Thumping Nature

The art of block printing in India might be one of the oldest forms of aesthetic decoration in the world: in fact we think it began when civilization did. The ancient Indus Valley civilization from 3000 BC is said to have used block printing to ornament both their houses as well as their clothes.

Traditionally, wood was cut into 'blocks', and in it were carved intricate patterns of leaves, flowers, fish, peacocks and other curvaceous forms of nature. Through the centuries, this art form flourished, not only because of the ready availability of wood and carvers (in some case even temple sculptors) but also because of the universal appeal of its motifs.

Carving a wood block

Carved blocks

It is, however, an arduous process, from the carving of the wood blocks, to the creation of the organic dyes from diverse plants to the preparation of the right fabrics that will imbibe the print. The carving can take a single man up to ten days to complete, and each pattern, depending on the complexity of style, can use up to 50 blocks to create a complete story. Conversely, even if a single pattern is being used but in different colors, each dye requires its own wood block. But generations of genetics later, watching the men and women use the blocks, moving fast as an efficient chopping knife, never once spilling ink onto its neighboring pattern, is a wonder. They use strength, precision, speed all at once. Once a pattern is completed, the fabric must dry in the sun for a few days before the finishing process to sale. The total time to create a single piece of block printed cloth, therefore, can range from a few hours to a week.

On a visit to the famous town of Sanganeri outside Jaipur, I was witness to some of the oldest block printing studio work in Rajasthan. I remember leaving with a visceral sense of physicality, the thump thump thump of the blocks, the rhythm and the beat harmonizing with the fresh smell of crushed marigolds and indigo paste. I can still feel the damp darkness, the light in the color, the sound-that thump thump thump-and the eternal mystery of the application of the block to the final product.

Once the blocks are carved, they are drilled with a few tiny holes to let excess dyes out--but these now figure as patterns too. Atop the block is a small piece of wood that allows the hand to grip the block right, and after a few days of oil and use, the wood block begins moulding to the artists hands.

The fabric is stretched out onto a large table, and secured with pins. This fabric is bleached and pre-dyed, and then the printing begins. The block is dipped in dye, and then presses, gently, from one tip to another, the block onto a pre-drawn grid. Then the craftsman applies his other hand atop the one below and slams the back of the block. The edges of the block become maps, landing references for the block-printer to continue a large-scale pattern.

This process is repeated until a whole scene is created, a story, often about the way of the natural world. A common technique of traditional block-printing is to first create a border for the design. This border 'frames' nature, applies a constructed frame onto leaves and flowers that could otherwise grow wild and off the fabric.

After the pattern is done, the fabric is dried in the sun, and then steamed to remove excess fibres. It is re-dried, and ironed. This makes the colors both more vibrant as well as delivers a chic faded look to the block print. Accessories of all kinds are made in contemporary India using block printing, albeit with machines. The way to differentiate is with the borders. A machine can make a perfect border, but a block print will have a small error. It is in that little error that the beauty lies.

Perhaps, despite the lengthy arduous process, block printing is still so fashionable is because, very simply it is beautiful. Leaf patterns often instill within us a sense of fertility, of growth and life and shade and balm. In nursery school, we used to print with our thumbs, with potatoes. It is instinctive for us, childlike even, to dip into paint, and go for it.

Inspired by this process of block printing our designers attempt to take them a step forward in design as patterns for our floor furnishings. Here are some to share with you.

 

Text: Wooly Eyes
Image & video courtesy: Google images and Youtube
The block print design patterns are a copyright of Raj Overseas and no part whatsoever in form, colour and layout can be replicated. 

The Magic Carpet

A stripe is a line, set horizontal or vertical against a single plane. 'Stripes' then, are a series of lines, parallel to each other, defining the space that they inhabit through a system of recurrence. 

The fascinating aspect of lines is that whilst we see them everywhere, they're imaginary. When I think of stripes, I think of latitudes and longitudes, of maps. Though curvilinear, maps are a series of lines drawn in certain patterns to define spaces. They divide as they unite. 

