel the connection. •Aranya also goes for a lot exhibitions where most of them do not know the background story of Aranya, the cause it works for, etc lacking in making an emotional bond with the audience in this case.
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Therefore having a small brochure that gives an overall brief information on Aranya that will help establish a bond with the audience at Aranya as well as those away from Aranya. At the unit these brochures can be kept at the entrance for those who may have problems understanding, at exhibitions these can be given along with the products purchased. • These Brochures can also be distributed at popular hotels and visiting places of Munnar along with other tourism related brochures and pamphlets where people who do not know even about the existence of Aranya can have easy access to the brochures and then come visit Aranya. This will help get more people to come to Aranya and in turn help with sales.
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POSTCARDS Again tourists being one of the major audiences of Aranya in Munnar at their outlet, Postcards will be a fun way to help spread a word about Aranya. The Postcards will have eye catchy images of - Aranya - Working process - Raw materials - Some postcards that are block printed with actual paste and blocks of Aranya, etc. Along with all the above mentioned, there will also be a small write up about Aranya, social media handles, etc to help promote Aranya - on the back side of the card. • A lot of the foreigners like to buy postcards as souvenirs and give them to friends and family. • Many solo and backpack travelers also send postcards to their friends and families from the different places they visit. This is very popular among the foreign travelers. • They are also very good fridge decorators. Fig. 44
Some of the postcards can be printed only on the back and the front ones can be plain. The customers can be given an option of choosing the blocks they want on them and can be printed immediately and given. This adds another interactive element to Aranya’s PRs along with the tour of the unit. It will also be a very creative way of spreading word about Aranya Natural when other people receive the postcards. People who buy many products from the outlet can be offered to print their own postcards as complementary service thus creating good relations with the audience.
These postcards - can be sold in packs of 5 or so, - can be kept along with stamps at the cash counter in a box that says ‘send one home’, ‘tell your friends & family about your experience here’, etc. - can be given for free to loyal customers or people who make good amount of purchases. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 45
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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Social media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. It plays a huge role in promoting a brand, specially in today’s digital age where people are more closely connected on social media than in real life. It is also a medium where the effort and time put in is less comparatively but the amount of people is reach is a lot more. Great marketing on social media can bring remarkable success to your business, creating devoted brand advocates and even driving leads and sales. Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as: • Increasing website traffic • Building conversations • Raising brand awareness • Creating a brand identity and positive brand association • Improving communication and interaction with key audiences
Things kept in mind while defining Aranya’s social media marketing goals were : • What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing? • Who is your target audience? • Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media? • What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?
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Fig. 46
FACEBOOK Aranya already has a Facebook page which is updated once in while. It is very basic and is not well planned or thought out strategically with a solid aim of social media marketing. With the current page -with no planned posts, okay quality of updates and no content planning Aranya still has a decent following. If proper content planning is done while understanding and keeping in mind mentioned goals Aranya can reach much higher goals in terms of their social media marketing.
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Plan of action taken • The existing Facebook page was analyzed and assessed as to what needs to be done. • A fresh photo shoot of their products was done and old low quality pictures were taken down. • Product collections were uploaded - Collections with designers and Aranya’s work both. • All the basic information was updated and the over-all profile was revamped. • All the content that was shared on the page was well thought and planned with respect to the brand language and look of Aranya. • The Facebook and Instagram posts were well coordinated to maintain consistency • Instagram posts were shared on Facebook
Fig. 46.1
The revamped Facebook page focused on getting more attention and reaching out to more people. A photo shoot of all their products was done with the intention of using it for social media. Pictures of many of their product ranges were uploaded and the response was positive. Design collections of previous designers were also uploaded. It was made sure that Aranya displays an array of good quality pictures of their products to reflect the
actual value and effort invested in it. Once the quality of pictures was upgraded and the content was thoughtfully placed, it caught a lot of peoples attention. People who are away from Aranya and cannot visit it frequently got to see and experience Aranya digitally. They got to see a wide range of their products and responded with appreciation and placed orders as well. Instagram posts were shared on facebook as well to keep both of them connected and updated. Lot
of the posts & updates were co-ordinated as well. As Aranya is not just a product manufacturer but a complete experience - displaying just their products would not justify its social media presence. Hence the aim of the revamp was to give the viewer a digital experience of what Aranya is, what it stands for and the emotion & thought behind all of it so that the approachability factor is is solved to some level.
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Fig. 47
Aranya’s Instagram profile was created as todays most trending social media application is Instagram. Every one has a profile and is pretty active on it. There are many brands, entrepreneurs who have their business profiles on Instagram and have also gained a lot of recognition through it. It is a very easy yet effective way to convey what you want to, plus it also helps you reach a large number 96
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of people in a short span of time. Instagram has becomes todays magazine where people see a lot of content according to their preferences. Pictures of Aranya’s products, their process pictures, raw materials, etc were uploaded to build a personal connection with the audience. Some campaigns based on Aranya’s social causes and efforts were also carried out - where people got
to know more intricate details of Aranya’s social and ecological aims and efforts. Adds of Aranya’s exhibition, coming up collections and products were also made. Instagram is helping Aranya build and strengthen their relations with their customers through much more detailed behind the scenes news, pictures and stories.
Fig. 47.1
INSTAGRAM Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media marketing trends. Instagram’s image centered platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Instagram for social media purposes or sales-driving ads. It has become even more popular than Facebook and is much more visually appealing. Instagram allows businesses to showcase their product offerings while also developing brand personality with eye-catching, unique profiles. When developing your Instagram strategy, it is key to remember that the social network’s primary audience is female. And that being Aranya’s demographic, presence on Instagram is a must!
Plan of action taken • A Business-profile Instagram account was created for Aranya • Visually strong pictures of Aranya’s process, people and work, experts visiting, etc were uploaded consistently • Campaigns were conducted through pictures
and stories for social events like Labour day, who made my clothes revolution, etc • Creative promotions regarding Aranya’s exhibitions and shows were also made • The posts on Facebook and Instagram were co-ordinated in terms of collection uploads and events. • Instagram profiles of different causes, brands and experts in the field same as Aranya were followed and tagged in different pictures to get more publicity so that all of them could notice Aranya and know more about it. • The overall aim of the account was to make people see what Aranya is, make them feel like they are actually visiting and experiencing it live and to showcase Aranya’s products- in turn developing a special bond with the audience
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INSIGHTS AND EFFECTS - FACEBOOK
Fig. 48
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• After the revamp, the facebook profile visually reflected the quality and essence of Aranya and its products - which it did not before. • Because of which a larger number of people started noticing it and started becoming curious to know more about what they do and have. • Referring to the two images on the left - In just 2-3 months the number increased visibly. • Seeing the good quality product images, there were a significant amount of messages asking for ordering the products and many orders were placed as well. • It also did good marketing for Aranya, where a lot of people asked if they could keep Aranya’s products at their store, place big orders, etc. • Overall, the changes made regarding the content, high quality - well shot pictures of products and otherwise, well thought content, etc made a significant positive change to the sales and marketing part. If done by a professional person Aranya can reach much higher targets.
INSIGHTS AND EFFECTS - INSTAGRAM
Fig. 48.1
Co-ordinating facebook and instagram with very well thought content and target audience can lead to a great marketing tactic. You have direct access to people from anywhere and anytime. The small-small changes made to Aranya’s social media accounts has shown significant results in terms of marketing and increase in sales.
• It was time Aranya had an Instagram account, Instagram being one of the most used and popular social medias of the time. • It turned out to be a good medium for Aranya to share and market what they are and have as Instagram is mostly visual and very little text. • It helped Aranya showcase the beautiful place they are in and the beautiful products they create with the beautiful people. • Aranya has around 400 followers in just 4 months. It is interesting to see a wide variety of people following Aranya. Aranya’s content being on ecological and social contexts- grabs a lot of attention. • It has also brought in a lot of new online customers and well-wishers and marketed Aranya to people doing similar work. • Instagram also gives a lot of statistical insights in terms of the kind of people following you, their age, etc - that helps you plan your content and target accordingly. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 49
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EVANGELISM MARKETING Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word-of-mouth marketing in which companies & organizations develop customers who believe strongly in a particular product or service that they try to convince others to buy and use it for free. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on company’s behalf. Evangelist customers spread their recommendations and recruit new customers out of pure belief, not for the receipt of goods or money. Rather, the goal of the customer evangelist is simply to provide benefit to other individuals. As they act independently, evangelist customers often become key influencers. The fact that evangelists are not paid or associated with any company make their beliefs perceived by others as credible and trustworthy. Evangelism comes from the three words of ‘bringing good news’, and the marketing term draws from the religious sense, as consumers are driven by their beliefs in a product or service, which they preach in an attempt to convert others Evangelism marketing is a good method of marketing for Aranya - as Aranya is what it is today
because of the contributions of many experts from different fields. It also has a lot of well-wishers and loyal customers that (not professionally but) do influence a lot of people to support and purchase products from Aranya. The staff of Aranya itself says that word-of-mouth has been their only marketing in the initial years and helps them a lot even now. They are very proud about that aspect of their sales. Hence keeping in mind all this and Aranya’s location and way of life - having different evangelists promote Aranya and its products will give strength to their already existing word-ofmouth set up. How it works Brand evangelists do what they do mainly through different social medias where they can easily reach a good number of people also share views through comments and replies. Platforms like Instagram, Youtube and blogs are the best for the same. Evangelists either come across the brand themselves and really love it or brands contact them knowing the kind of stuff they promote or like - send them their products and then they
share their experience, why they like it, etc in a well written thoughtful text supported by pictures. Youtubers include the brand’s products in their videos in different creative ways or mention it in their monthly favourites/hauls. This way evangelists indirectly create an urge amongst the people to check out that product and know more about it.
Plan of action taken • Existing evangelists were looked at and analyzed • Kind of evangelists needed to reach different audiences were decided and found on different social medias like Instagram and Youtube. • Evangelists were contacted and discussions are going on if they are interested, if so then how will it work, etc.
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Existing evangelists Since Aranya Natural has only been expanding in terms of publicity through word of mouth, it has some very loyal evangelists since the beginning. There are many such people who come to Aranya - love it and then go back, spread the word and send more people to experience the same. A lot of these people have also become loyal customers along with evangelists. Out of all of them there are a few people who have played and still continue to play a major role in Aranya’s word-of-mouth marketing. Yoshiko Wada is one of Aranya’s major contributors along with a very loyal evangelist. She runs the Slow Fiber Studio, CA and is a part of the World Shibori Symposium. She is the one who has taught Aranya a lot about Shibori and taken Aranya to higher levels by making them attend different conferences, seminars, workshops. She also has a textile tour to India every year where she brings a group of people - textile artists, designers, learning enthusiasts,etc to India. One of the stops on her tour is at Aranya. This is one of the major workshops Aranya conducts. With the kind of people who come there - the sales and word-ofmouth marketing both are booming. Jane Smiley is a textile and craft enthusiast from 102
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the USA. She loves traveling around India and Sri Lanka discovering interesting places and then helping them grow. She came to Aranya around 10 years back and has been associated since. She visits twice a year, spends sometime at Aranya deciding what kind of products she wants and while they are being crafted, she helps with their Outlet and setting it up in an appealing manner having some experience in sales. She decides the colour and material of the products she is buying from Aranya and takes them back home. She has these small tea parties or get-togethers where she invites people and tells them about all the different places she visited and then they buy them from her. She also visits a few yoga centers in India where she tells people she meets about Aranya. Many people have come because of her reviews. This way she is marketing as well as making sales happen for Aranya. Then there is Maiwa - who along with purchasing, helps promote Aranya and encourages its artisans to achieve a lot more. Just like the above mentioned there are many other indirect evangelists who benefit Aranya on similar lines.
Fig. 50.1
This was one of the articles that got posted after Aranya contacted Your Story for a feature as part of the evangelism. During the process of the article being published - there are a lot of back and forth processes. For the evangelist and Aranya to be on the same page takes a while. Some evangelists take a long time to reply back to the request itself. This is the only draw back of this process. Fig. 50
Mapping new evangelists • Already having a well established indirect evangelists network, Aranya now needs to concentrate on direct evangelism marketing to take it to the next level and do it more effectively. This will involve jotting out different types of people who will benefit Aranya, who are on different medias, geographical areas, professions, etc. • It was all mapped out and then the selected evangelists were contacted. The process of making all this work out is still on.
Evangelists who were chosen, out which at the moment some have been contacted and things are in process : Youtube and Instagram • Sejal Kumar • Sherry Shroff • Shruti Arjun Anand • Aakriti Sachdev • Arabi • Anusha • Pooja • Life_in_a_saree • sareesandstories
Blogs and Websites • Scoop Whoop • Buzzfeed India • POPxO • Your Story • Lifeandtrends.com
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MARKET EXPANSION After studying Aranya’s market, production rhythm, production capacity and behavior towards exhibitions as well as response received from it, the following inferences were drawn • Consistent production cannot happen all year round making things like affiliate marketing, store additions, etc difficult where similar products need to be supplied regularly. • Being under a trust, a lot of limitations come in terms of expenses. Places where high commission is to be given Eg- Ogaan, affiliate shops, etc - it puts them in a fix and hence they avoid doing it. Places like this sell all their products at very high price - not ensuring a good buy - Aranya’s main motive is to make good sales and pay the differently-abled artisans. • Aranya also lacks managerial staff to manage so many things. With just 2-3 people managing everything other than crafting fabrics - it is already very hectic and difficult to manage the current work. Therefore they don’t really try venturing into new markets. • They work the most efficiently with exhibitions. The production is planned and executed very smoothly and is do able with their current number of staff. Its a two-month program and done. Need not be consistent. • Basically when everything is in Aranya’s control and they don’t have to communicate and manage with other people outside Srishti - they do a very good job with it, compared to when other people start getting involved. • The response they get at exhibitions is way 104
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nicer compared to when they put their products on Jaypore, Ohkai or iTokri. It is also because at exhibitions the story of Aranya is conveyed more effectively that at other places where Aranya is just one part of a lot of brands together. • E-Commerce is another market option that will help Aranya expand immensely in terms of sales. The sales that they make from Facebook itself are pretty decent - having an e-commerce website will take them to the next level. -Though it is a really good option for Aranya to venture into, it is also a very far shot. Due to the weather conditions, operating the website from Munnar is difficult - good internet connection is need. It will not be possible with the current number of staff - new staff needs to be appointed to make the work easier and sorted - at least someone to just work with the online marketing. Certain changes to production will also have to be made to support E-commerce. From the points mentioned above, it is clear that from all the market expansion options (opening more outlets, Exhibitions, affiliate marketing, Online affiliates and E-commerce) - Exhibitions or rather the whole concept of just Aranya’s products selling at a place on a large scale - works best for Aranya. Therefore Aranya should now concentrate on working out more exhibitions in their yearly schedule - not all in a go but at least step by step slowly start increasing them.
