Meena Raste (right) trades stitches with one of the Banjara embroiderers (left) Charllotte Kwon watches.

In Part 1 we identified some of the problems associated with costing embroidery. We closed the post with a hint that we had something on this trip that would be very helpful.


Not something, as it turns out, but someone. We invited Meena Raste from KMVS to help troubleshoot some of the issues that the young co-operative, Surya's Garden, might be having.

Meena and Jan go over the costing of a piece of embroidery.

Meena has been working with KMVS embroiderers for almost 20 years. She can tell how much thread an embroidery will use just by looking. She knows all the tailoring techniques that will finish a piece and give it the best presentation. And she has worked with a large number of distinct tribal groups, each one embroidering in a unique traditional style.

Meena Raste (centre) outside the Maiwa store during the 2005 Textile Symposium. Latchuben (left) and Parmaben (right) also came from the Kutch region to speak about embroidery.

As Meena worked with the Banjara Embroiderers, she remarked that the names the Banjara had for the stitches were almost the same as the names that the tribal embroiderers from Kutch used. The cloth was passed back and forth as each would complete a set of stitches and then talk about them. Meena was very animated. Embroidery is her world. Visiting this group of Banjara women was like discovering a new continent. Everything was familiar, yet at the same time so very different.

Embroidered collars.

Embroidered dresses by the pool, complete with blooms.

And so the afternoon drew to a close. With our work successfully accomplished we had a sunset date with one of the famous Hampi temples. read about it in the next post.