AJRAKH STORIES
A handcrafted collection using the hand block printing technique of 'Ajrakh'.
A range of fabrics developed for the fashion house 'Singhania's' based in Hyderabad, India.
Ajrakh is a traditional craft practiced by the Khatri community in the region of Bhuj, Gujarat. In-spite of being an arid region, Bhuj is very rich in its visual and social directory of culture, tradition, craft and textile. To translate these on-to the fabrics, became the idea behind the collection. A range of luxurious silks like dupion, tussar, crepe, raw silk, silk-chiffon and silk-satin were hand printed, hand dyed and hand processed to arrive at rich and elegant fabrics.
FABRICS
THE PROCESS
Ajrakh is a sustainable, all-natural and handmade process that is labor and time intensive. The kora fabrics, after being scoured, are hand-printed with mordant-pastes made out of natural pigments which impart colour to the fabric after being dyed with natural dyes. Master craftsmen, practicing the crafts from generations together, develop these dye-mordant combinations to arrive at the desired array of colors. For this project, traditional blocks were combined with some experimentative and innovative ways of printing to arrive at interesting textures and surfaces.