ANNUAL EXHIBITIONS
There are mainly 2 kinds of exhibitions Aranya can and does attend : - Organized by some one (a committee or organization)
January
February
March
April
Peak time at the Outlet because of the tourist season and production is also in full swing. International conferences & seminars attended if any. Aranya has done one stand alone exhibition in February
May
June
July
- Stand alone exhibitions - Where brands book a place Lean time due to weather. International conferences & seminars attended if any.
August
September Design One, Mumbai /
Heimtextile India, Mumbai
October
having many participants, each brand at an individual stall (Eg- Paramparik Karigar). These exhibitions take place annually and are on the larger scale where many brands come together under one umbrella. These are good in a way that Aranya gets to see whats in trend, catch up with the changing market and lifestyles and learn new things from other brands in terms of sales and marketing. Also have customers of other brands also come see Aranya’s work. Aranya does not have to concentrate on any other thing other than the production and basic marketing for these exhibitions. These exhibitions already have good value in the audience from a very long time and hence bringing people to it is not a problem. Also since Aranya has been attending some exhibitions religiously every year - it has developed many loyal customers and evangelists there.
Paramparik Karigar, Mumbai
November SUTRA, Kolkata /
100 Hands, Bangalore
December 100 Hands, Cochin
for a certain time in different cities and exhibit their products for sale. Here the exhibit includes just the brand alone. They take place in different cities at studios, halls, hotels or locations which specialize in such exhibitions & where many brands rent it to set up their exhibit. Exhibits of these kind help a brand cater different kinds of audiences depending on what location and place you choose. It helps in developing new customer relationships & get a wider understanding of the market. As a brand you grow more internally with stand alone exhibits than compared to umbrella exhibitions. Aranya does not have a lot of experience in this and has done only one such exhibition for which they got a good response. It was a learning process & it turned out to benefit them in many ways. Aranya should now try to incorporate more of such exhibitions than umbrella exhibitions which will in turn help them grow as a brand, target different kinds of audiences in different cities and locations and gather more customers - therefore increasing market reach and sales. The only thing here is, Aranya will have to do everything here from finding a place, overall branding, marketing, PR to managing everything -It is very much capable of doing it. Marketing is key here to bring in people. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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After understanding the above, a list of places where Aranya could further venture into and exhibit their work was made. Organized Exhibitions
Stand Alone Exhibitions
Craft Entrepreneur Craft Council of India - Chennai
The Vintage Garden Mumbai
Pause for a cause Bangalore
Rain Tree, Bangalore
Craft Revival Trust Ritu Sethi
Bougainvillea Creative Veranda Ahmedabad
Natural Dye Bazaar Craft Council of India The Saree Festival, Chennai All of the options given above are just different pathways/ kick starters for Aranya to begin their journey towards expansion. Based on their journey till now, Aranya should now start investing a little more in terms of staff and money and start doing stand-alone exhibitions. This will give them a real idea of where they stand in the market and will do them much better than the organised exhibitions. They should start planing their events for the year before hand and prepare accordingly. This will help them plan the production and other marketing activities.
As Aranya has not ventured out a lot in to many cities other than the ones where they have already attended organised exhibitions, those cities only should be their starting points for stand alone exhibitions as they know the kind of market there and how they respond. It will be easier for them to plan the marketing strategies as they are familiar with the kind of people there and can judge what should be done and what should not be done in these cities than compared to venturing out into new ones. They can start with this for beginners and grow as they learn.
Ahmedabad Kolkata
Mumbai
Bangalore
Cochin
Munnar
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SYNTHESIS Keeping in mind the main aim of Aranya - to improve sales and expand their market, a textile collection for the same was to be designed. All the techniques at Aranya had been explored by previous designers and were faring well for Aranya. More than upgrading/taking one of Aranya’s techniques to the next level, I thought adding a fresh technique or a new process will help them upgrade their set of skills and also get a fresh product range. Since 22 years Aranya’s audience had been seeing different products with the same group of techniques - having a new technique will add some freshness and excitement, and also pull in new audiences thus improving sales and expanding market. Also creating Aranya’s brand image and helping market it, gave a fair idea about what products work well, kind of colours, what people want to see, what should work well, preferences of customers, etc. After assessing all the techniques, Batik came out to be the one that is least explored and less exposed to the market as one of Aranya’s techniques. This was a good opportunity to explore more possibilities as to how I could make it unique to Aranya, while adding to Aranya’s set of skills at the same time creating opportunities for market expansion. Block batik being very common and as Aranya was already practicing it on a decent scale - I decided to explore hand painted Batik after some research and thinking. It is not something that is done a lot in India at least and has a lot of possibilities to satisfy the points mentioned above.
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Ha
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- P ai n
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Bat
i k
- Introduction - Batik set-up - Aranya - Steps of the Batik process - Approach
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BATIK - HISTORY AND RELEVANCE Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resist with a copper or wooden block/ stamp. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired. A tradition of making batik is found in various countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Nigeria.
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Basic Technique Firstly, a cloth is washed, soaked and beaten with a large mallet. Patterns are drawn with pencil and later redrawn using hot wax, usually made from a mixture of paraffin or beeswax, sometimes mixed with plant resins, which functions as a dye-resist. The wax can be applied with a variety of tools. A pen-like instrument called a canting. A tjanting is made from a small copper reservoir with a spout on a wooden handle. The reservoir holds the resist which flows through the spout, creating dots and lines as it moves. For larger patterns, a stiff brush may be used. Alternatively, a copper block stamp called a cap is used to cover large areas more efficiently. After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by boiling or scraping the cloth. The areas treated with resist keep their original colour; when the resist is removed the contrast between the dyed and un-dyed areas forms the pattern. This process is repeated as many times as the number of colours desired.
In India, the roots of Batik can be traced to the 1st century AD. Traditionally, the Khatri community of Gujarat were the only set of artisans for this art. Over a period of time, Batik got relegated to the background in India. However in the 20th century, Batik was introduced as part of the syllabus in the University of Shanti Niketan – Kolkata. Thereon, the resurgence of Batik began.
Present Day Scenario It is believed that the finest Batik designs in India come from the artisans of Cholamandalam near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Batik printing is also done in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. It is traditionally done on cotton and silk. Apart from the fabric used and the diversity in designs, there are four different techniques of making a Batik printed piece of cloth: • The splash method – In this process, the wax is splashed over the fabric in a random fashion and then the dye is poured. This results in a virtual explosion of random designs and colours. • The block printing process – This method involves the use of a block/stencil to etch the designs in an orderly and defined manner. • The hand painting method – This process essentially uses the art of Kalamkari to draw the designs using wax. The splash method and block printing method are very common in India and done by a lot of brands and local sellers. What is rare to see is the hand painting method. Hand painting specially with wax is a very tedious and skill-full task. It has almost stopped in India and you rarely see it. This again came out to me as a good opportunity to explore. Simplifying the technique a bit, doing it in a different way and bringing hand painted batik back will make Batik come out as one of Aranya’s techniques with added uniqueness.
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Fig. 53
• The whole batik set up/ working space looks like this. The wax bath in the middle for both of the artisans to access it easily. • Sand preparing before printing - As batik involves printing with hot wax - it cannot be printed on a fabric or wooden base as the wax will seep through and act as an adhesive between the surface and the fabric. Therefore to ensure smooth printing and the fabric not sticking to the surface - it is printed on semi-wet sand - This way once the printing is done, it is very easy to carry out the further processes as very little sand stays on the fabric and also helps the fabric not stick to the surface. Therefore everyday morning the sand is mixed with water, nicely loosened out and then made flat on to the printing table just like icing is spread on a cake.
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Wax Bath - kept on a three side closed metal frame to keep the flame safe from the blowing wind and to also elevate the bath from the burner.
Tool used to prepare and flatten the wet sand before starting the printing.
BATIK SET UP AT ARANYA
Fig. 53.1
All the tools in use are kept accessible on the center table.
Extra tools, big tools to open up the sand and prepare it once a week, masks, cello tape, chalks etc - things that are not used that often are kept here.
The batik set-up at Aranya is not completely a traditional one. They have improvised and made it their own according to their needs and comforts. Since Batik is one of the techniques that is done on a smaller level than the other techniques - the set up is also the same. They have two tables filled with sand, the wax bath is an aluminum vessel placed on a frame that is over a gas flame. All of this and the tools are kept on a small table between the two printing tables. This small table also has all the tools and blocks in use kept on it. It is basically a side working desk. They use a cylinder for the gas and need to keep changing it every 2 weeks. On both the tables the artisans sit on the side to which their working hand can access the wax bath directly and easily. Usually only one table is in function as there is only one permanent batik artist. The other is used when there is a lot of batik work to be finished where one of the block printers also start doing batik. There is just one artisan as again batik is not one of Aranya’s main techniques. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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3
1
Batik printed fabric is soaked in water for a while, and then evenly treated with Myrobalan for certain dyes -
Marking the design on to the fabric with a pink/purple chalk only
Fig. 55
Fig. 54
Fig. 56
Fig. 57
2
BATIK PROCESS
Printing/painting with hot wax on the fabric referring to the markings and then keeping it for a day to cool completely
Fig. 58
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5
After dyeing, two days later the fabric is de-waxed in boiling soap water. The fabric is thoroughly dipped 4-5 times in 3 different vessels to ensure complete de-waxing.
Fig. 59
Fig. 60
Fig. 61
Fig. 63
6
4
It is then thoroughly washed in cold water to remove all the residues. It is also held against natural light to check for wax - if any then repeat dewaxing. Then dried & ironed.
- or dyed directly if the dye does not need Myrobalan. Dyeing with Batik is slower as warm/cold dyes are used.
Fig. 62
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HAND PAINTED BATIK Hand painted batik is actually the authentic form of the art. It is still practiced in parts of Indonesia but very rare in India. It is the process of painting fabrics with wax using different kinds of traditional tools. These fabrics take a lot of time to craft - specially if small, intricate patterns are involved. Also all these traditional hand painters have been doing it all their life and have years and years of experience to get that kind of finish and speed.
Current scenario at Aranya At Aranya they have been practicing only block print batik, that too on a very small scale when compared to their other techniques. They use wooden blocks for the same. As Aranya does block printing with natural colours as well Majority of the blocks in their library are for the natural colour printing and some of them are used for batik. The blocks that are used for batik can be used for natural colour printing but not viceversa as the wooden blocks crack up in the hot wax bath. So they don’t really make blocks only for batik as it is not a technique they do as much as natural block print. This makes the amount of design patterns for their batik very limited. Batik isn’t one of their key techniques as of now. The batik fabrics at Aranya are very basic and limited when compared to fabric made from shibori and natural block print. 118
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Fig. 64
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DESIGN PROCESS Why?
Approach
Hand painted batik was chosen to come out with a textile collection/s as it is catering to all the aims Aranya has • It is helping Aranya grow as person - adding another skill to their work profile and helping Artisans learn something new • Upgrading batik to the next level and helping it grow as a technique for Aranya • Shifting from the mundane and very common look of block batik • Adding some freshness to their products • Expanding Aranya’s offerings to the market in terms of techniques • Thus increasing market reach and sales as it is a new technique.
As Aranya and their artisans had no experience in doing freehand work, initiating hand painting required a thought out process in terms of how things are going to go about - as it will have to be started from square one. The basic approach was : 1. Understanding the artisan’s existing skills and capability 2. Starting off with basic hand-painting along with simple tools 3. Seeing how and how much the artisans are becoming familiar with the process 4. Then planning the next step and the possibilities of a textile collection
A full proof plan could not be made as it was a trial and error process, and also very much based on how the artisans respond. Therefore only a rough guideline could be decided. Introducing a new technique is always a go with the flow process as you need to improvise according to the responses and results of each trial and error.
