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the MAIWA JOURNAL

Bhole Khan - Master Blockcutter
October 14, 1948 - November 26, 2009



We are sad to relate the passing of artisan, master craftperson, and friend Bhole Khan last Thursday the 26th of November. All the blocks that we sell in the Maiwa stores come from this family. No journey to India was complete without a visit to his block carving studio in Sanganer. Here, in a simple room that opened onto the street, a symphony of tapping, sawing and sanding would progress throughout the day. Using small hand chisels and wooden mallets, artisans under his direction would create the intricate wooden blocks that are used in the traditional blockprinting of fabric. In an art that is often imitated by the silkscreen process, the talents and skills of artisan block carvers faced an uncertain future. But with renewed interest in traditional techniques the studio flourished. Often his designs were so beautiful that we would commission blocks to be made simply to exist on their own. These were a vibrant reflection of his skill, vision and character.

Bhole Khan is survived by his wife, three sons and three daughters. The family will continue to run the block making studio.



Monday, November 30, 2009 No comments
[Update: Loon Lake is about an hour outside of Vancouver. Directions are here.]

Vancouver Guild of Fibre Arts presents the
Fibres on the Forest Retreat March 29, - April 9, 2010

Its an incredible setting and a great lineup of workshops and instructors. Tall trees, blue water, and peaceful surrounding - Loon Lake Research & Education Centre is the perfect spot to create.

The VGFA also invites you to join them for their 40th anniversary dinner on April 3, 2009 at Loon Lake. Barbara Shelly will be the inspirational speaker.

Follow the links for more information on the retreat, the list of workshops offered, Loon Lake, or the VGFA.



Friday, November 27, 2009 No comments

Anyone who has lost a set of keys probably knows about the TB Vets KeyTag Service. (Add a tag to your ring and if you loose your keys and someone else finds them, they will be mailed back to you). Now the same group has issued a coupon book for Vancouver promoting "Local Savings for Sustainable Living." The coupons are targeted toward organics, restaurants, eco-friendly products, health and fitness, cultural activities, and getaways.

Maiwa has two coupons in the book. The first is for 20% off a one-time clothing purchase, the second is for 20% off a one-time bedding purchase. Is it a good deal? Well the book (which costs $20) could pay for itself with one purchase- leaving you with over 290 other coupons - and the key tag.

The books are available in the Maiwa stores and at a variety of other Vancouver locations.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 No comments

We have just received a shipment at Maiwa East of over 30 DOGAG carpets. The order contains both luxurious pile carpets and incredible flat weaves. All colours on these carpets are from natural dyes and some of the carpets feature a rare violet which is obtained from cold dyeing madder with an iron mordant.

DOBAG is a Turkish anachronym which identifies the Natural Dye Research and Development Project. The project is a women's carpet weaving co-operative that celebrates the traditions of Anatolian weaving.

The seeds of DOBAG were first planted in 1960 with the arrival in Istanbul of a German professor of sciences, Dr. Harald Bohmer. Dr. Bohmer was taken with the richness of the material culture. But while frequenting the carpet bazaars and museum collections, he became aware of a shift in color harmony around the time of industrialization. With the introduction of synthetic dyes and a growing demand for production in the world market, carpets began to lose their natural (plant based) sympathetic color harmony. With the aim of reintroducing natural dyes the DOBAG project was born. More information can be found on the Maiwa web site.

Here are some samples from the new shipment.










Friday, November 20, 2009 No comments
Our latest video podcast just went up.

Part 1 - Introduction & Presentation
Ashoke Chatterjee


In part one Charllotte Kwon introduces Ashoke Chatterjee and explains the application process for a Canadian visa (Mr. Chatterjee, an Indian dignitary with flawless credentials was denied a visa to visit Canada). Ashoke presents the first part of his lecture with visuals via an internet connection to our Vancouver audience.

[Update: The Times of India ran this piece on the 17th of November. For more information on the visa denial as well as the full text of Charllotte Kwon's introduction please see the Maiwa Blog post The Real Barriers to Trade.]

Recorded live at the Maiwa Textile Symposium 2009. This is a video podcast and it contains the images presented during the lecture.