New Stripes by Mitch Trale

So to think that a rug made in an Indian factory flies, magically, across borders and shows up in a living room on the Upper East Side, is what makes the design of stripes a particularly luring one. 

Sand I

Whilst borders and boundaries have always been contested however, the pattern of stripes is simple and sans much refute. They lie alongside each other, in symbiosis, parts of a whole, creating a pattern that is predictable and continuous. It is this continuity that allows stripes to become functional too: A tall person must wear horizontal stripes to cut their height, a short person must wear vertical stripes to elongate their figure. Similarly, a rug with vertical stripes must be placed lengthwise in a room to make it appear longer, breadthwise to make the room appear wider. 

Sloper

Like latitudes and longitudes that define countries in relation to each other, stripes establish relationships between color. A darker color striped on a lighter color, will make the darker one appear as though it is the top layer. This is how designers utilize stripes: as tools that are both simple and infinitely complex, and whilst having a definite start and finish, appear to continue infinitely. 

Smith Stripe

Just as the striped Magic Carpet flies over thousands of imaginary lines, to land in a house made from lines, transcending borders and making peace with itself. Lines, everywhere, are the same. 

Text: Wooly Eyes

Images: Rugs by Raj Collection

The Sea.

The eye of the mind is constantly drawing connections, making patterns. It is in these connections that art is created, and it is in the transformation of art into functional objects that our lives are made. 

Rugs by Raj has large collections of Marine inspired carpets, particularly for those with holiday homes by the sea or in warmer areas that need cooler tones. In touring the factory, I was struck by the shape and sheer beauty of the wheels of yarn, and when I began looking to find the source of their Marine inspirations, it struck me that the shape and weight of a seashell is quite alike a spinning wheel. 

Marine inspired designs

Here is a collection of seashells and the diverse manifestations that they assume, and the wheels of yarn that finally create the rugs.

 

The colors of the sea contain all the elements of the earth, wind, water, fire, earth and metal. The sea is associated with vastness, with mortality and with immortality. It's air is moist, foamy yet light. A tapestry that reflects the colors of the sea necessarily reflects these emotions. Sea shells, thus are associated with that which is left behind, carved by the wind and the water, childlike, colorful, mysterious and full of treasures.

Thematically designed rugs, www.rugsbyraj.com

Thematically designed rugs, www.rugsbyraj.com

Wet your eyes with shells and yarn, and weave a story in whose infinite possibilities you can swim in.

Text: Wooly Eyes
Image Courtesy: Rugs by Raj collection and Google Images

Moods and foods!

Sometimes, you want your whole life to be like food. Fresh and delicious and colorful and hardy and gentle and perishable and full of juice and whole and crunchy and salty and sweet and raw and real. 

This week, I had the opportunity to see the fascinating compilations of the Mood Boards created by Rugs by Raj. They come up with a seasonal theme, like slow food, and then scour popular culture for inspirations. One of the parallels was the color, architecture and emotion of food. Different vegetables, fruits, grains have different aesthetics and these can be composed to create an entire color palette for a theme. 

  

Additionally, food is universal. At the Rugs by Raj factories, small town people are weaving tapestries that find their way to the largest and most beautiful homes in the world. Though strangers to each other, they are borne of the same element. 

Here is the Eco Chic mood board compiled with a 'plate' of food. Each color of food provides a nurtritional value as it does an aesthetic one on textiles, and when combined, they look beautiful, maintain a balanced diet which lends to the harmony of the mind and the body. See the parallels? 

Artichokes- Structure

Avocado- Texture

Beets- Pigment

Bread- Density

Color- Shape

Eco Chic- Architecture

Fish- Weight

Food- Color

Ginger- Form 

Mangostines- Manner

Peels- Memory

Text: Wooly eyes

Images: Courtesy images from the world wide web