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De
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Pro
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- Inception - Stage 1 - Collection 1 - Iyarkai - Stage 2 - Collection 2 - Malar - Challenges and experiences
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INCEPTION OF THE IDEA When the whole idea of initiating hand-painted batik was finalized, I did not know where and how to start. There was only one artisan doing batik at Aranya named Bala who is hearing and speech impaired. I knew very little Tamil and had never had a close experience with a hearing and speech impaired person before. To begin, I started helping Bala with his block batik - to become familiar with each other and understand his basic way of working, his sign language, decided signs for certain words, his capacity, etc. Basically to start developing a good understanding of each other. While helping him with block batik, I gave my inputs on different placements of blocks, we chose the combination of blocks together - then he would tell me ‘no this block isn’t nice, it blots’, I would say no lets try and like that we started having a better level of expressional conversations and were getting better at conveying what we wanted to say understanding each other’s signs. When I brought a block that was used only for printing, he would express “ No no that is only for natural colour printing don’t use it”, and then the day Peter (head block printer) would be absent he would bring the block himself (with a “Shh don’t tell anyone 124
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smiling face”) to print with. He would express “ Peter keeps shouting at me a lot, ‘why are you using these blocks’, so I say no, but today he wont even know, come lets print.” I did not want to straight away go and start off with the new technique as A. Bala being speech and hearing impaired wouldn’t be able to understand me as much as he would if we knew each other a little bit. B. I wouldn’t be able convey my inputs as efficiently without understanding his way of expressing things and how he works. C. Along with initiating a new technique I also wanted it to be a holistic learning experience for both of us and that wouldn’t happen with just me giving inputs. Fig. 65 Since there were two batik tables. I would work on one and Bala on his own table. This helped Bala slowly learn from what I was doing, get inspired and also get ideas himself as well. From time to time he would share his ideas saying what if we do this, etc..
Fig. 65
Therefore once the bond started developing and we started having fun working with each other I mentioned to him about my idea of starting to paint on fabric with wax. His response was “ Ya Ya, I saw some students in a workshop at Aranya do it but they did something random (with ‘ they did not know what they were doing’ face), but we’ll do something nice. I was very happy to know that he was completely willing to learn and was excited as well. He also showed me that fabric that the students had painted. It had not so nice flowers made with brush strokes. I asked him if he has done something similar before - he expressed that no, I just use a big brush to make corrections on a block batik print or to completely fill a fabric with wax. I asked him to show me the brushes he had - they were these big paint brushes. Along
with the paint brushes he also dug deep to show me these traditional hand painting batik tools. I asked him if he has ever used them - He laughed and expressed “what useless tools these are, wax leaks from every where and I cant even stop it.. Useless.” We again tried using them then - they were too old and damaged to be painted with. Then I expressed to him that “ Okay, I’ll bring some brushes tomorrow, we’ll do something and try it out.” He responded saying “ Yes Yes, bring - But don’t bring brushes with this hair (showing me the big brush he had which had artificial hair) - Bring the ones with real hair.” The kind of excitement he showed was very motivating and made me look forward to the whole process. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 66
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STAGE ONE : GOING WITH THE FLOW Since Bala had some experience with using brushes - I thought it would be a good tool to begin with. I got some normal Camlin paint brushes in different sizes and shapes. We both took small pieces of fabrics and tried out the brushes - Just painting random brush strokes and lines to see how the brush was behaving with wax. What I noticed when we were painting lines was that Bala’s hand had become very stiff printing with block everyday. It lacked that flow that was there in my hand. His strokes were very forced and did not come naturally - It was because he never drew or painted as such and just did block batik from years which did not require any handflexibility. So then I realized before we actually start - Bala’s hands need to get used to the brush, understand how to hold it and then paint with it. He also couldn’t handle the fabric and brush together, the fabric kept gathering with some brush strokes, kept moving here and there. So to understand how to combine and do all of it together was key. Then we just took some fabric and I told him to paint straight lines all over, with equal line quality and distance (Keeping in mind that Batik’s specialty is the little imperfections that give it its
beauty - therefore not aiming at achieving super straight lines - but to achieve a certain level of finesse and even work). When one piece of fabric was done - it was not working, did not look finished/appealing - the lines weren’t continuous, he couldn’t use the brush properly, wax was blotting at various places, fabric kept gathering disturbing the flow of the lines, etc. Because I could not talk to him verbally and vice versa - it was getting a little difficult to communicate. I used to just tell him - this isn’t right, why is it blotting, its not even - try doing it better - but it wouldn’t help us. I was trying to find a way to make him understand how to do it. I was sitting with the Shibori unit in their cabin just thinking how to explain Bala. Majority of the Shibori artisans are also hearing & speech impaired - What I noticed there was - how one artisan was explaining to the other about a certain shibori technique - she was explaining each and every thing through gestures step by step in detail - only hand gestures. And there I found a solution. We took another fabric and I explained to Bala I’ll do it step by step you just see how I’m doing it carefully.
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Fig. 67
So then I set up the fabric and the brushes and we started. I made sure I repeated each and every step in detail- twice. I did a step & asked him - saw? and then did it again and explained him - this finger like this, other hand like this, you turn your hand this way and not the other way, etc. Each and every detail like - how to hold the fabric with the other hand, - how to hold the brush in different ways to get different kinds of line quality, - how to roll around the brush to not get blots, - placement of fingers to judge the alignment of lines and to keep them straight in a line - what worked better standing and painting or sitting, etc He then gave it another shot, and yes explaining that process in the way I did, helped. We kept going back and forth on the me explaining and then him doing bit till he understood everything 128
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Fig. 67.1
right. He did understand it better and was getting there. Throughout this whole process we stopped doing block batik to help make Bala’s hand get out of that rigidness and not forget the new movement. We then shifted to a bigger piece of fabric. I told Bala to just continue with painting the lines until he was confident which was for around two weeks. There were points where he would get frustrated and be like what is this, it’s not nice, I don’t like it. He would tell me why are you doing this making irritated faces, I would then explain to him Its okay, go slow, we’ll get there slowly and keep him motivated. Fig 67 and 67.1 are one of the initial samples of Bala. We did our trials on stoles and not on trial fabrics as Aranya was against letting any fabric go waste intentionally. The stole made from trial samples turned out be decent enough to be sold at the outlet.
INITIAL SAMPLES
Wavy lines turning into wavy checks . Beginning and ending point of strokes - the overlaps visible in a not so visually pleasing way, kind of making it look kiddish.
Bala was not able to draw long strokes in one go initially resulting in more than two overlaps in one line of around half a meter - giving it a very unfinished or a rough look. The lines were not coming out on equal distances- were going up down, crooked, uneven gap - not getting the finesse we were aiming for.
Fig. 67.2
When we started hand painting these were one of the first samples he painted. From here I realized I needed to concentrate giving detailed inputs to help him get on with the technique and grasp it better. That along with some good practice to loosen the hand, some basic technicalities were to be fixed and cleared out.
Fig. 67.4
Fig. 67.3
The overlaps started getting better with time. But the line spacing and wavy crooked lines was still something that need to be worked on. We kept trying different ways to help learn to correct that. I also understood that a lot of this will come through with some time and practice as the artisan had no prior brush experience and was learning it for the first time.
When we started trying longer lines the line quality and spacing started getting better but the overlaps were still there. That needed to be worked on. It was happening because of keeping the brush at that one point for too long resulting in more absorption of wax. All these things were learnt over time with trials and rectifications. It involved understanding the medium and how it behaves to achieve the wanted result.
Fig. 67.5
Fig. 67.6
The aim was obviously not to achieve super straight scale lines keeping in mind the technique and its qualities - but to reach to a certain level of finesse and of being very comfortable & fluent with the basics so that the artisan is equipped to do both the look that is coming out now with imperfections if needed and good quality lines as well. Once the base is strong, the kind of line quality could be played with any time. The main aim was to achieve that line quality and then move forward building up with the base being cemented. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Big Brush This was an existing tool used to paint the fabric with wax completely.
Cardboard Stencil This tool was introduced to play around with blocking the fabric and creating shapes. The two circle clamps of Aranya are used for the sizes.
Flat border Brush This was an existing tool used to paint the borders of stoles and sometimes to fill in lines/blocks
Size 6 brush This brush was used for the florals in the second collection
Size 10 brush This tool is the holy grail in this whole process. It is moulded (hence the bend) according to the artisan’s preference by the artisan and is used to paint the lines and checks. 130
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Egg Beater This tool was discovered in a utensil stole when I was purchasing the steel wool and ended up being one of the unique and interesting amongst all the tools
Medium Flat brush It was an existing old brush with hard hair but was not used for anything. It was a very good tool to get rough strokes and for splatters as well.
Steelwool / Metal scotchbrite This one was introduced as it gave a very interesting texture and works well with wax, giving a texture with depth. It is cheap and easily available as well. Steel glass We wanted to achieve circle impressions on the fabric and did that with the cardboard round present inside a cello tape. That cardboard was very difficult to hold while dipping in the wax and being paper used to foam a lot. Hence found a solution with the glass that gave better impression than the cardboard.
Fig. 68
While Bala was getting better and faster with his lines with regular practice - I started thinking as to what else could be done other than brush strokes. I did not want to do traditional batik and wanted to have a unique touch to it. I decided on using some unusual tools to get some different textures and patterns. We collected things like a plastic Scotchbrite, metal Scotchbrite, egg beater, an old glass, coir brush, tape and waste cardboard paper along with the different brushes we had. We tried all the new tools and understood what worked and what did not - The plastic scotchbrite did not work as the plastic was partially melting in the hot wax - The coir brush was damaging the fabric, pulling threads out - What worked was the metal scotchbrite, egg beater, the old glass, tape and cardboard for stencils. Along with these tools we also tried out different kinds of brush strokes - splatters, huge raw abstract strokes, etc. We also tried combining paper stencils and tape with the textures to get some variety.
I would try the tools myself first, understand them and then would tell Bala to try them out with me assisting him - then I would ask him to tell me what was working and why, what was not working and why. All these textures and patterns were also explained the same way to Bala, step by step in detail. Once we figured all that out, I would keep trying different ways to use these tools, textures and strokes. Seeing me paint on fabrics beside him, Bala would also feel inspired, and then tell me - I’ll try this, we can do this as well, etc. Fig 68 - One thing I had to keep in mind while trying out new tools was that it should be of a material that does not melt - as the wax bath is piping hot, it melts plastic and other materials like it.
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Fig. 69
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Fig. 17.1
Fig. 69.19
PLAYING WITH THE TOOLS
BATIK AND NATURAL DYES
Along with the lines practice - when things were on track and only practice was needed, I thought starting with the other tools would be nice instead of waiting till the lines were done. It would also give the artisan some break from the line practice and save time with the whole process. Once we had all the tools - we were trying out different ways we could use it in, how they behaved with the hot wax, just playing with the tools initially to understand their behavior, trying different permutations and combinations to sort of learn and create a library of possible textures. All the possibilities were being tried out without following a certain language or way of doing it - just anything possible that came to our minds. Impressions, strokes, stamps, stenciling, combination of two or more tools, different kinds of placements, overlaps, different weights of strokes, etc were tried out to sort of gauge and understand the kind of different looks that can be achieved through the same. It also helped me understand how comfortable - how much - with what the artisans were. Doing this was also a fun activity that gave a break to the little frustrated artisans from practicing the lines and pumped him up, made him feel inspired, put ideas in his mind as well.
Natural dyes and Wax resist are a very curious combination. Because it involves another ingredient - wax and also because there are other processes involved other than just the dyeing bit - that affect the dyes and fluctuate colours which keep changing depending on the process followed. As natural dyes are very sensitive to different ingredient and heat - they change a lot during the process of batik. It is a little tricky to get the same colours again and again with batik. While playing with the tools, I also started dyeing them side by side to see how natural dyes and batik behave. What I learnt was - As wax is involved, hot dyes & the colours they give cannot be used. Warm & cold dyes are used instead that give different shades of the colours that come from hot dyes. - Alum and wax are a bad combination. Alum fixes the wax on to the fabric making it very difficult to de-wax. Therefore alum mordant colours are not used. - Dyes that need Myrobalan pre-mordanting give patches with batik as cold/warm Myrobalan needs to be used. You need to be very careful in the way you use these colours. - Certain dyes like Catechu, Tea waste and Manjeeshtha change colours while de-waxing
giving some different additions to the colour palette. They are usually turned back to original by an alum wash but can be kept as is as well by not giving the alum wash. - As wax is on the fabric it needs to be dyed with delicate hands to ensure that the wax does not come out a lot. - With hand painted batik the dyeing needs to be more delicate and the wax is not stamped but painted on the fabric. - While de-waxing - it needs to be done properly ensuring that all the wax has come out. Whether wax is out or not is found out by ironing the fabric. It is de-waxed again if there is a lot of wax remaining. But with too much de-waxing the dye starts to fade as well. Therefore when the artisans know that the colour is tricky they add extra soap solution to the de-waxing bath and do a little extra dipping.
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Fig. 70
Fig. 70.1
Fig. 70.2
Fig. 70.3
Fig. 70.4
Fig. 70.5
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I had taken leave on two working days. The day I came back - Bala showed me some stoles - ones that he did completely on his own, his placement and designs using what we learnt all this while. I was surprised and very delighted to see them. His full involvement made this process even more fruitful. Slowly, once he got good with the lines and became familiar with the techniques, he really started enjoying it. He picked up a really good speed with it as well - He could now paint straight lines on 3 stoles of 2 metres each in a day. With time Bala had gotten a really good hold of the brush, he understood and learnt from my inputs and improvised them according to his comfort as well. He learnt his own way of using his fingers to align the lines and keep them even, way of holding and using the brush. We also learnt how to mould the brushes in a good shape. As the brushes had natural hair, they would look like they were being deep fried when dipped
in the hot wax and would open up completely making some of the hair come out and the brush would become very uneven. We tried a few things with it to keep it in good shape and concluded on - pinching the metal tip of the brush with a ply, - frying the brush till it stops foaming in the hot wax, - taking it out, rolling it on paper to give it that proper brush shape while the wax is hot - then letting it cool for a while Once this process was followed, it was like the hair was heat set and then it did not change shape and retained it’s shape till all the hair fell out. Approximately one brush would last for around 2 months. Fig. 70 - 70.5 Surprise! It was a delight to see these stoles made by Bala using the inputs I had given to create his own designs and hand paint them. It gave me validation that the artisans are also enjoying the process and are actually gaining from it. It was a confirmation that I am not forcing this on the artisans and that they are having fun.