Subscribe in iTunes

Craft may seem timeless - but it is, in fact, tossed on a constantly changing sea of social, political, and economic currents. Few have been able to navigate these waters as skillfully as Ashoke Chatterjee who, among his other achievements, has been the Executive Director of the National Institute of Design (India), and President for many years of the Crafts Council of India.

Mahatma Gandhi dreamed of India’s independence and used localised hand production as a weapon against colonial rule. Later, Gandhi’s legacy helped shape craft development within national planning. But contemporary globalization dreams of market influence, often at the expense of independence. The shift between paradigms has had far-reaching effects for human development in all countries, especially in the craft sector.

Mr. Chatterjee will explore India’s craft experience: the social, economic, and political challenges found in the transition from the independence movement to the present era of so-called “liberalization.” Mr. Chatterjee will draw on governmental and civil society experience and his experience with the current effort by the Craft Council of India to create a national economic survey of the craft sector.

ASHOKE CHATTERJEE

Ashoke Chatterjee’s teaching and training activities have a focus on the management of design in industry and in the social sector. He has worked to guide projects in the areas of communication, health, education, craft regeneration, ecology, and conservation. Following 25 years at the National Institute of Design, he has been involved with institutional development at Shristi School of Design (Bangalore), Indus Valley School of Design and Architecture (Karachi), Royal College of Art (UK), and Kala Raksha Vidyalaya (Bhuj).

Mr. Chatterjee’s development experience includes consultancies and training conducted on behalf of the National Institute of Design, National Drinking Water Mission (Govt. of India), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Govt. of India, New Delhi), Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (Geneva), National AIDS Control Organization (Govt. of India, New Delhi), UNICEF (India and New York), UNFPA (New Delhi), World Conservation Union (IUCN, Geneva), National Conservation Strategy of Pakistan (Islamabad), World Bank (New Delhi), Ford Foundation (New Delhi), Gujarat AIDS Prevention & Control Unit (GAP, Ahmedabad), Centre for Environment Education (Ahmedabad), Department of Health (Government of Gujarat), and on behalf of several NGOs working on health and environmental issues.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 No comments


During the 2007 symposium one of the highlights was Elizabeth Barber's lecture on the Urumchi mummies. This year we invited Elizabeth back to deliver a lecture based on her very successful book Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years.

The auditorium held a capacity audience and Elizabeth was in top form as she worked through the threads of anthropology, linguistics, archeology and textile science that formed the basis of her lecture. The resulting talk was far ranging, as might be expected when covering such a time span, but also of remarkable depth. Elizabeth is a formidable speaker, often putting the pieces of evidence together like a detective closing a case. After a very energetic question and answer session Elizabeth inscribed some of her books for the audience.

Our last speaker in the 2009 lecture series was Mimi Robinson. She delivered a well illustrated presentation showcasing her work with design students from the Rhode Island School of Design and the collaborations that took place between designers and cultures from Central and South America. After the presentation Mimi was joined on stage by Ann Hudner who led a discussion on Mimi's projects and helped to field questions from the audience.



Monday, November 16, 2009 No comments

Representatives from the Artisans Alliance of Jawaja were invited to Canada to participate in the 2009 Maiwa Textile Symposium. In preparation for that event the group worked with Anitha Balachandran and Siddhartha Chatterjee and India's National Institute of Design (NID) to create a presentation that would help tell the story of Jawaja.

The presentation is now available online as a PDF. It may be downloaded directly here.
Friday, November 13, 2009 No comments
[Update. The presentation is now available online as a PDF. It may be downloaded directly here.]


On Tuesday October 27th, the Artisans Alliance of Jawaja presented their lecture. Because the artisans had been denied visa's to visit Canada the lecture was held via a web connection. For the artisans it was a very early morning. They had to get up long before dawn and make their way to the Ravi J Matthai Centre where a video conferencing system had been set up by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA). Our connection was to be established at 6 pm which meant 6:30 am for the artisans.

At 7 we started. Each of the representatives of the Artisan's Alliance of Jawaja stepped close to the camera and introduced himself. Ashoke Chatterjee gave an introduction to the Alliance and summarized the situation facing them. We showed a presentation prepared by Jawaja with assistance from Anitha Balachandran and Siddhartha Chatterjee in conjunction with India's National Institute of Design (NID). (We are presently reformatting this presentation for online distribution.) Once the presentation concluded the members of the Artisan's Alliance - which represents both weavers and leatherworkers - answered questions from the audience.

