Weaving Indian Art: tradition, contemporaneity and design

The story of the excellence of Indian yarns is one of the oldest in the world, to such an extent that the first dyed fabrics found in the region are said to date back to 2500 BC. Since ancient times, textiles from that part of the world were so renowned that in Ancient Greece and Babylon the word "India" was synonymous with "cotton." With such a significant background, it is easy to see why textiles have been, and still remain, deeply intertwined with Indian culture and art, as well as its contemporary society. 

This formed the starting point for the conversation held during the last Salone del Mobile edition at the Library of Light, the luminous rotating sculpture designed by Es Devlin  for the Salone del Mobile in the centre of the seventeenth century Cortile d’Onore at the Pinacoteca di Brera. Taking part were the interior designer and influencer Vinita Chaitanya, the writer and university lecturer Urmila Chakraborty and the consultant and founder of Border&Fall, Malika Verma. Underpinning the talk – appropriately entitled Weaving Indian Art – was the fact that Indian textiles have been a refined art form for centuries, embodying skills, tradition and cultural identity.  

The range of these beautiful textiles is wide and starts from skilfully-woven thread,  culminating in intricate fabric draperies. Muga silk, for example, is obtained by unrolling the cocoon of the silkworm, obtaining a smooth and shiny material (entirely different from Eri silk, spun as if it were wool, soft and opaque). Many thousands of examples of decoration exist, including the intricate embroideries using metal thread, known as zardosi, highly esteemed by the Mughal emperors. Few people today remember that chintz, highly sought-after in Europe during the 1600s, came from India and was known as kalamkari – while the much-exported paisley pattern is known in Northern India as buta or boteh. Despite so much creative expression, thanks to the British colonial exploitation of the local economy, in the Western world, Indian textiles have been relegated to the category of craftsmanship for too long, rather than being recognised as an art in their own right. 

Malika Verma reminded the audience of the purpose of this discussion: the increasingly blurred boundaries between art and craftsmanship. Which is why it is crucial to ask a fundamental question: can the recognition of Indian textiles as an art form enhance the work of craftspeople? “Broadly speaking, the craft sector requires greater economic value placed on the maker, skill and end object. We still have a lack of accountability and transparency in that regard. Perhaps recognising it as an art form is one way to achieve this, given that industry has more formalised systems of value,” she said.