2018 opened with a trip into rural Bengal to teach natural dye use. It was a colourful experience. We posted the whole story in three parts on the Maiwa blog.

As a follow up to this post, when we returned to Bengal in November 2018, the group we were working with had naturally dyed enough yarn to make over 500 finished saris - that's a lot of dyeing.

The Craft Council of British Columbia honoured four individuals during it's special "Evening of Recognition" in March 2018.  Here, Robert Jekyll presents Maiwa founder Charllotte Kwon with the Robert Jekyll Award for Leadership in Craft. Charllotte received the award for the year 2017 through the Canadian Craft Federation. During the evening Keith and Celia Rice-Jones  received the CCBC Hilde Gerson Award and Barbara Duncan received the CCBC Citizen of Craft Award. Congratulations to everyone.

Welcome to the gift economy. In May 2018 we grew indigo seedlings and gave them away to customers. We like to think everyone should know where natural indigo blue comes from. We also gave away tiny vials of seeds for those who wanted to try growing their own. There was an exhibition of indigo textiles from the Maiwa collection and a full day of demonstrations in front of Maiwa Supply. See more photos in our blog post.

In July we hosted another in-store event centered on natural dyes. This time it was the body adornment known as Mehndi. Found throughout India, much of the Arab world and used in many different cultures, mehndi is popular at celebrations and festivals. The designs turn the skin a reddish brown and last for a few weeks. Here is our Mehndi post.

At Maiwa East we got our indigo vats going again for a special "Stop Buy and Overdye" event in August. People brought their Maiwa garments and we dipped them in natural indigo.

In March, Charllotte Kwon presented her lecture "Waiting for the Monsoon: Slow Clothes in India" at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Charllotte had been invited to give the Annual Sinton Lecture in the Koret auditorium. Charllotte traveled with books and textiles from the Maiwa Collection.

The Granville Island Fashion Show was held in April, Maiwa was there. The show put the spotlight on Granville Island fashion. There was much to celebrate; from clothing to music to jewellery, to all the incredibly talented makers.

TSA 2018 was held in Vancouver, Canada in September. It was an honour to have so many people in town who have done so much to further our understanding of textiles. Maiwa opened up its textile collection for two events; Melody Borosevich and Sophena Kwon staged an exhibition in the Maiwa store; Sophena presented a dyeing demonstration and is seen here next to "Chronos" a time traveller costumed by Nicole Dextras. Charllotte Kwon delivered the closing plenary for  the conference: "Weavers Without Borders: The Fabric of Trade."

These garter-stitch-based fingerless mitts are a marvel of flowing textures, colour-work, and edge treatments. 

It is easy to fit these mitts to the hands of any child or adult. Students often comment that this is the first fingerless mitt that really fits. They are knit flat in garter stitch, with designs around the wrist and a nearly invisible side seam that is knit, not sewn. Any mitt can become cuffs by eliminating the thumb and shortening the hand and arm; these cuffs can even become sweater cuffs. Less than one skein of DK or light worsted weight yarn will make a pair of mitts, or several pairs of shorter cuffs.

AS A BONUS, participants will also receive patterns for Cat's as yet unpublished series of cowls inspired by the mitts’ simple construction.

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In this highly creative workshop suitable for both the novice and the experienced artist, participants will be guided through the steps of making an art cloth. The workshop will explore a number of pattern-making techniques, including block-printing, mono-printing, hand-painting, stencilling, screen-printing, and mark-making. In addition, collage and piecing with image transfers, antiquing, washes, and finishing will be covered. Students will complete several inspiring projects, including a finished art cloth. 

The finished works can be used as floor coverings (floorcloth), wall mounted in traditional frames, used as table runners, hung as posters, or combined into other projects.



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Natural indigo is the famous blue dye used throughout India. The Maiwa Foundation is building infrastructure to encourage the use of natural indigo (derived from plants) rather than synthetic indigo (synthesized from petrochemicals). We are also encouraging the use of a natural fermentation process in dyeing whenever possible.

Traditional dyeing with natural indigo is accomplished through a fermentation vat. This process is difficult (if not impossible) to do in a shallow plastic pan or a metal pot. As with other fermentation processes (wine, beer, bread) the enzymes which drive the process are sensitive to temperature and environmental conditions.

Traditionally clay vessels are used that may be anywhere from 3 to 10 feet deep. The deeper vessels require more dye to get started, but they can run longer without removing the sediment (which gradually builds up on the bottom of the vat). Deeper vats can also accommodate lengths of cloth. The vats are buried in packed earth to stabilize the temperature. Sometimes they are surrounded on the outside with goat dung. The dung breaks down (like compost) and acts like a slow-release heater to keep the vat active during the winter.

The Maiwa Foundations identifies artisans who are enthusiastic to return to traditional methods. Maiwa will purchase and oversee the installation of traditional vats. In addition the Maiwa Foundation provides training in traditional methods as well as trouble shooting and sourcing natural indigo.

Your donation will assist in the purchase of the pot itself, transport, preparation and installation. The Maiwa Foundation hopes to remove barriers to authentic artisan work.

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