The questions were very detailed and showed that the audience had both a familiarity with the Jawaja situation and a good understanding of the challenges facing craftspeople throughout the world.

The artisans were impressed to have such a strong show of support for their craft. The highlight of the evening came when the audience were asked "How many of you have Jawaja bags?" Almost every hand went up. "Could you show them?" The camera panned the audience and a sea of waving bags.

The next day we received a letter from Ashoke Chatterjee, which we are pleased to reprint here:

Dear Charllotte, Tim and all at Maiwa:

Thanks to you all for hanging in there, and for making this opportunity possible for the artisans, as well as for me. Despite the inevitable disappointment over the visa fiasco, I think the Jawaja weavers and leather artisans have come out of this experience stronger and more motivated. I think they better understand the respect and regard which they have earned, as well as the responsibilities that have come with that achievement. And also a more practical awareness of the barriers which exist, as well as of the opportunities. The real work starts now!

Siddhartha and Anitha did a wonderful job. This presentation can have a major impact for the artisans in their own communities --- it is the first time they can hold their experience in their hands, so to speak, and share it with others effectively. Siddhartha and Anitha will work out some way to have a Hindi voice-over so that it serves as a 'tool' for advocacy and pride and empowerment. I believe the new generation of artisans will find it particularly significant. I know the Crafts Council can use it in many ways to build a greater awareness of today's craft world as seen from the artisans' perspective. The Craft Revival Trust has a regular lecture series in Delhi, and the presentation may be useful for them as well, and to other development activists outside the crafts. So Maiwa has given us more than just the video-conferencing opportunity!

Hope the Symposium went well, and look forward to learning of its outcome.

With warm regards,

Sincerely, Ashoke

Look for the Jawaja lecture as one of our first podcasts of our new season. We will put a notice up on this blog when we post the Jawaja presentation.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 No comments

CRACKERJACK 2009 - one of the North Shore's premier fine craft shows, has found a new home at The Music Box and Silk Purse Studio on Bellevue Avenue in West Vancouver.

This year the show will take place on Friday evening November 13, Saturday November 14 and Sunday November 15 and will feature many North Shore artists such as Celia Pickles, Rosalind Aylmer, Bonnie Adie, Maggi Kneer, Anne Marie Andrishak, Sheila Morissette, Leslie McGuffin and Lemonpark. Also furniture and other beautiful accessories have been loaned by Maiwa Handprints and will be for sale.

This very successful fine craft event and sale was begun to promote the work of artists whose creations have found favour with the public, but who do not neccessarily have an established gallery presence. Since the beginning, CRACKERJACK has gained a reputation as THE place to find beautiful and unusual art and craft pieces. This show has attracted growing crowds, forcing the move to a new location.

CRACKERJACK features wearable textiles, jewllery, ceramics, wall hangings and seasonal decorations as well as unusal pieces by hand picked fine craftspeople from B.C.'S lower mainland. Here you will find everything for the discerning collector or the individual seeking that perfect gift.

Please visit on Friday November 13, 7-10 pm for a reception to meet the artists. The sale continues Saturday November 14, 11 am - 6 pm and Sunday November 15, noon - 6 pm at both The Music Box, 1564 Argyle Ave., West Vancouver and next door at the Silk Purse Studio.

For more information please contact Crackerjack@shaw.ca

Monday, November 09, 2009 No comments

On October 25th, Bappa (Bappaditya) Biswas delivered his lecture When we work with Weavers. He described his childhood growing up as the only son in a joint family with the heavy expectation that he would take over the family plantation of tea and pineapple in Bengal. Bappa kept getting away, however, and he made the decision to work with handweavers as part of his formal education in the arts. It was not an easy beginning - the weavers would have to turn down paid work in order to commit to Bappa's project and few were willing to do so. Eventually, Bappa found one weaver who was willing to take that chance - a skilled weaver who had polio when he was young. He could not weave as quickly as the others but he was knowledgeable and willing to experiment.