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FINALIZED TEXTURES
Fig. 71
Lines and checks
Splatters and sprinkles
Fig. 71.2
Steel wool dabbing
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Fig. 71.1
Fig. 71.3
Steel wool dabbing with a stencil
FINALIZED TEXTURES
Fig. 71.4
Freehand brush strokes
Fig. 71.5
Steel Glass Stamping
Fig. 71.6
Egg beater Stamping
Fig. 71.7
Blocking area with cellotape and then doing freehand brush strokes
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Fig. 72
Fig. 72.1
Once the practice started after detailed explanation of all the technicalities and gestures, a lot of things started falling in place regarding the way of doing a certain thing, improving and adding to what we discovered, Bala himself figuring out his own ways of holding the brush, etc. Fig 72 and Fig 72.1 show how Bala improvised his working set up and how he learnt to use his hand to suit the kind of strokes he was painting. Initially if he were to sit and do the batik work, he would just have one or two chairs, but by adding & having 5 chairs now- the chair to the table height ratio changed and the elevation helped him have 138
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more freedom to lean over the table/fabric and openly spread his hands over the table and work much better. It became easier to paint longer strokes, helped the hands in being steady and also dipping the brush in the wax bath became easier. Fig 72.2 shows how we grew from not even being able to hold the brush according to the kind of stroke wanted to learning how to hold the brush and using the other fingers for judgement of distance and alignment. We also learnt how to use the other hand to help keep the fabric in place and not gather with the moving brush. This whole learning came with trial and error along
Fig. 72.2
with some good practice. The way Bala learnt to use his hands was very impressive. Fig 72.2 very nicely shows the level of comfort he achieved with painting good quality lines at a good speed. Fig 73.1 - After doing two three practice samples, what we realized was that it could become much easier to paint lines with equal distance and proper alignment if a rough grid would be used as the base. Therefore there was a wooden scale at Aranya which was used to draw a lines at a distance which served as a grid and helped a lot by giving the lines much more finesse.
Use of the base grid marking. Also the overlap of brush strokes is now rectified and no more visible - Bala has gained good command over his hand and the brush.
Fig. 73
Wooden scale used to mark the base grid with a chalk. The scale’s width was used as the distance between two grid lines which made the process quick and also ensured equal and straight marking in an easy way.
What we also learnt over time was that while marking with a Chalk - the lighter the marking the better, as sometimes when wax gets over the chalk marking - it stays forever leaving a chalk stain. Also with the chalk colours - the stains were more with the blue chalk than the others. Hence we sticked to only pink chalks for the marking - they came out easily and did not stain the cloth. After the marking, we would also dust away the extra chalk dust to ensure only the needed marking stays.
With reference to Fig 73 the base grid marking is done in the way shown above. The two circle sizes were the same as used for the circle stencils - these two sizes are constant throughout the collection. Once the grid is in place the wax painting starts. The grid ensures perfect paper to fabric design transfer and makes the job easy and fuss free.
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Fig. 74
With reference to Fig 74 and Fig 74.1 the huge brush strokes sort of abstract took sometime for Bala to get along with. When I showed him how to do it - he saw and tried - He dipped the brush in wax and then painted a stroke by just moving the brush from one point to another - like how he was painting the lines. He could not figure out the swift motion needed to get the fast stroke look. We tried the whole explaining in detail and then him trying bit two three times but it wasn’t really helping. I almost felt like holding Bala’s hand and showing him how to do it - But obviously that 140
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would be very weird. For some reason his hand was not able to catch the movement. After many trials not being fruitful - What we did was made the same strokes with our hands on the sand in the batik table. That started helping him understand the frisk you need to give at the end to get that kind of stroke. I also explained to him, its like sweeping with the broom but on the fabric, how you sweep with strokes - just like that. This really helped a lot and he began to slowly catch the movement. The whole movement of first placing the brush at starting point to let wax absorb for a
Fig. 74.1
while and then pulling the stroke out fast - with some more trials and explanations he became familiar and could do them pretty well. Things like this made me go out of the way - think differently in terms of explaining things to the artisan only based on gestures - compare the same thing to something that they already practice in their lives and then maybe help them relate with what we were trying to achieve.
Fig. 75
With reference to the 3 figures on the left - Designs where there were random placements of strokes and patterns, having a proper grid was not an option. Having the artisans to understand that was a little difficult. Working with random placements meant working without a proper grid and meant working with judgement as to how much of what will look good, where what should be put and how much. They were kind of able to do it but then lacked good judgement. Strokes would be uneven, circles would sometimes be placed too close or too far creating weird visual patches, too much of a pattern would be put just in one place, etc. To learn/practice this bit properly, I divided the design into basic grids.
Fig. 75.1
The grids above are for Fig 75 , 75.1 and 75.2 respectively. After dividing the design by the basic grid, it became easier for the artisan to work on it. The judgement bit came along with some practice and after making them understand why it should be a certain way and not how they were doing it. Some basic composition understanding was explained to the artisan through gestures and by painting some designs myself along with detailed explanations.
Fig. 75.2
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Fig. 76
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REALIZATIONS Bala being hearing and speech impaired - no talking involved - was actually turning out to be one of our strengths as all the concentration was only on the gestures and just on how our hands were moving - nothing else. This made the grasping faster and easier. It also made me concentrate on my hand movements while explaining Bala by breaking down each and every small detail - it made me conscious about how I was doing it and why - something that I wouldn’t do otherwise helping me realize and learn a lot as well. I obviously had a basic plan of action in my mind to go ahead with this whole idea. Introducing the technique, practice, building upon it and then developing it into a collection or sorts - But because everything was new to me including the whole technique of communication things were not going exactly as per plan - things-to-do wise yes but a lot of realizations happened later example the detailed explanation which took time and slowed down the process. I realized that going with the flow was working the best (rather than stressing on getting it right as soon as possible was only going to put pressure on the artisan and
make things difficult) - of course with a basic goal plan in mind but not stressing over it and rather concentrating on fully being a part of the whole process because not only was I giving inputs but was also getting many myself because of this new way of communication I was learning. This whole stage was the most crucial part of the process and it was going decide how all of this was going to turn out. Because I was going with the flow and not really stressing on getting it right as soon as possible and also because we did not practice the same technique of communication things would come to a very slow speed sometimes making me wonder what is happening. But at times like this I would get the best ideas to take it forward or get ideas to communicate it better. The learning from Day 1 where he could not complete half a stole in a day that too with bad quality of lines to completing three stoles in a day with very good quality of lines was very impressing and took the process a level up. Once we understood what worked and what looked good, a possibility of a textile collection was sprouting up.
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COLLECTION 1 : As the approach was first to see how the artisans respond to the new technique and then figure out the next step - with the way Bala grasped the new technique and with the kind of patterns and textures we came out with, a basic textile collection could be visualized. As I did not have any pre-decided theme or anything as such - because it was completely dependent on the flow of the whole process - I had to narrow down on certain elements to put together a collection. • Looking at the kind of textures, patterns and line quality we came out with - I decided to keep the collection very simple, minimalistic and organic. Also because this was Aranya’s first hand-painted batik collection, going simple and slow will help towards a better outcome. • As the technique was new and all the patterns stood out themselves, it’s beauty came out to be in its simplicity - the collection’s main focus was to keep the limelight on that and not add any complex design elements. • As one of Aranya’s aim was also to increase sales - I wanted to decide a target audience and then plan accordingly to ensure that it was what they like/want and make more sales happen. The foreigners/ Foreign Market was chosen as the Target audience as it is one of Aranya’s important markets and they have very good sales with them 144
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- and the kind of designs we were planning to make would work much better with them rather with the Indian market. • The design placements, colours, fabrics and the product range were decided keeping in mind the target audience. Another thing I also wanted to do was use Indigo as less as possible, as Batik and Indigo are done together since the beginning because Indigo is a cold dye and goes very well with wax resist. I wanted to try using other dyes - which would be something a lot of them don’t do and again add a very fresh look to the collection.
Target Audience : Foreign Market of Aranya Aranya’s foreign market shops majorly at their outlet and then online. Foreigners who come at the outlet are a mix of tourists, craft enthusiasts, designers, etc and then these people become online customers as well. Their preferences and tastes differ from what the Indian market wants, also these people have the liberty to shop a lot more from Aranya as the price range is very much in their budget and they like things like this handmade, natural, social cause, etc.
Price range Referring to the rupee to foreign currency conversion - Products of Aranya are very much affordable to this particular market. They are very much okay with paying $15-$20 for a silk stole. The price range of Aranya is in their budget and hence they are ideal customers.
Fabric preference is another thing these customers are particular about. Many of them choose cotton over silk and look for cotton stoles while Aranya has more variety in silk than in cotton.
Likes/ Preferences - Pastel Shades - Not many colours on one fabric - Simple yet unique patterns/designs - Usually levitate towards dull tones than very bright Indian tones. -Love handmade hand painted products - Minimalistic designs catch their eye
TARGET AUDIENCE FOREIGN MARKET OF ARANYA This market of Aranya’s is one of the major ones and if sold to in the right way with the right products can really add to and improve Aranya’s sales. All of them are either tourists, craft and design enthusiasts, people who love hand work or who love supporting social causes. They buy products from Aranya for themselves, as gifts, for their stores back home, to keep adding to their collection of unique, precious, heritage or handmade textiles, etc. Most of the sales with these customers happen at the outlet or online. A lot of the customers who come visit Aranya and really love it become loyal online customers as well.
Dislikes - Extra Bright colours - Rough fabrics - Too many patterns on one product
Ask for wearables Aranya has stoles, sarees and yardages as their main products. When foreigners come to the Outlet - many of them ask for wearables - kaftans? jackets? skirts? Some of them who have come before and have already bought stoles - they definitely ask for sure.
Choose colours according to their eye color to help brighten up their skin and eyes.
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COLLECTION 1 BASIC THEME / DESIGN LANGUAGE The kind of patterns and textures chosen from the process had already sort of defined the language of the designs, but to further define it with respect to the target audience and product range the following points were kept in mind - Minimalistic - Unique and clever use of patterns - Simple yet something that catches your eyes - Underlying organic theme( As it is hand painted) - Single use of Batik - Painting and Dyeing happens only once.
PRODUCT RANGE
TEXTURES FINALISED
Lines
Checks
Metal Scotchbrite
- Stoles - Wrap-around Skirts Stoles because it is Aranya’s most selling product and as it is a versatile product, many people buy for gifting purposes as well. Wrap-around skirts as many of the foreign customers ask for wearables Wrap around skirts are very easy to stitch with the kind of tailoring resources Aranya has also will go with Aranya’s language of products.
Egg Beater
Splatter
MATERIALS - Stoles - Katau Silk - Soft Handloom Cotton - Wrap around Skirts - Handloom Cotton Cotton is the main material of this collection as at Aranya, Batik was mainly practiced majorly with silk because of those bright colours you get on it -but as the target audience asked for that pastel-ly look which comes out best on Cotton which is also preferred by them - Cotton it was. Aranya has not explored cotton as much it has with silk. Silk stoles to have a variety and options for those who would prefer it. Also the same colours will have a completely different look on silk and add to the variety.
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Steel Glass
Brush Strokes
Eucalyptus
Manjeeshtha
Catechu
Catechu Manjeeshtha
Eucalyptus
COLOUR PALETTE Keeping in mind the preferences of the target audience and understanding what would sell better with them - a colour range was developed. As explained before not all natural dyes can be paired up with Batik. Therefore a lot of the shades were out of options - No alum dyes and no bright shades. After some analysis and going back and forth on choosing the shades a color range was put together for the whole collection. Majority of these shades are on the top of the list of the foreign market in terms of first preference and also help brighten up their eyes with respect to their eye and skin colour. They include tones of green, pink, orange, blues, purples and greys - pastel-ly and a little dull bright. Very subtle and not something too bright. The dyes used to achieve these colours are Eupatorium, Eucalyptus, Manjeeshtha, Catechu, Indigo with Copper sulphate and Ferrous sulphate mordants.
Manjeeshtha
Indigo
Eupatorium
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Hand Painted Lines
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Hand Painted Checks
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Splatters
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Egg Beater
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Scotchbrite
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Brush Strokes
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Steel Glass
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DESIGN POSSIBILITIES FOR STOLES After understanding the target audience and keeping in mind the collection brief - a lot of thumbnails for stoles were made to choose from. Trying different placements, combination of textures and patterns, overlaps - trying to cover all sorts of possibilities with respect to the brief. While making the thumbnails, what was possible and what was not, what looked good and what did not also got cleared. A certain visual language also came to be. Having so many designs to choose from made finalizing the final stoles very interesting. It gave a variety of options from which I could choose considering all age groups - while building a visual language & keeping in mind the target audience. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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FINALIZED STOLE DESIGNS Out of all the thumbnails these are the chosen ones for the final collection of stoles. All of them were chosen with respect to the target audience preference and likes, including all the textures and ones that are suitable for a wider age group while maintaining the design language.
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Iyarkai _ Tamil :
- Nature
There was patience, and persistence And perseverance to make a whole, To make it memor y to their fingertips And second nature to their soul.
