As a kid, i remember fabric vendors from villages coming to our home to sell those authentic block printed bedsheets and all the aunties around would gather to choose their favourites as they would come to sell only in the festive season . Also, this means i must have spent my entire childhood sleeping in those never fading , never wearing bedsheets which had to be finally given away to the housemaids. Besides i also remember them selling block-printed kurta materials which mom would get stitched into stylish comfort wear.
And then what followed was the fad of fast fashion brands which became our most ambitious buys as newly working graduates. Fast forward 2019, i am slowly discovering my love for all things hand-made . There is something so real about clothing which is hand-printed - just like this beautiful Knot Wrap blouse from Inderooh . All products from Inderooh are hand-made & hand-printed in Jaipur on high quality cotton fabrics .
Owning a block-printed clothing is like owning a piece of art. This art form lost its lustre with the industrial revolution where similar designs could now be mass produced with less labour and within so little time.
I wanted to see how block printing really works and i found a story on their website. I was amazed how this art form is such a well-coordinated job where different skills are required at different levels to just arrive at one little block of design! I am not even going into the hand printing process yet.
The designer first creates a design complete with its colours . The design then moves on to "Block carvers" who meticulously translate this design on paper into a block of wood. Imagine such intricate patterns being carved into wood which in itself is a difficult skill. Once the block is ready - its then used to print outlines on the fabric and this can take a lot of time and precision as the placement of block should be symmetrical. Once the outlines are printed - the next step is to fill color with the blocks which again requires precision as the color should coincide with the outlines.
With so much creative labour that goes behind block-printing , i can't help but jump into the sustainable fashion bandwagon with my vote for this beautiful art form. I hope we can continue to love and cherish the traditional art forms irrespective of our fast fashion consumption .
( *Both brands ship internationally )
-----------------Shot by the talented Dalingcebo. Check out his work on instagram-----------------
TILL NEXT TIME, CIAO !
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ila