Bappa now has several families working from their homes. "we must be very careful before we take someone on" he said. "because we commit to providing employment throughout the year." Bappa also gave a short history of the region and explained how weaving communities were formed and migrated. The question and answer session was lively and the audience appreciated the generous spirit and humour which came through in Bappa's talk.


On October 26th Denise Lambert spoke about the revival of Woad by Bleu de Lectoure. This european blue has been found on the shutters of stone farmhouses in the south of France. The paint was centuries old yet it held its colour - retaining a hue that the French know as pastel. It took more than two years working with chemists from the University of Toulouse for the Lamberts to uncover the original fermentation, extraction, and dyeing processes to get blues from the woad plant. In an antiques store one day, fate helped them out: they stumbled upon a notebook that belonged to Napoleon’s chemist.

Denise gave a fast paced lecture that packed a substantial amount of information into her time on stage. After her presentation Denise called Henri up to explain some of the chemistry. He was also able to talk about the incorporation of woad pigment into plastics and other media. The couple appeared completely attired in woad dyed clothing - down to Henri's eyeglass frames.

Friday, November 06, 2009 No comments

Slow clothes are a journey in the making. Tonight we will showcase four compass points on that journey. Each maker that we will feature is in full stride – with one foot in the traditional territory of the past and one foot already placed in the optimistic landscape of the future.

Before we travel through the four quadrants of tonight’s world, let me first introduce you to the ideas behind slow clothes.

Slow clothes are both an objective and a garment. We might call slow clothes "humanist" clothing because of the concern for the people in every stage of production. When we make slow clothes we begin with the source fibers. If it is a wool, fleece, silk or hair we ask what animals provide it. Who are the farmers? How and where is the farming done? What is the relationship of the farmers to the local communities. When we harvest a plant fiber we seek to know how it is grown. It is an eye-opener to do any research into conventional cotton. Equally it is inspirational to visit an organic cotton farmer.

These fibers are transformed into thread. Already they have set themselves apart from other fibers. The human hand can accommodate the unique character of these fibers. In contrast fibers which are processed by machine must meet the demands of the machine. Usually this means only one variety of cotton or silk.

When these fibers are woven or knitted into cloth and garments, once again, the slowness of hand production permits a variety of techniques which are impossible with high speed power looms.

In the cases when the cloth is block printed, stitched, embroidered, appliquéd, tie died, batiked, it becomes more remarkable still. The cloth may become rare and take on a singular beauty through being coloured by a single dye. And so in the end we have a garment which, even though it is commendable as a thing in itself, for it’s design, the cut and detail of its style, is really remarkable because is has a voice and tells the stories of its own making.

It is part of a community of makers, farmers, planters and artisans. IT brings these communities together in a dance of combinations that ends with you. You. Each and every person in the audience tonight. By simply being in this audience you have issued the command that has gone from the designers to the tailors to the sewers to the blockprinters to the maker of dyes, to the farmer of fibers. You are part of something greater than you may ever know.


Maiwa
These garments represent our deep commitment to artisans, hand embellishment and pattern. We believe that these clothes speak of the wisdom of the sensual world.



Bleu de Lectoure
For centuries the French perfected woad blues. They referred to this colour as an “ennoblement” not as a dye, because they believed that the colour ennobled the fabric. Today woad has been revived by the team of Henri and Denise Lambert. The subtle shades of pastel blue are once again living up to their nobel past.



Qiviuk
Hand spun from the downy undercoat of the Arctic musk ox, the knowledge and skill to spin qiviuk exists in the traditional cultures of Peru. A heritage of working with Guanaco, Vicuña, and Alpacca has resulted in a combination of talents that reaches across hemispheres.




Bai Lou
Known since roman times for their unsurpassed skill at spinning and handloom, the artisans of Bengal make weaving a part of each day. As one walks a pathway through the verdant landscape, the sound of flying shuttles comes from every home. Bappa Biswas works alongside artisans to collaborate on the designs of these exquisite pieces.







Monday, November 02, 2009 No comments
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      • In Memoriam - Bhole Khan
      • Fibres in the Forest
      • New to the store - Green Zebras
      • New to the store - DOBAG carpets
      • From Gandhi to Globalization - Part 1
      • Elizabeth Barber & Mimi Robinson
      • Jawaja Presentation goes online
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      • From Bengal Weaves to French Blues
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