Fig. 77
Product - Handloom Cotton Stoles Technique - Hand Painted Batik Cost - Rs. 1200/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing 5. Drying 6. De-waxing of the fabric 7. Final wash - Drying - Ironing ...For stoles on pages 179 to 191 170
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Product - Katau Silk Stoles Technique - Hand Painted Batik Cost - Rs. 1750/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing 5. Drying 6. De-waxing of the fabric 7. Final wash - Drying - Ironing For stoles on pages 193 to 205
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WRAP-AROUND SKIRTS Since Aranya wanted some new additions to their product range to add some freshness and also because the target audience kept asking for wearables - there were options like basic dresses, jackets, kaftans, skirts, etc. The production of such stitched wearables is a little difficult as Aranya does not have enough tailors - rather has only one skilled tailor to produce good quality stitching. Therefore something that required basic and minimal stitching was to be made. After evaluating all the options - Wrap around skirts were finalized as it does not require any pattern making/cutting skills, has basic stitching and takes very less time to produce. The combination of hand painted batik with wrap-around skirts would be something different for Aranya & attend to the wants of the target audience. 198
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A research on the kind of wrap around skirts available in market was done to understand what sells and works with the people. Vintage wrap arounds, basic DIY wrap-arounds, etc were looked at. Once that was done - skirts that would be suitable for Aranya were narrowed upon. The idea was to keep them simple and basic for now. Trial pieces of skirts that were narrowed down upon were made to understand which ones will work better on major body types and waistlines, which ones would look good with Aranya’s techniques, etc. Skirts ticking all the boxes were taken ahead after for production after all the details were looked at and finalized completely.
Fig. 78
Fig .78 Different silhouettes, cuts and lengths being used on a wrap -around skirt were looked at. After that basic silhouettes were finalised for the collection keeping in mind the target audience and final look in mind. What I also noticed was that very few sellers have contemporary cotton wrap-arounds - confirming the idea of adding something fresh to Aranya’s product range.
Straight
A-line
Paneled
Circular/Semi-circular
Fig. 79
Fig 79 Show the four basic silhouettes narrowed down for the starting trial pieces/silhouettes. Trial pieces of all the four types were stitched and tried on. Things like how many body types will it be suitable for, what goes with the kind of patterns on the fabric, etc were looked at and the Straight(Full length, 4 paneled (Ankle length) and Semi-circular skirt (Full and Calf length) were finalized for the collection.
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Length Waist /3 (W)
Wx3 Fig. 80
STRAIGHT SKIRT 1.Scour the fabric and keep it ready 2. Mark the dimensions of the skirt on the fabric with a chalk. 3. Cut the rectangle keeping 2 inches extra for the hemming. 4. Cut the strap - Join it to the fabric with the fold method. 5. Paint the batik design on the fabric - dyeing drying - washing. 6. Complete stitching the hemlines with matching thread colour to the dye.
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Skirt sizes for all the types SMALL Waist (W) - 27 in Full length - 41 in (-5 for ankle length) (-10 for calf length) MEDIUM Waist (W) - 31 in Full length - 42 in (-5 for ankle length) (-10 for calf length) LARGE Waist (W) - 37 in Full length - 44 in (-5 for ankle length) (-10 for calf length)
Waist /3 (W)
5 in
Length
5 in
W + 10 in
Fig. 81
Draw and cut
Draw and cut
FOUR PANEL SKIRT Fig. 81.1
Fig. 81.2
1.Scour the fabric and keep it ready 2. Mark the dimensions of the panel for 4 pieces on the fabric with a chalk. 3. Cut the panels keeping 2 inches extra from all the sides for joining & hemming. 4. Stitch all the 4 panels together. 5. Draw with a chalk on the joined panels as shown in Fig 81.1. 6. Cut on the drawn chalk line. 4. Cut the strap - Join it to the fabric with the fold method. 5. Paint the batik design on the fabric - dyeing drying - washing. 6. Complete stitching the hemlines with matching thread colour to the dye. 201
SEMI-CIRCULAR SKIRT (FULL LENGTH) +
W
n
3i
Length
1.Scour the fabric and keep it ready 2. Mark the dimensions of the panel for 2 pieces on the fabric with a chalk. 3. Cut the panels keeping 2 inches extra from all the sides for joining & hemming. 4. Stitch the 2 panels together. 5. Draw with a chalk on the joined panels as shown in fig 82.1. 6. Cut on the drawn chalk line. 4. Cut the strap - Join it to the fabric with the fold method. 5. Paint the batik design on the fabric - dyeing drying - washing. 6. Complete stitching the hemlines with matching thread colour to the dye.
Length
Draw and cut
Fig. 82
Draw and cut
Draw and cut
Draw and cut Fig. 82.1
Fig. 82.2
202
Length
+
Length
W
n
3i
Draw and cut
Fig. 83
Draw and cut Draw and cut
SEMI-CIRCULAR SKIRT (CALF LENGTH) Fig. 83.1
Fig. 83.2
Draw and cut
1.Scour the fabric and keep it ready 2. Mark the dimensions of the panel for 2 pieces on the fabric with a chalk. 3. Cut the panels keeping 2 inches extra from all the sides for joining & hemming. 4. Stitch the 2 panels together. 5. Draw with a chalk on the joined panels as shown in Fig 83.1. 6. Cut on the drawn chalk line. 4. Cut the strap - Join it to the fabric with the fold method. 5. Paint the batik design on the fabric - dyeing drying - washing. 6. Complete stitching the hemlines with matching thread colour to the dye.
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After the skirts were finalized - thumbnails were made placing designs on all of the four skirts. Different placements, combining two textures, etc were used to create variety of choices to choose from for the final collection.
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Iyarkai _ Tamil :
- Nature
There was patience, and persistence And perseverance to make a whole, To make it memor y to their fingertips And second nature to their soul.
Fig. 84
Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Full length - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha Surlapattai CS (Ombre) Cost - Rs 3000/- ($45) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 208
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Calf length - Hand Painted Batik - Eucalyptus FS (Ombre) Cost - Rs. 2000/- ($30) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 210
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Full length - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha FS (Ombre) Cost - Rs. 3000/- ($45) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Straight Full length - Hand Painted Batik - Eucalyptus FS + Indigo(Indigo dip first) Cost - Rs. 1500/- ($22) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 214
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Calf length - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha Surlapattai CS Cost - Rs.2000/- ($30) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Full length - Hand Painted Batik - EupatoriumCS and FS (Ombre) Cost - Rs. 3000/- ($45) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 218
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Straight Full length - Hand Painted Batik - Eucalyptus FS Cost - Rs 1500/- ($22) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 220
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Full length - Hand Painted Batik - Eucalyptus FS + Indigo (Indigo dip first) Cost - Rs. 3000/- ($45) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 222
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Four Panel - Hand Painted Batik - Catechu CS (Ombre) Cost - Rs. 3000/- ($45) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Bias Cut Calf length - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha FS Cost - Rs.2000/- ($30) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing
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Product Material Skirt Style Technique Dyes used
- Wrap Around Skirt - Panamkutti handloom cotton - Four panel - Hand Painted Batik - Eucalyptus FS + Indigo (Indigo dip first) Cost - Rs 3000/- ($45) Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 228
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Fig. 85
Fig. 85.2
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Fig. 85.1
Fig. 85.3
STAGE 2 : A LEVEL UP When everything with the first collection - the techniques were on track and in good tune, I had a guide visit in between. I had explained Bala what to do while I was away. When I came back, there were some new hand-painted stoles on the qualitycheck table. I asked Bala - ‘did you do them with a very surprised face’, he smiled and replied ‘yes - you had mentioned you wanted to paint flowers so I tried something.’ Some time back when we were just beginning with the whole hand-painting process - I was once trying to hand-paint flowers with wax. I had just vaguely mentioned to him that let’s see we might do this with Batik. He had that in mind and painted the stoles. I was very impressed and happy. When I began this process, I had no idea where this was going to go and what shape was it going to take, but the way the artisans were responding was very motivating & used to fill me up with vigor.
Why floral? This whole incident helped me with the next step. Since the first collection is more about lines, textures, abstract shapes and is very organic, wabi sabi types - I could cover a lot of points in terms of technique and design inputs related to simple with the flow - some what abstract kind of designs and not something that was completely preplanned. The pre planed design bit and the things that come with it remained uncovered. Florals would be something that would help give inputs on the basic things related to pre-planned designs and painting. It will also get the artisans on-board to later do a much intricate level of hand-painting once they are comfortable with it. Therefore florals seemed a very good option in terms of a level-up in the technique and also understanding a different aspect of hand-painting - I was covering an over all package of what ‘handpainted batik’ could offer for beginners.
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Choose flowers that will help give more inputs in terms of technique and approach
Attention to different types of strokes and ways of using the brush Should be easy to grasp
Nothing very intricate/complex for beginners to keep the learning process smooth and easy to grasp
Hand Painted Florals
Simple and raw forms to get them on track for painting floral like patterns
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Completely pre-planned florals as well as semi planned florals to increase the learning and have more variety of inputs Different ways to mark the florals before painting
The forms/designs should be such that they create maximum scope for inputs and allow good skill building a level up from the last stage
Fig. 86.2
Fig. 86
Fig. 86.3
What kind of forms and why I did not want to pick up very complex forms as it was just the beginning with florals. I wanted to have something very simple and basic that could be conveyed and grasped easily while keeping in mind the capability of the artisans. I took up two commonly seen flowers of Munnar - Dahlias and Bougainvilleas.
Fig. 86.1
Since it was going to be brush-painted with wax, I also started developing the patterns with the brush directly. The aim was to keep them interesting and very simple at the same time. I had a contemporary look in my mind rather than the traditional floral hand-painted batik.
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Bougainvillea flowers were simplified and studied to narrow down on the final forms. Just the significant elements that make the flower were taken to keep the form as simple as possible.
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HAND PAINTING POSSIBILITIES After understanding the form - and simplifying it down, I hand painted them freehand directly with the brush. This was done to have the simplest form of the flower to further take it to the artisans to learn freehand floral painting - To understand the strokes and keep them in mind to later give inputs on. Just the basic & important elements of it were taken to create simple yet visually appealing florals. Since I painted them directly with the brush - I knew that it was possible to hand paint them and that it wont be that difficult for the artisans to grasp during the learning and trial process. Since I wanted to explore different line qualities/ strokes - Bougainvillea flower was decided to be the fully pre-planned pattern - where the complete design is already decided and just has to be painted on the chalk marked pattern. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Dahlia flowers being very dense and heavy were broken down and studied to arrive at the simplest forms. Again only the elements true to the flower were looked at keep the form as simple.
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HAND PAINTING POSSIBILITIES This flower was hand painted directly with different brush thicknesses to explore possible forms for the learning process. I tried painting them in different ways with variation in strokes to arrive at the simplest & best one - something different from the bougainvillea form to have variation. It was important for the form to be different from the bougainvillea one in terms of the painting technique and way of using the brush to maximize the inputs during the learning process. As the Bougainvillea flower was decided to be the fully pre-planned pattern - the dahlia flower was decided to be the semi pre-planned one where a very small part of the design is marked and the remaining has to be painted completely free hand. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 87
We started with the bougainvilleas. I drew the jaal with a chalk on the fabric and asked Bala to paint over it. It did not come out that well. Then we followed the whole process of explaining each and every gesture in detail making sure Bala had gotten it all right. We also had to figure out which brush size suited us best for the kind of line quality we wanted to achieve. Therefore we also tried out two-three sizes and finalized on one. While Bala was working on getting a hang of it, I wondering as to how will he draw the design on the fabrics. He had become good with the brush and other tools but not so much with completely drawing the design on his own on the fabric that too freehand. Therefore I had to figure a way of making it easy while maintaining the quality and constant similar patterns on all the products. 238
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Fig. 87.1
Referring to Fig 87.1 This was the first sample I tried, just painting freehand bougainvilleas to figure out how exactly I wanted the pattern to be, whether I wanted details or not, whether it would be possible for the artisans to do the same or not, etc. We also understood as to how thin the strokes could be to be visible after dyeing, what is more practical and feasible to do on a larger scale for sarees/ dupattas, what sort of look could be expected and what changes need to be made to achieve the look we wanted. It also gave me ideas on how to start the input process with the artisans.
Fig 88 and 88.1 Two sizes of templates were made - 1m X 1m - 0.8 m X 0.5m I sketched freehand with a marker to keep the design visible while tracing. The designs on both the templates were the same with just different placements. These were going to be the base for all the further inputs on tracing and hand painting them.
Fig. 88
Fig. 88.1
Fig. 88.2
How will the artisans draw the florals on fabric ? Since I drew the design freehand on the fabric and then Bala painted over it - Bala just had to paint over the design. That was do-able. But when I asked Bala to see my drawing on paper and then draw it on fabric - he could not. So basically he could paint on a traced or stenciled design but not draw it from scratch. Stenciling such a pattern would be difficult so I decided to go for tracing. I checked if the fabric was translucent enough to see a pattern drawn on paper when kept underneath it. It was - So then I took a huge sheet of paper with respect to the fabric dimensions at Aranya and drew the jaal all over it. This way the paper became the base/template of the design from which the artisans could trace. This would also help maintain/standardize the designs/patterns on all the products as it was being traced from the same paper every time and not being drawn free-hand Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 89
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Another artisan joining the process With so many new inputs - Victoria Ma’am and I thought that there need to be at least two artisans for Batik. With just one artisan things were becoming very slow and difficult to manage. Siju (partly hearing and speech impaired - helps the head tailor with pico and hemming) was very interested in what we were doing. Every time he passed the batik table, he would wait there and be like can I also try once, he had a flair for drawing and painting and was decently good with it. So we thought it would be easier to get Siju on board rather than other artisans with whom the process would have to be repeated from the beginning while Siju had experience with brushes. Siju was very happy that he was shifted from the tailoring work and could do something he really wanted to since we started it. I asked Siju to paint on one fabric and he was really good for a first timer. His hand was much more flexible than Bala’s and was grasping things much faster. He was just a little slow but that would get better with practice.
So now there was Bala and Siju on board for the floral collection. I started the whole process again with both of them together - showing them each and every gesture and process in detail - twice then asking them to do it - correcting them and slowly building our skill set.
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Fig 90 and 90.1 The fabric is placed on the table with reference to the reach of the artisans on all parts of it. As the fabric in the pictures is vertical and small, it is placed so to trace the design from both the ends and not having to stretch uncomfortably to reach a corner.
