Upasana Design Studio

I am thrilled to dedicate my very first blog post to Upasana , a design studio based out of Auroville, Pondicherry.

A graduate of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Uma Prajapati started Upasana in 1997. The studio, in a pristine setting in Auroville, has designers from all over India and even abroad, conglomerating to work on creative adventures and journeys of self-discovery.

The studio's work has touched many lives. The team initiated the Tsunamika doll-making project as part of livelihood and rehabilitation work for the victims of the Tsunami that hit the region back in 2004. It's been a joy to be one of the ambassadors for the project here in North America. Please feel free to write to me to request Tsunamika for you/your children.

One of their most recent projects has been related to reviving the textile weaving craft traditions of Varanasi, India. Do read about the wonderful mission behind the project - what the crisis has been about and the solution that the designers have proposed and all the products they've created to revive and promote the weavers of Varanasi. The project is called Varanasi Weavers.

Retraining the weavers, re-orienting the products to suite the contemporary scene,creation of a weaver network and office to help them organize and seek the support and help they need, empowering women, and other general development oriented programs are some neat programs that the designers have been able to accomplish in a short amount of time. They've even been able to get some international orders for Varanasi silk scarves.

In their words, "The new range of Varanasi textiles developed under the project are very much rooted in the modern day context. The ease of use of the material and comfort of the wearer is emphasised in the new avatar of the Varanasi silk. The materials used are pure silk in black and natural colours. The motifs have been woven using zari and natural silk threads and are inspired by the traditional aesthetics of the weavers."
Oh, take a look at the simple and elegant designs of Varanasi..( the one below is called Mor Pankhi meaning, the feathers of peacock!)

Lot more designs here...Work of elegance and beauty!

Oh, these beautiful, hand-embroidered buttons that the Varanasi women are so skillful at making... Thanks to the revival, the women from the weavers' community can engage in creative, traditional hand-work and make these little beauties. More buttons here...

Best wishes to the team for more such creative and meaningful adventures!

Pictures courtesy: Upasana, Tsunamika & Varanasi Weavers.

Together, let's connect the dots...

My Indian bohemian spirit has never failed to get inspired by the ethnic and tribal arts of India... particularly the fabric arts from the villages of India - mainly bandhini, batik, and block-prints. Bandhini and Batik are tie-dye techniques. Block-prints involve the use of wooden blocks in making designs on fabric.

This blog is named after bandhini, the oldest tie-dyeing technique first originated in India, that has been in use for many hundreds of years. The tie-dye effect of bandhini, in fact looks like a bunch of white dots on a colorful fabric.

The inspiration for the words - "Together, let's connect the dots" comes from my 6 yr old who once remarked looking at one of my bandhini scarves, "Mom, it will be fun to connect all the dots on this bandhini scarf.." I totally got hooked on to the "connect the dots" statement imagined by a child. Thanks to my daughters as always for all the wonderful inspirations!

To me, bandhini represents two things...

"colors" and "community"

"Colors" because it comes in all colors of the rainbow...Truly stunning! Dots form the design. They come in different patterns and motifs such as mountains,leaves, animals, creepers, flowers etc. In Rajasthan, each festival, season and ritual has a particular design of Bandhini that gets made.

"Community" because like many artforms in India, Bandhini too is a cottage-industry craft where villagers in Rajasthan and Gujarat,work together to bring this beautiful artwork to the world and also earn a living.

With the free 'n' fair spirit that bandhini evokes inside me, I'm going to use this space exclusively to share lots and lots of inspirations for design and decor related articles, links, pictures and stuff from different parts of the world that are primarily "fair-trade" oriented.

Promoting fairtrade is my passion. I had a short stint managing an ebay store with products sourced from a few Indian NGOs that were members of the International Fair Trade Association. Although the store is no longer in existence owing to my little ones needing me to be a full-time mother and therefore, postpone working on it, my passion to spread the word about "fairtrade" hasn't died one bit.

I think blogging about fairtade and ethnic arts, handicrafts/handmade products will be a fun way to spread the word about all the wonderful work that people in different countries and communities do. Through this blog, I hope to help connect people to the good stuff that's out there...

Come, join me in this pursuit. Together, let's connect the dots for a better good.