The experience and journey in Madhubani is so overwhelming that I tend to just go on at times. But will try to put it all together into an interesting piece of read for everyone! And trust me it would be something you will definitely not find in Google or Wikipedia 🙂
If you are an art lover your very first step into the village and you will fall in love with the beauty around you, mud houses painted with local imagery, the greenery, the simplicity, all of it. Don’t drive, walk through. Each house, whether a brick one or a muddy one has a painted story on the outside. A peek inside the houses and you will find all their life rituals and festivals documented on the walls. Its a treat to the eye of a craft lover.
The people around would be happy to welcome you and explain what the paintings mean quite enthusiastically and narrate it in detail. I bet that is why people in villages know mythological stories so well…its part of their everyday life and work which gets passed on from generation to generation! There is so much thought, so much passion. The stories did strike a chord from my childhood days when my Naani used to narrate these stories and I would listen to her in complete awwww…and thats how I remember them too.
Watch some of these beautiful narrations from the best of the artists in the village and I bet you will fall in love with it too!!You can watch it here…. Studio Moya channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvDAruT4Pq0uIY7XSpSnMFw/
Interestingly, a lot of these artisans are either State awardees or National awardees, and have travelled all over the world but that hasn’t changed much in their lifestyle or their daily chores. The houses are still muddy, floors cow dung washed and the simplicity is remarkable.
My first trip to this village was way back in summer 2014, a totally unplanned trip with no agenda but just understanding the art from the artisans themselves. I am so glad that I went inspite of all odds, have only looked back at it with gratitude after that.
The Summer of Madhubani – A Project with Peter England
The Project with Peter England was a journey of sorts for me professionally and personally but came with an immense learning and a challenging fun assignment if I must say!?! We need many more of such initiatives if we really want to bring about a full circle sustainable development in craft sector.
The brief was to do a line of handpainted shirts with the Madhubani artisans but with modern interpretations that could connect with present day consumer.
Having worked in the corporate world for 5 years I definitely knew how fast things work from paper to reality in the shape of a wearable collection every 4-5 months. Attempting to turn around something like that in the artisan world where there are no timelines and each hand draws a different line was the biggest challenge of sorts.
This collection launched by the brand Peter England in SS 2016 was a one of its kind effort to connect crafts to mainstream fashion, something no brand of that stature had ever done. Whether it worked or it dint is secondary we must look into the processes that were built to achieve it and what more can be done to make more of such stories of craft.
The Beginning
We started with a 2 day workshop with the artisans. It was necessary to test waters if there was a possibility of converting a majorly painting form done on paper to a collection on fabric. Also the scope of designs that could be done or not. Traditional Madhubani forms are majorly mythological, flora and fauna sceneries etc. We needed something contemporary and wearable as menswear. We worked with over 50 artisans in Jitwarpur and the villages in and around Madhubani, experimenting on the patterns and motifs alongwith the PE design team and the master artisans. The workshop concluded successfully with a go ahead to the collection.
Next Step – The Setup
At the start of the project the first challenge was to device a system where the artisans could paint on running yardages effectively as they were used to working on painting sizes or at the max a 5.5 mtr saree.
Second was to achieve evenness and uniformity across the yardages and the third and most challenging was a commitment of timelines from the artisans!!
We built an infrastructure with long working tables (like those used in block printing) where yardages could be pinned and painted. 8 tables 20 artisans, mostly women, 1200 mtrs of fabric and 3 months to finish! We converted a house into a workshop for 3 months, painting true labour of love. While all seemed possible and organised, I very well knew that there is more to come!
Challenges Through the journey
It was a serious challenge to achieve evenness of designs with so many different hands working together! A lot of fabric got wasted initially, seemed like a never achievable task but we did sail through it with some hitches and glitches. In total we did 3 designs 400 mtrs each over a period of 5 months. We did get delayed in terms of timelines which were beyond control. Artisans and their work in villages are controlled by everything around them, be it weather, festivals, functions, marriages etc etc. Everything is important and you just can’t get away from it. They would not be guided by our corporate calendars where a product looses its essence if delivered way after the planned date in stores!
Working in the craft sector is a journey in itself, where each one has their own way of working and where there are no systems/processes to follow and you have to keep blending around. It does happen in the end but takes it own sweet time.
The Takeaways and Learnings
Only after completing this project did I realise that having a unique idea/concept is just the beginning of the story. To execute it and bring it to life the way it was imagined is actually the real deal. Whether the collection was successful or not there could be various answers/reasons to it but the journey of making it possible was definitely a victory of sorts and one of its kind. If we really want mainstream brands to connect with sustainable fashion these are the kind of challenges we must take and build them better and stronger.
I have always believed in pushing the limits, and this one was definitely one hell of IT!!
rashmiesiingh 