Of Fibre and Loom: The Indian Tradition

Of Fibre and Loom: The Indian Tradition

By- Lotika Varadarajan and Krishna Amin-Patel

Published in association with National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Of Fibre and Loom: The Indian Tradition, is the product of collaborative work between a designer-weaver and an ethno-historian. It is through this joint research that the full range and depth of the textile tradition of the subcontinent is brought to view. Their mastery over the tools of technology and the discipline of ethno-history has created a synergy, which has
allowed the development of a unique focus in the investigations highlighting little known facts relating to the shaping of Indian sensibility.

The fibres covered include all varieties of silk, cotton in different counts, bast fibres such as ramie and jute as also animal fibres such as goat hair, camel hair and wool. The book begins with an exploration of the different kinds of looms, weaving mechanisms, the technology and processes involved before and after weaving, found in India. It then proceeds to trace the gradual refinements effected in loom technology, emphasizing the changes that were brought about in the weaves, weave structure and pattern.

The book also provides a detailed analysis of the products of the loom against a historical background of the various types of clothing and clothing accessories worn by men and women. The work closely knits the connections between loom technology, the variety of fibres used, the end product and the end user. This approach is bound to excite the interest both of ethnographers as well as textile historians. The loom is analysed as a croos-cultural artefact.

This necessarily leads to an examination of the correlations in the interfacings between
ecology, language and culture. From the wool weaving traditions of Kashmir, Kullu and Kinnaur to the Deccan horizons of Kanchipuram silks and from the Paithani repertoire to the Jamdani woven on the Yongkham loom of Manipur, this book is encyclopaedic in range. Illustrated with over 300 original photographs and line drawings of the loom and products, the book constitues a unique study and is the only one of its kind so far published. Apart from its appeal to academia, the work will also prove useful to the trade, drawing the attention of the exportr no less than the collector.

Lotika Varadarajan is an art and cultural historian and author of international repute with a varied background, all of which finds expression in her current work. Having spent her early years imbibing tribal culture in Assam, she pursued her higher studies at the Universities of Delhi and Bombay, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and Newnham College, University of Cambridge, UK. She has been associated with the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and National Institute of Science Technolog and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi. Widely travelled both within the country and outside, she has
number of articles and books to her credit.

Design Consultant and design educator, Krishna Amin-Patel is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, India. Having specialised in Textile Design, she joined and served as a full-time faculty member at NID from 1980-1999. As a design consultant, she has an enviable record of having been a member of creative design teams, led them and worked in areas of designing for the Indian market as well as for export. Currently residing in the USA, she has completed her Master of Fine Arts from the Arizona State University in 2002. She has in addition been a member of many important committees and visiting faculty at the Nottingham Polytechnic, UK, at Rhode Island School of Design, Penland School of Crafts, USA.

ISBN 81-7304-744-X 2008 308p. Rs.5000/ Pounds 90

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