Pinning the fabric - One whole side of the fabric is pinned first and then the other side is pinned taking care of the tightness needed. Template placed on the table under the fabric Fig. 90
BOUGAINVILLEA MARKING AND TRACING
Fig. 90.1
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Once it was finalized that marking was going to happen through tracing and the templates were made - we started practicing it. When I was ready with the templates - the artisan came to me and took it from me and expressed - I’ll do it - I know how to - come I’ll show. He then did it with my help and we figured out all the major things to remember and to take care of. It was done on the printing tables, the paper template was first placed on the table - taped if needed - cloth placed over it and pinned tightly. Pinning of the cloth properly was crucial to ensure smooth tracing - if not the cloth gathers with the moving chalk and is very difficult to trace. The
tightly pinned surface makes the fabric paper like making the process faster and hassle free. Pinning the fabric tight and flat also made the template below much more visible than just spreading the fabric and loose pinning it - all the tiny details in the template were very well visible. This process did take a few trials to standardize it and figure out small things to take care of like - not to pin the fabric too tight - being silk, threads get pulled; taping the template below is important and help a lot as the design stays in place throughout the process, orientation of the fabric on the table with respect to its size to ensure easy reach to all parts of the fabric, etc.
Details like the stamen not marked properly as there on the template.
Shape of the petals and flower not looked at in-detail and marked very roughly changing the look and feel of the flower - making it look very low quality.
Fig. 90.2
With the initial trials the whole look of the design was lost making it look very rough and not well refined - which will further make the hand painting look unfinished as well. Refinement in the process was needed.
This was the first fabric traced by the artisans by following the tracing method learnt. There was a lot difference in the pattern template and the tracing. Attention to the details, the curves of the petals and joineries were not really looked at properly. It was traced without understanding that this will further reflect in the hand painting as well. Therefore similar learning process that was followed while learning how to use the brush was needed here as well. We did the whole exercise of me showing to them in-detail the way to do it- emphasizing on all the small gestures as well to achieve the best results - asked them to do it - gave them inputs where ever needed and standardized the whole process properly to ensure there is minimal difference between the design template and the tracing.
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After me trying tracing a few times along with the artisans a few things came to notice in terms of what works better and gives nicer results. The chalk size made a lot of difference - either a very small piece or a new chalk was the best for tracing. It allowed the hand to move much better and faster also the patterns had a better finesse when compared to patterns traced with a medium sized chalk.
GETTING A HANG OF THE CHALK
Just like the learning process of how to use a brush to get the desired line quality - learning to use the chalk also had the same process. Inputs were given on all the small details like - using the pointed corners and sides of the chalk to ensure constant line quality which led to good quality tracing and hand painting, rotating the chalk while tracing to the next pointed side as and when the pointed side in use gets over, holding the chalk at a certain angle - hand not touching the fabric made the hand move faster and gave a good flow to the lines as well - it also helped the artisans see the template easily while the hand is moving. With time we also learnt that using a big chalk for the joining lines between the flowers worked best and using a small chalk for the flowers and its details gave the best strokes and waves in the flowers. So according to the artisans preference and comfort they switched between chalks to make the process as smooth and quick as possible. 244
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Fig. 91
Fig. 91.1
The way the chalk was handled and used was is also very important. Size of the chalk, the way it is held, angle, how to use it to get that line quality and stroke all of it was to be considered as it reflected in the final product. A badly marked design ended up being painted the same way & did not have the finesse we wanted. With the previous collection the artisans’ hand had learnt understand how to use both the hands in co-ordination to make the process smooth. Holding the area where the tracing is in process with the other hand helps the fabric become more stiff in place and gives much more finished lines. Getting the artisans’ hand to achieve this kind of stroke was the best thing to see in this process. Their hands had caught the flow and understood what sort of designs need what kind of movement. The curve of the petal on the top and the quick wavy stroke in the end to get that perfect petal curve - as this was achieved and then practiced throughout the process - it gave the design the line quality and finesse it needed.
Even the smallest of flowers Petal and flower shapes also look so much were traced very well - more refined now. Attention to all the curves and placements was given. showing their progress.
Constant line quality maintained.
Small details being marked exactly like on the template ensuring the design does not loose its final look in this process as they are important elements that make the design what it is.
Fig. 91.2
Fig 91.2 Once the details were explained properly in-detail and practiced the tracings after that were much better and refined. All the details were looked and the petal shapes were also exact. The template to fabric design difference was minimal.
The progress the artisans made after the detailed input session was strongly visible. They could now pay attention to all the details - each and every dot as well. I had to explain them the difference in the final result if they do not mark all the details properly. Not marking the petals like in the template and just drawing two simple curves was making the whole design loose its look. I was very happy with the way they started paying close attention to each and every petal’s shape - making it a point to make each one of them unique with its curves. The joineries between the flowers, and the stamens were also being traced in a very good flow - bringing back life to the design - when compared to the initial tracing. To trace 1 meter of square fabric, the artisans took around 15-20 minutes.
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Paper template of the design
Marking the flowers to be traced from the template - keeping in mind the placement and variation in floral forms.
Flowers that are by-heart to the artisans which they use as fillers to compose the pattern.
Once the template flowers are traced - addition of flowers isdone. There are some simple flowers that the artisans have by-hearted and use those here. Usually the additions are small flowers which act as fillers and put together the whole composition.
COMPOSITION AND DESIGN JUDGEMENT As I had made just two big paper templates that had the overall pattern - marking/tracing on smaller parts of the fabric was also to be done from the same - learning how to do it was very important to allow flexible use of the template. So we began with learning how to just mark the flowers and not the joineries, i.e marking the butas and not the complete jaal using the jaal template as the base. Referring to the sketch above, once the template and fabric were ready to be marked on the table, the first step was to observe the design with respect to the area to be marked on the fabric and then just put dots on the flowers that are to be traced. The fabric was then observed again from a distance to judge the placement of the chosen flowers and if it looked well composed - Then additions of small
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Final traced outcome
petals or flowers were marked to complete the composition. Once all the dots were in place the design was traced. The inputs here involved - having a balance between big and small flowers placed and distributed equally all over the fabric, choosing flowers with different orientations, adding small petals and flowers as fillers where ever needed in addition to the template flowers marked. Basically creating an eye for good composition through judgement of placement was learnt. All the inputs were given with examples while practicing tracing butas. I would mark before them and tell them why I am marking a certain flower in that way , why I am adding a flower here, etc.
Paper template of the design
Tracing the design on the fabric from the template
As the design is to be marked only within the two yellow lines - If it is to be traced as it is, the design will have many flowers cut very oddly at the edges of the marking line. It will not look composed and in the end will turn out shabby and unfinished if not corrected.
Fig. 92
Final traced outcome
Therefore parts of the design which were not helping the composition and were getting cut with respect to the template and marking area on the cloth - were changed while tracing itself using the inputs given on judgement and composition. They were just manipulated slightly by shifting the flowers down/ eliminating it or by adding a small flower petal.
Once the artisans became confident with marking only the flower butas - we went on to the next input. It was about using the big template to mark a small part on the fabric. It involved picking out a part of the template and composing it properly by addition and substraction of certain elements. Referring to the sketch above, the fabric was prepared to be traced and the limited area to be traced on was marked as well. The next step was to trace the part of the design that completely fit inside the edge of the limited area. The remaining elements that were getting cut or looked oddly placed were manipulated. The flowers were either shifted - or deleted and smaller flowers were added - joineries were extended or shortened, etc. This was done while tracing the design on the edges of the fabric as well - the design on the edges was
manipulated to look composed and well placed. All of this was done freehand, i.e the artisans did not have a template of the changes - the shifting of the flowers, and additions were all done from their learning. With the practice sessions of tracing the bougainvillea pattern, the artisans had some floral forms by hearted and used those to add as fillers. All other judgements whether the compositions looks good or not, spacing etc was again learnt with practice and input sessions. All of this helped the artisans go a step closer to drawing designs completely freehand - someday with out any template as well - maybe making their own templates one day.
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Fig. 93
Fig. 93.2
Fig. 93.1
Fig. 93.3
PAINTING BOUGAINVILLEA FLOWERS With the kind of inputs given during the development of the first collection - Hand painting the flowers came pretty easily to the artisans. Not many inputs were needed as they had already learnt how to use the brush, and use their hands according the line quality needed. The most important part was the tracing being right - and as that was well figured out, this process became very easy. The brush used for painting was of size 8. We tried a few sizes and chose this one with respect to the line quality we wanted to achieve. Again these brushes were also shaped and moulded before beginning. Bala and Siju both were given same inputs on all the processes. Once they started getting a hang of it they would use their hands according to their 248
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learning with experience. Bala (Fig 93) uses his hand a certain way to paint and Siju ( Fig 93.1) uses it another way. This showed that with the inputs given and with the trials done, it helped a lot of things come to them naturally. Also since Bala and Siju were both doing freehand batik - the end result looked a little different specially - the florals - but only I could make out the difference as I knew who painted how. Other wise as the templates and technique were same on a whole they looked the same.
Painting the smaller details required some extra practice. As wax blots and these details were very thin - when the artisans painted them normally - they blotted a lot ending up looking like a thick line loosing all its details. It required two things - Painting with a very light & quick hand and in a certain way. When the fabric absorbed the wax it did not just stay in that one place and obviously spread being liquid and hot. Therefore while painting these small details - less wax and a certain way of doing it was to be followed to get the desired look. Fig 93.2 and 93.3 show the way we broke down the details. First the stem is painted and the other details are just dotted with the brush - they spread and take the shape on their own.
Fig. 93.4
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DAHLIA MARKING Fig. 94
Fig. 94.1
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Fig 94 was finalized as the final form for this flower. Figuring out how to mark all those petals of the flower for the artisans to paint them on fabric took a while. Initially I tried marking it with just lines, but that was becoming to tedious and also could not be standardized if it was to be done for more than one or two flowers. It would not be constant. Since the bougainvillea pattern was completely traced from a template - I thought it would be a level up to keep this one with no/minimal marking. Then the marking of this flower was thought keeping that in mind. As the petals were placed alternately beginning from a center point increasing in size within a circle, I decided that only the basic form of the flower i.e, a circle would be used as a marking for painting the design. The petals would be hand painted completely. This created scope for giving more inputs as the painting method was different, with no marking as such and would help the artisans increase their skill set and knowledge. In Fig 94.1 the artisan is marking circles of different diameters - freehand. Perfect circles were not needed as the form was organic and not a perfect circle. It just had a circular form which we used as a guide.
Fig. 95.1
Fig. 95
PAINTING DAHLIA
Fig. 95.2
One important aspect of this input process was the way you position your hand while painting the petals 360 degrees keeping the circle as your guide. When we started the artisans were moving their hand and body according to which petal their painting. This was making the process very slow unnecessarily. Inputs on how to move only the brush and not your whole body and hand in different directions according to the different placements of the petals were given. This input in particular took sometime to grasp.
Having some experience from the previous input sessions - I knew had to simplify the input process as much as I could. As it was going to be hand painted without any marking - I made it a point that I went slow and steady with the process. Referring to Fig 95 and 95.1 we first started painting on paper with wax to begin the input process. The in-detail explanation of each and every gesture and technique as followed with the previous input processes was followed here as well. I broke down the floral form into different stages of painting (Fig 95.2). I painted each stage on paper and asked them if they got it - repeated if needed and then asked them to paint it as well. We kept going back and forth as needed to make sure all of us were on the same page. This was done until the artisans were clear enough with the technique to go on to the practice part. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig. 96
Fig. 96.1
Fig. 96.2
Fig. 96.3
Size 8 Camlin brush was used to hand paint this design. During the trials - artisans tried using two different sizes of brushes to paint the different sizes of the petals. But by doing that the artisans would loose their flow by changing the tool in the process of painting one flower. Juggling between brushes also made the process longer. Therefore we stuck to one size and learnt how to use one brush for all the petal sizes. What helped us do that is the hot wax and the absorption quality of the fabric. By variating the amount of wax in the brush, amount of pressure applied while painting and angle & duration of the brush placed on the fabric - we could achieve different lengths and thickness of the petals. Again this took a while for the artisans to grasp - they caught up with it after some good trials and practice sessions. The longer you keep the brush on the fabric the thicker the petals will be and vice -versa. This whole process was very interesting in terms of how well the artisans learnt to variate the way they used the brush and achieve a beautiful form.
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Fig. 97
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After the whole input process in Stage one and Stage two, the artisans -Bala and Siju had become pretty comfortable with the technique. During the practice sessions and trials itself they were already adapting to the process according to their preferences and comfort by adding to the inputs given in terms of how to use the brush, etc. Their experience with each and every input, mistake, trials, practice sessions kept increasing, which helped them understand what works for them and then add/substract to a learning accordingly. Once Bala and Siju started working together, they began to divide work on the basis of what they like doing and what they do better than the other. Both of them were thorough with all the processes but just preferred dividing the work. Siju likes to draw to with chalk and was fast with marking, whereas Bala liked painting more and was quick with that - So Siju would mark the fabric with florals and Bala would paint them. This way they divided work sometimes according to their own preference. They were working together in good collaboration. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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COLLECTION 2 : As the plan was first to see how the artisans respond to the florals whether they get a hang of it or not and then figure out the next step - with the way the artisans grasped it and the look coming out to be good, a basic textile collection could be visualized. I did not have any pre-decided theme or anything like it before beginning the learning process - as it was completely dependent on how much the artisans can grasp - I had to narrow down on a certain brief or plan for the collection. • Looking at the kind of patterns and line quality we came out with - I decided to keep the collection very simple, minimalistic and organic. Also because this was Aranya’s first hand-painted floral batik collection, going simple and slow would help towards a better outcome. • As the technique was new and the patterns stood out themselves, it’s beauty came out to be in its simplicity - the collection’s main focus was to keep the limelight on that and not add any complex design elements. • As one of Aranya’s aim was also to increase sales I wanted to decide a target audience and then plan accordingly to ensure that it was they like/want and make more sales happen. The Paramparik Karigar, Mumbai exhibition was chosen as the target audience, as it is one of Aranya’s important market places where they make new customers, showcase their new products and market themselves. It is one of the main yearly events - and they also have very good sales with them - the florals when paired 256
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with right colours and products would appeal to those customers as they’ll be seeing something completely new from Aranya. • The design placements, colours, fabrics and the product range were decided keeping in mind the target audience. Another thing I also wanted to do was use some new colours for the market - classy royal colours that will add to the richness of the technique. Usually Aranya takes a palette of Indian colours and indigo blues to the exhibition. Having some new rich shades will catch attention.
