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@textiledetours

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Tinkering with indigenous textiles & material cultures across India. Bringing stories of making from the land.

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Obeetee Craft Studio presented their stories of the beautiful wild silks in London.

For the past two years, the studio has been working alongside communities across Bengal and Jharkhand — listening, learning and celebrating the knowledge of reelers, spinners, weavers and embroidery artisans.

The appreciation, interest and enthusiasm shown by everyone was very encouraging.

#LTM2026 #Selvedge #ObeeteeCraftStudio #WildSilk #MaterialCulture by @textiledetours

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10 days ago

Obeetee Craft Studio presented Wild Silk: Material, Making & Textile Design for the 21st Century in London as part of Selvedge Textile Month.

The presentation explored tasar wild silk as a living material—shaped by generations of knowledge, skilled making and cultural exchange. Through research, material experimentation and weaving, the studio examined lesser-known textile constructions and reinterpreted techniques associated with 16th- and 17th-century Indo-Portuguese colchas, bringing tasar into dialogue with new craft communities and contemporary forms of design.

This forms part of Obeetee Craft Studio’s continuing enquiry into how traditional knowledge can shape the future of design: recovering endangered techniques, creating new possibilities for sustainable materials, and sustaining the makers and craft communities of Eastern India.

#WildSilk #ObeeteeCraftStudio #SelvedgeTextileMonth #TasarSilk #obeetee by @textiledetours

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11 days ago

Wild silk has a vocabulary all of its own, shaped by the hands, forests and communities that gather, spin and weave it into cloth.

We’re delighted to celebrate Obeetee Craft Studio’s involvement in this year’s London Textile Month programme with an article from the latest print issue of Selvedge, now available to read in full on Selvedge Online Stories.

The piece explores India’s semi-wild silks, tasar, muga and eri, and the Indigenous communities who sustain these remarkable textile traditions. From tasar’s tawny greys to muga’s shimmering gold, each silk carries the character of the landscape and the people who work with it.

At the heart of the story is Shreya Kanoi, who leads Obeetee Craft Studio and works across the tasar value chain in eastern India. Her work reminds us that preserving craft means preserving the entire ecosystem behind it: the farmers, spinners, reelers, toolmakers and weavers whose knowledge and labour bring the cloth to life.

This is the story we’ll be exploring further at London Textile Month, through an immersive audio-visual portrait of a wild silk weaving village, a walk-through of material archives, tools and surface ornamentation, and an open conversation with the audience.

Read the full article online, and join us at London Textile Month on Friday 18 September, 3-4 p.m., to experience the story in person.

@obeeteecraftstudio
@textiledetours

. . .

#LondonTextileMonth #LTM2026
#SelvedgeMagazine

#ObeeteeCraftStudio #TasarSilk #WildSilk #IndianTextiles #TextileCraft #CraftHeritage #IndigenousCraft #SlowTextiles #TextileTraditions #Handwoven #TextileEvents #LondonEvents #TextileTalks by @textiledetours

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a month ago

Wood, bamboo, stone, leather, mirror, beads, metal, jute - a nuanced play of materials brought about by the charming Manida (KG Subramanyan) in his exploration of toys for the Fine Arts Fair of 1969, Baroda. It's outstanding how these toys blend modernist expression with folk craft.

These lively, tactile forms originate from a remarkable material sensibility and understanding. I had the opportunity to take a closer look at them at the exhibition on KG's 70 years of work presented by @arthshila and @seagullindia . Completely wowed!

Images 5-10: Internet sources

#kgsubramanyan #finearts #baroda #toys #santiniketan #shantiniketan #msubaroda #modernart #indiaart #materialculture #craft #seagullbooks #materials #folk #sculpture #aesthetic by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

Press, fold, pinch, roll, stack, score, blend, flatten - these are the intrinsic gestures of working with clay. The figures of the Harappan civilization feel like a direct extension of human touch: pinched torsos, pressed and flattened limbs, scored textures, and rolled details - each mark bearing the imprint of the maker’s hands. It’s fascinating how these gestures remain timeless, the same fundamental actions we use today. They remind us that material intelligence is embedded in our bodies; we shape clay as we shape thought - instinctively, with a kind of primal fluency.

This is the deep continuity between ancient and contemporary craft - the language of hands remaining unchanged across time.

#materialculture #material #making #handmade #clay #terracotta #harappancivilization #gestures #tactile #mother #motherearth #tactile #materialintelligence #craft #primal #humantouch #sculpture #artifacts taken in National Museum, New Delhi by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

The aesthetics of tasar culture in Bengal - thigh reeling with the aid of mustard oil.

Ever so often, one can draw parallels between cooking and indigenous methods of textile making. The ingredients between the two are shared, with varied applications. Sometimes a byproduct of cooking, becomes an ingredient for the textile making - as in the way boiled rice starch is used for sizing the warp; or the use of tamarind to scour khadi cotton yarn.

And quite naturally so: both the tasks of cooking and pre-loom weaving preparations continue to be the women's stronghold in rural India. Their regular interaction with ingredients in the realm of their kitchen, gives them an innate understanding of their disposition, and subsequently, facilitates its assured use in the treatment of fibres and yarns.

Sadly, as with the case of home-making, her contribution to weaving is often neglected, both financially and otherwise.

#wildsilk #tussar #tasar #bengal #weaving #reeling #womeninweaving #cooking #textilesofindia by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

An experiential installation presented by Textile Detours at the seminal exhibition on 'Textiles of Bengal: A Shared Legacy' by the Weavers Studio Resource Center in Kolkata. The installation titled 'A Letter to My Teacher' revolved around the material culture of tussar weaving in Bengal #textiledetours #textilesofbengal #materialculture #tussarsilk by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

This hand-drawn picture is the tantubay (weaver) community's way of worshipping the loom in a particular hamlet in Birbhum. Smearing colour with their finger on the wall, they draw the chariot with the shuttle on left, and reed at the bottom. by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

The inimitable Kartik da talking about his love for Malkauns over cups of tea and bits of weaving.

"My father used to play the tabla very well. I tried to come closer to music, but it brushed past me in this life. In my next life, I surely want to be reborn as a musician." by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

The mighty tasar cocoon through its various stages: steamed, boiled, and with its coarser fibre reeled out.

#tasar #wildsilk #bengal #cocoon by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

Pierced cocoon of tasar
Birbhum, West Bengal

#tasar #wildsilk #weaving by @textiledetours

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2 years ago

Installations in focus: Indigo Is Red by Pradip Das and A Letter to My Teacher by Shreya Kanoi—an exquisite display of textiles that echo and celebrate the history and heritage of Bengal, now on view at the 4th floor of Kolkata Centre of Creativity.

Presented by @jsw.foundation
Venue partner @kccinkolkata
Supported by @gardenvareliofficial @obeetee @salarpuriagroup
@gaurangofficial @apeejaygroup @sdet_manjakkudi @manyavar @wurfel.in
Credits @soumyaprasadphotography

#IndigoIsRed #ALetterToMyTeacher #BengalHeritage #TextileArt #KolkataCentreOfCreativity #JSWFoundation #CulturalExhibition #ArtInFocus #Heritage #BengalArts #Textiles #KolkataEvents #ArtExhibition #MayankMansinghKaul #SupportLocalArtists by @textiledetours

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2 years ago