Woven Stories That Draw Inspiration From Source

For centuries the weavers of Kutch produced cotton and wool fabrics for nomadic Rabaris and settled Ahirs in a sustainable network of cultural exchange that went beyond commercial providers and clients. Each ethnic community required a unique range of fabrics, with different patterns and colors reflecting age, marital status, and occasion. Kutch weavers reliably understood and responded to their needs. But in the 1960s, industrialized weaving technologies that could quickly and inexpensively produce popular items, shawls in particular, endangered the livelihoods of traditional weavers. Many left the trade, but others chose to adapt.

Artist Pachan Premjibhai Siju has reimagined these modern shawls and works with his family to weave them according to tradition. He begins with natural fibers including cotton, wool (both Merino and local), bamboo, and Tassar and Eri silk. Premjibhai Siju then dyes the yarns, their colors being inspired by the colors and textures of clouds and earth. His mother prepares the warp while his wife and brothers’ wives wind the bobbins for weaving and create finishing elements like tassels. Along with his two brothers, Pachan does the weaving on a four-pedal pit loom with a flying shuttle, inserting extra weave patterns by hand. “These are the places I innovated on our traditional extra weave motifs to tell my stories, which I think about as I weave,” he explains.

Pachan’s collections always tell stories, his last collection he brought to IFAM was about the impact of climate change on the world. This year he drew inspiration from his mother. “The word for Mother in Gujarati is Ma – it is the same word all over the world. Our greatest inspiration comes from our mothers, but we continue to forget that. If we remain inspired by our mother we will always go in the correct path. I asked my mother about how to live properly and she gave me many good examples. I have woven this into my collection with love. I also took inspiration from a Gujarati folk song on how you can travel the world but you will never find food as sweet as that made by your mother. I put a QR code on my tag with a link to the song and a photo of my mother.”