Target Audience : Paramparik Karigar, Mumbai This target group is one of those that help Aranya grow more by being evangelists, a lot of the loyal customers bring a lot of their friends and family along to the stall as well. Catering to this group is very crucial for the growth and publicity of Aranya. A good part of their sales is also because of this group. Also Paramparik Karigar is a good platform for Aranya - where they do PR, reach out to new people - showcase their new additions and market themselves.
Price range There are customers of 2 kinds here. One for whom the price is not a barrier and only the product quality and look matter. The others who buy considering the price with it as well. Therefore the price range should be somewhere in between considering both of them.
They really look for something that they will treasure for life - Products where every time you wear it - People will ask as to where did they get it from...
Likes/ Preferences - Eye catchy products - A product where people will ask - Where is it from? - Usually levitate towards more elegant and feminine products -Love handmade hand painted products - Non- predictable designs catch their eye
TARGET AUDIENCE PARAMPARIK KARIGAR Customers at the Paramparik Karigar exhibition are of two types - new comers and loyal customers. A lot of these also become online customers. New comers have the whole product range old and new additions to choose from. Loyal customers come to Aranya to get whats new in store - many of them ask to see only the new stuff. People here do not really have the price as the key factor for making purchases - they want something unique - showing that it is handmade, naturally dyed, organic, etc. For them its the product quality and look that comes first.
Dislikes - Big bold patterns - Murky colours - Predictable things
Ask for something new every year Since a lot of the customers at this exhibition are loyal ones, they come every year asking to see what is new. They ask for new techniques, colours, etc.
The kind of work and effort put in the product should very strongly be seen visually.
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COLLECTION 2 PATTERNS BASIC THEME / DESIGN LANGUAGE The kind of patterns and textures chosen from the process had already sort of defined the language of the designs, but to further define it with respect to the target audience and product range the following points were kept in mind - Elegant and rich look - Contemporary - Clever placement of patterns - Simple yet something that catches your eyes - Underlying organic theme(As it is hand painted) - Single use of Batik - Painting and Dyeing happens only once.
PRODUCT RANGE
- Sarees - Dupattas Sarees and Dupattas as they are Aranya’s signature products for the Indian market and sell very well at the Paramparik Karigar exhibition. Keeping in mind the patterns involved - Sarees will give good scope to play around with the placements helping the products give some unique attributes.
MATERIALS
- Sarees - 28 gm Silk - Dupattas - 28 gm Silk - Cotton Silk Silk gives a completely different look when compared to cotton in terms of the colour and vibrancy of the technique. Since the final look was more towards being very rich, lustrous and classy-royal - Silk was the perfect fabric. It is also the most selling material at Paramparik Karigar.
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COLOUR PALETTE Manjeeshtha Surlapattai
Indigo Lac
Manjeeshtha Surlapattai
Eucalyptus
Keeping in mind the preferences of the target audience and understanding what would sell better with them - a colour range was developed. As explained before not all natural dyes can be paired up with Batik. Therefore a lot of the shades were out of options - No alum dyes and no bright shades. After some analysis and going back and forth on choosing the shades a color range was put together for the whole collection. The chosen colour palette is an attempt to bring in a product range with rich royal colours that come out best only with natural dyes that too on silk- to further enhance and bring out the hand-painted florals. Usually brands that come to Paramparik Karigar do not have such colours and hence it will make Aranya stand out and grab attention. They include royal shades of purple, gray, dusky pink and fuchsia-gray. The dyes used to achieve these colours are Eucalyptus, Manjeeshtha, Surlapattai, Lac, Indigo with Copper sulphate and Ferrous sulphate mordants.
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Thumbnails for sarees were made where different placement options were explored. Since the patterns were finalized - playing with the placement of those would add another layer to the way the saree will turn out to be. All sorts of options were considered to have the best in the chosen ones.
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Bougainvillea buta
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Bougainvillea jaal
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Dahlia
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Malar Tamil :
- Flower
From seeds to shoots that curiously curl To when sunbeams knock and petals unfurl This is how flowers grow I have watched, and so I know.
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25 in
Floral marking
Pleats - 1.5 m
Floral marking
Full length saree - 6 m
25 in
2.5 m
Pallu - 0.5 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Bougainvillea Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha Surlapattai CS (Ombre) Cost - Rs. 7500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 270
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Full length saree - 6 m
Floral marking
25 in
25 in
Pleats - 1.5 m
2m
Pallu - 1 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Dahlia Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Indigo+Lac (Indigo dyeing first) Cost - Rs. 8500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 272
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Full length saree - 6 m
Scotchbrite
Pleats - 1.5 m
2.2 m
Pallu - 0.8 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Hand - painted Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha Surlapattai FS Cost - Rs. 7500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 274
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Full length saree - 6 m
Floral marking
Tuck in - 1.5 m
Pallu and body - 3 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Dahlia Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha Surlapattai CS Cost - Rs. 7500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 276
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Full length saree - 6 m
Floral marking
Pallu and body - 3 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Bougainvillea Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Indigo + Lac (Indigo dyeing first) Cost - Rs. 8500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 278
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Full length saree - 6 m
Floral marking
Pleats - 1 m
1.5 m
Pallu - 1.5 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Bougainvillea Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Manjeestha Surlapattai FS Cost - Rs. 7500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 280
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Full length saree - 6 m
Product Material Technique Dyes used
- Hand-painted Saree - 28gm Silk - Hand Painted Batik - Eucalyptus FS (Ombre) Cost - Rs. 7500/Basic Process 1. Scouring of the fabric 2. Marking/Drawing the design with chalk 3. Hand painting the design with wax 4. Dyeing - Drying 5. De-waxing of the fabric 6. Final wash - Drying - Ironing 282
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FINALIZED DUPATTAS
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FINALIZED DUPATTAS
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Fig. 99
CHALLENGES AND EXPERIENCES This whole process of introducing artisans to a new technique had many interesting ups and downs, some totally surprising and unexpected. The artisans being hearing and speech impaired also added a whole new layer of learning and experiences. It was a completely new experience that has helped me learn a lot as well.
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COMMUNICATION Because my medium of communication and the artisans’ medium of communication was very different - the basic approach to the whole process changed. After initial difficulties of conveying basic things, I realized that having an understanding of each other’s way of working and just being familiar with each other was very important for us to collaborate and work together since the medium of communication was going to be expressions and gestures. It definitely took me a while to figure all this out but the journey towards it was very interesting. The artisans also willing to work towards it and having an open mind to everything helped a lot. Once we got familiar with each other and started understanding each other’s expressions and signs it was a lot of fun. I realized that the medium of communication being just gestures and expressions - all the concentration was on the hands i.e, towards learning the technique. If we were to talk & explain the inputs - the concentration would get divided on the language & then on the hands - but here all of it was on the way I moved my hands What the world thinks is a con turned out to be a very important pro for us.
PROCESS OF INPUTS When it was decided that we were going to introduce hand-painted batik at Aranya - I assumed it would be very similar to how it is in college while learning something new. After understanding the artisans’ current skill set and capabilities I realized that, that was not the case. Since they had no prior experience with painting anything and had been doing block batik since years, their hand had gotten into that mode of stiffness and sturdiness. I had to approach the whole process keeping that in mind. During the initial inputs and trial sessions - I had not completely figured out the best way to convey the inputs, the artisans were also new to all this and yet to develop a liking towards the technique
and we were still figuring out how this was going to work - it was a little rocky. The artisans would get frustrated and not want to do it and would while away their time. And because I was still getting a hang of communicating without talking, it was difficult for me to explain or console the artisans that don’t stress, we’ll get there. But slowly we got there and everything was in tune. Being a design student, I took my drawing and painting skills for granted. I didn’t really give a thought to the way we acquired those skills or the process of learning them because I was in it since school. That was not the case with the artisans they did not have that ‘automatic’ flow in their hand while painting. For this I had to give inputs in a very different/detailed way. Initially I would just paint before them and ask them to paint the same. I would not understand why they aren’t able to catch it right. But once I realized all of it we started following the detailed input sessions which worked very well. Each and every gesture involved in the process was broken down and explained till they got it right. When we got some new unusual tools to work with - It was a gala time for us. The artisans were very excited to use them as well. It filled them with excitement and sort of made them want to learn the new technique as well. It added a fun factor which helped me to keep them engaged with the process and not loose interest because they could not catch it right immediately. It was also very satisfying to to see the artisans improvise and add to the inputs I gave after they started becoming comfortable with the technique. We also learnt a lot of things from our mistakes, both the artisans and me contributed equally towards standardizing the technique. I was very happy that I did not follow the traditional method of giving inputs while introducing new techniques & rather had a very collaborative approach where all of us were learning together on the same level. This process helped us yield more fruits as inputs were coming from both the sides & everyone was equally involved and responsible.
PERSONAL LEARNING With the kind of approach and process we followed, the whole thing made me look at a lot of things I usually do not observe or pay attention to. While giving all the detailed inputs - I had to first unlearn and then relearn everything with the artisans to understand all the small details that need to be explained. Until I did that, I was giving inputs on a very outer layer basis. It made me realize and appreciate a lot of the things we usually don’t pay attention to and take for granted. It has made appreciate the art of communicating without a language immensely. It made me realize how much language dilutes human expressions and feelings and how language divides attention from whats really important. I would sometimes forget that I can talk after long input sessions. There was a day when I came back to my desk after an input session when some one from the management department asked me something and I was talking to them in sign language without realizing. Just using expressions and gestures to communicate helps you develop a different kind of bond - a to the point bond where there is no fake-ness that language usually adds. There would also be sometimes where I would also get frustrated with not being able to communicate properly initially. I would feel like holding the artisans’ hand and helping them learn like you help a kid. Being patient was extremely important in the whole process as the artisans were also going through this phase of frustration as well. Over all this whole process has helped me learn - unlearn a lot and made me appreciate so many things I never paid attention to. The best part would be when the artisans would enjoy doing the technique and the results would bring smiles to their face.
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Pa
l l a n g u z h i
- How it began - Initial products - Pallanguzhi
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During the trials of these products, few pieces of each product were kept at the outlet to see how customers response. Many of them really liked it and they sold pretty quickly since they were smaller, different and cheaper compared to the other products in the outlet. Aranya also received orders for some of them. Since the response was very positive - the products are being produced on a regular basis.
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HOW IT BEGAN When I was exploring Aranya, there was a box of fabric that weren’t being used as such. It had leftovers from stitching cushions, pouches and old damaged stock. Very few of them would be used here and there but most of them would be lying there for years. These fabrics would either have weaving defects, would get damaged while doing Shibori (threads get pulled/ small holes get created), development of fabric would spoil them, fabric would get fungus, etc. All these fabrics cannot be sold/used in the product range that Aranya has. While some of them are decent sized pieces, there are many tiny pieces as well. Some of the smaller pieces are used for piping or as accents for some of the stoles. Overall Aranya has a fair amount of small, medium and large sized fabrics in their old/dead/ cut out stock that are not used for anything. This created an opportunity for me to up-cycle them by creating a few simple products from the same. It will help them to get the dead stock moving and also add variety to their product range.
The aim was to create simple yet effective, useful, attention grabbing and quick moving products. These products could be made during the lean production time in the months of June, July and August where not a lot of the actual production happens because of the weather and that time could be effectively utilized. Therefore products that do not require too much time to be made but are eye-catchy had to thought of. After some research and thought a few products like potli bags, jewellery, fabric buttons, bow ties, bags, etc were thought of. After some trials - from very small fabric pieces, bow ties were finalized to be made. - from fabric that had minute damages and were decent sized, potli bags and hippie bags were finalized. - from large fabrics that had damages here and there - those damages were avoided and bandanas were cut and made out of those. All of the above mentioned products required very less time and skill to make. The tailoring unit and Shibori unit can collaborate and make it together during actual production. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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Fig 102
Fig 101
Something more Innovative and Unique to Aranya The products mentioned above were doing good with the customers but they weren’t very unique or something that you get only at Aranya. If fabric is up-cycled, it might as well be done in a way that is serves Aranya the best. Having a product that you can find only at Aranya will not only increase the amount of people buying it but also add value to Aranya’s product range. Research on what all could be made began. There were options like - Jewellery, neck ties, soft of animals particular to munnar, etc. But all of these were still common or needed intricate level of work to make. Something more creative yet simple was the aim. I was visiting a utensils store one day and came across a game called ‘Pallanguzhi’ that I had never seen before. When I asked the shopkeeper to tell me more about the game and explain it further, it gave me a good product idea. Taking inspiration of from the fabric snake and ladder game that is made at Kala Raksha Vidyalaya, I decided to convert this game into a fabric one and make it as one of Aranya’s products. 294
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Why Pallanguzhi ? A board game local to the Kerala region and is hardly known to anyone these days - was a very good idea to have as a product as the main target was the foreign audience. Such things excite foreigners where its a unique Indian product and you will only find it at Aranya. A local tradition was also being revived through this process where a game that is being lost is coming back to life. This option was finalized to be worked upon as all the boxes (local product/identity, unique, eye catchy and interesting, excites foreigners) were being ticked with this one. The game is not very complicated visually and had decent scope to be converted to into a textile one.
