Re- ‘A little added, a little lost’: engineered fabrics

‘Re-’  A hand-woven translation of the theme ‘restoration’  for Akaaro, Delhi.

    

The collection is inspired by a personal motivation to restore or create  balance, of the past and the present, of the vernacular and the exotic that connect to create a sense of continuity and security. Beautiful natural fibres of cotton and silk in sepias and greys are woven upon, with deep and bright coloured patterns composing textile pieces that one would want to touch, feel and wear.

 

The pieces of textiles created during this project attempt to bring together a feeling of the vintage at the same time, contemporary. The inspiration emerged from a personal interest in ‘restored’ things and objects and the idea that ‘a little is lost, and a little bit of the new is added to the original’ in the process of restoring.   Old photos, saris, Boro textiles of Japan, old rugs, antiquities in museums, restoration of architecture, of furniture, of art, of maps etc were all initial areas of interest. Textures, colours and patterns from many of these, especially from a furniture restoration warehouse were taken forward as references to make artworks. The artworks that emerged found an interesting parallel in Artist Paul Klee’s work. All these together formed the inspiration board for this collection.