Fig 104
PALLANGHUZI Fig 103
Pallanghuzi, or Pallankuli is a traditional ancient Tamil mancala game played in South India especially Tamil Nadu . Later the games were spread to other States \ Countries like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Variants are called as Ali guli mane (in Kannada) Vamana guntalu (in Telugu) and Kuzhipara (in Malayalam). The game is played by two players, with a wooden board that has fourteen pits in all (hence the name from the words fourteen pits (pathinaalam kuzhi). There have been several variations in the layout of the pits over time. The pits contain cowry shells, seeds or small pebbles used as counters. There are several variations of the game depending on the number of shells each player starts with. It was once patronized by women in Tamil Nadu. It has been a women’s pastime, also an entertaining way to improve math and motor skills or a
marathon affair during festivals like Sivarathri and Vaikunda Ekadasi and is also played during the break at workplace. The game has fascinated researchers keen on unraveling its many anthropological and social aspects. Scholars have conducted researches on the game to find out the various skills of students at various levels. Pallanguzhi is mostly played by Tamil women, both in Southern India and SriLanka. Men also play it sometimes for gambling. This game is encouraged for the kids to learn to count, to improve eye–hand coordination and concentration while playing. And for the older people of the house, to spend time in the company of the young members of the family. Pallanguzhi is also played in Sri Lanka, Trinidad, Guyana and Singapore, with a sizable TamilIndian population living in those countries. Strokes of Melugu | Himani More
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What I realized with this form while making paper trials is that it is very tricky to stitch, specially when there is layering with sponge involved. Therefore this form was chucked and the simplest form, i.e a rectangular one was decided to be worked on.
I started with the fish form to begin with since that was the current one being used by the few people who are playing the game and also because it is an interesting one.
TEXTILE VERSION OF THE GAME The textile version of the game was obviously going to be made out of the fabric that are lying in Aranya since a long time. So the basic idea was that this will be produced during the lean time that is the monsoon time. It will be a combination of machine stitch and hand embroidery(Shibori artisans) for decoration & sturdiness layered with foam for a little thickness. Keeping this in mind the further explorations were done. The main elements were the 14 circles while the other things could be played with. Referring to Fig 103, The fish shape in the game came out to be so over time and did not have any history or story behind it. It was just an aesthetic evolution and so that could also be played with keeping in mind the older versions of the game as well. 296
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The plan was to have a patterned fabric as the base and a plain dyed one on the top which will be embroidered with the circles. All the embroidery had to be in Kantha/running stitch as the Shibori artisans were good at it and it is the fastest of all embroideries.
I asked people around me who play/played Pallanghuzi as to what shape do they prefer what is more convenient and what would you like in the game, etc. A lot of them mentioned that the game you get these days does not have a separate circle to keep the seeds that are removed from the fourteen circles while playing. Almost all of them pointed that out and said you should have that for sure. That point was considered and tried with both the fish and rectangle form. But again the fish form was tedious to make therefore the rectangle one was finalized for the final one. Another thing people also asked is how are you going to make the grooves. I tried making them by scooping out sponge in those areas which will create grooves after stitching, but that did not turn out well when tried and made the game very hard to stitch. Therefore that was canceled. To make sure that it is not affecting the game a lot - I drew the game on a cloth with chalk and we played it in the unit to see if it is still the same experience or not. It was the same but only easier to pick the seeds while playing therefore it was totally fine to not have grooves.
- The sizes of the circles and the whole game in all was to be finalized. I wanted to make it as easy as possible for the artisans to make the game. Therefore once I had a rough size which would be suitable for playing fabric pallanghuzhi with no grooves - I searched for similar sized tools at Aranya. The circle clamps were perfect for the same and were used for marking the circles. - I wanted to keep the traditional placement of the circles and hence they are placed so. - While I was figuring out the final sizes and placements of the game and making a marking template - I saw a printer - printing with the clamps that I was using to mark. It then struck my head that ‘Oh yes, I could use the circle clamps to directly print and then add embroidery on top’. This would divide the work and the product would be much more put together and prettier. I also realized that I could use the small intricate blocks to decorate the game - which I could not do with embroidery as I had to keep the forms simple. - Therefore the finalized idea was that - The top and base fabric would be block printed with circle clamps and the smaller decorations would be printed with blocks as well. The circles and certain parts of the game would be outlined with running stitch to define them and make the game sturdy.
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PALLANGHUZI 1. Cut all the fabric pieces - Main Fabric (Front & Back)- 2 pieces (Fig 105) - Lining Fabric - 2 pieces (Fig 105) - Sponge 2mm - 2 pieces (Fig 105) - Piping and Potli bag Fabric (Fig 106)
13 in
37 in
Fig 105
2. Marking the design with the template and printing on the main fabrics and piping and potli bag fabric. 3. Stitch the front fabric + lining + 1 sponge piece from all four sides.(Fig 107) Stitch the back fabric + 1 sponge piece + lining from all four sides.(Fig 107) 4. Do embroidery on both the front and back fabric in accordance to the patterns printed.
Fig 106
5. Complete stitching the game - Cut the extra 1 inch from all the four sides from the two sets of attachments you have made. - Place both the sets on each other and stitch from all four sides. - Attach piping and stitch potli bag as well.
1
6. Add the beads on corners and the potli bag.
2 3
Fig 107
Referring to Fig 105 and 106 - Only for the big pieces of the game you need a rectangular fabric cut out, but for the piping and potli bag all small-small fabric cut outs can be utilized since it requires small pieces of cloth.
1- Final printed fabric 2- Thin lining fabric 3- Sponge
The main fabrics are first marked with the design using the template. First all the circles and the drop are printed. Then the decoration blocks are printed as per their wish and design in the head. Circle shape/clamp used
Places/options for block decorations other than the circle blocks.
Drop Shape/clamp used. 298
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The decoration printing on the game is to make it more authentic and visually attractive. Aranya has a lot of small sized blocks of typical Kerala motifs which also include kolam patterns. The plan is to use them rather than using the other ones to make the game more true to its origin and give it its regional look. There is no rule like this block should go here only - other than the main circles and drops. The artisans are free to use their aesthetic sense and have fun with combining and playing with different block combinations.
Piping can also be played with in terms of pattern/ colour. The basic concept and process has been standardized but everything else can be played with to keep the designs different and unique. It is also a fun activity for the artisans to do something on their own.
The kantha/running stitch embroidery was finalized to be done as the outlines of all the circles and drops. It defines them, gives sturdiness to the game and adds a visual element to it as well.
The whole base fabric of the game is to have fun and play with while printing. The only rule is to make it look pretty and authentic using Kerala/traditional motifs. The artisans have been given inputs on how to make different parts of the game that were printed on separately, look like part of one game at the end when stitched together - therefore they are free to play with it.
Beads/ tassels are used as value additions to make it more authentic.
The embroidery is also done on the base fabric to again add value and sturdiness to the game.
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Pallanguzhi Six seeds are placed in each cup. The player starting first picks up the seeds from any of her holes and, moving
anti-clockwise, places one seed in each hole. If she reaches the end of her cups she goes on the other side of the board. When the player drops her last seed, she takes
the seeds from the next cup and continues placing them
in this way. If the last seed falls into a cup with an empty cup following it, the seeds in the cup following the empty cup, are captured by the player.
That player then continues play from the next cup containing seeds. If the last seed falls into a cup with two
empty holes beyond, she captures no seeds and her turn is over. The next player continues play in the same way. If, after having a seed dropped into it, if a cup contains four seeds, those seeds become the property of the
player who dropped the seed. The round is over when no seeds remain.
Once the first round is over players take the seeds from their stores and fill as many of their holes as possible with 6 seeds each.
The winner will have a surplus of seeds which are kept in her store. The loser of the first round will be unable
to fill all of her holes. These unfilled holes are marked as “rubbish holes.�
In the next round play continues as before, but without the rubbish holes being included and the player who went first in the previous round going second.
During the game if a player has enough seeds to fill any of her rubbish holes, they are again used during play.
The game is over when a player is unable to fill any cups with six seeds at the end of a round.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY WEB REFERENCES Article title: Ecommerce Business Blueprint: How To Build, Launch And Grow A Profitable Online Store – Shopify Website title: Shopify’s Ecommerce Blog - Ecommerce News, Online Store Tips & More URL: https://www.shopify.in/blog/14459769-ecommerce-business-blueprint-how-to-build-launch-and-grow-a-profitable-online-store?rodeo_token=8b28375b-f4ea-4804-a010 Article title: Pallanguzhi (பல்லாங்குழி) - Indian Traditional Games Website title: Traditionalgames.in URL: http://www.traditionalgames.in/home/property-games/pallanguzhi-pallankuli Article title: 5 Ways to Convert Customers to Brand Evangelists Website title: SurveyGizmo URL: https://www.surveygizmo.com/survey-blog/5-ways-to-convert-customers-to-brand-evangelists/ Author Susan Contributor Article title: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing Website title: Entrepreneur URL: https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/299334 Article title: Product Hang Tags That Increase Sales - Resources Website title: PsPrint URL: https://www.psprint.com/resources/hang-tags-increase-sales/ Author Investopedia Staff Article title: Brand Identity Website title: Investopedia URL: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brand-identity.asp Author Raghu Dharmendra Article title: Traditional Board Games of India Website title: Kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.in URL: http://kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.in Article title: Good Brochure Design benefits Business Website title: Una Healy Graphic Designer Dublin URL: http://www.unahealydesign.com/five-reasons-brochure-design-will-benefit-business/ Author James Heaton Article title: The Difference Between Marketing and Branding Website title: Tronvig Group URL: http://www.tronviggroup.com/the-difference-between-marketing-and-branding/ Author Edward Cates Article title: 10 Must Have Marketing Tools for Brand Building | Nuance Marketing Website title: Nuance Marketing URL: http://www.nuancemarketing.net/10-must-have-marketing-tools-for-brand-building Article title: Why brand purpose requires more than just a snappy slogan Website title: YourStory.com URL: https://yourstory.com/2017/03/clarify-your-brand-purpose/
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Author Derek Gehl Article title: Start an E-Business Without a Website Website title: Entrepreneur URL: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/159416 Article title: The Effects of Social Media on User Centric Design - Altitude Website title: Altitude URL: http://www.altitudeinc.com/the-effects-of-social-media-on-user-centric-design/ Author Mindi Chahal Article title: What’s the language of your brand? - Marketing Week Website title: Marketing Week URL: https://www.marketingweek.com/2013/07/17/whats-the-language-of-your-brand/ Article title: How To Connect Product Design and Visual Brand Language Website title: Altitude URL: http://www.altitudeinc.com/how-to-connect-product-design-and-visual-brand-language-part-1/ Article title: Design Language – an essential part of market & business strategy Website title: Bridge Design Inc URL: http://bridgedesign.com/design-language-2/
OTHER CREDITS/COURTESY
GRAPHIC RESOURCES
SOFTWARE RESOURCES
Photography for Iyarkai and Malar Abhiskek Kumar Nirala, TD Ug’14
Icons: Flaticon - www.flaticon.com
Adobe Photoshop CC Adobe Indesign CC
Company logos and stamps Srishti Trust, Munnar
Vector Art and Illustrations Freepik - www.freepik.com Vecteezy - www.vecteezy.com Shutterstock - www.shutterstock.com Fonts Free fonts - freefonts.com https://typekit.com/fonts/adobe-gurmukhi
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IMAGE REFERENCES All images not mentioned below are owned by the author of this document or are free to use unless specified otherwise. The images have been arranged in the order of their reference number, which can be found in the bottom right corner of the images. Fig 23.2 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://kcolette.com/products/indigo-moons-table-runner-caroline-z-hurley Fig 23.8 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.burkatron.com/2016/06/how-to-shibori-dye.html Fig 27 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://www.torxmedia.com/building-a-local-brand-going-global-isnt-for-everyone/ Fig 40 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://brunch.co.kr/@flyingcity/7 Fig 41 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.inspiradigitalagency.com/seo-company-bangkok.html Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.hiperestrategia.com/blog-inbound-marketing-Ecuador Fig 43 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.innogenconcepts.com/blog Fig 43.1 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/ASI4800/the-promotional-products-industry-and-how-to-work-it-61672258 Fig 45 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.slashprofits.com/services/social-media-marketing/ Fig 49 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://www.debate.com.mx/losmochis/Y-los-lideres-sociales-brillan-por-su-ausencia-20160328-0069.html Fig 51 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://www.tomtom.com/en_us/drive/maps-services/shop/travel-map/india/ Fig 52 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.bali-indonesia.com/magazine/taman-nusa-cultural-park.html Fig 78 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.revolve.com/fashion/cotton-wrap-skirt.html https://www.ikrix.com/in/wraparound-kristle-skirt-isabel-marant-etoile-22042 https://www.forevernew.com.au/betty-wrap-maxi-skirt-23875701 https://www.aliexpress.com/category/100005798/skirts.html?pvId=100004669-8329 http://www.forever21.com/CA/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=bottoms&ProductID=2000190981&VariantID= Fig 86 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://leiwithmis.blogspot.mx Fig 101 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pallanguzhi.JPG Fig 102 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/431501208033342391/ Fig 103 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.tamilnadu-tourism.in/tradition/games/ Fig 104 Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://www.aatike.com/ali-guli-mane-ancient-mathematical-game-2#.WgXmb7aB1-U
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https://www.behance.net/Himani_More himani_more@ymail.com
Himani Namdev More | Textile Design | Graduation Project | 2017