New Hand Painted Collection from Silpinwita Das — Natural Dyes From Bengal
HAND PAINTED CLOTH
Hand painting cloth with natural dyes is an ancient practice in India, known as kalamkari—which translates to “pen work.” The freedom to place natural colour in a painterly way requires considerable skill and natural dye knowledge.
This collection features contemporary works by Bengali artist Silpinwita Das, daughter of renowned kalamkari painter Ajit Das. Rooted in folk traditions and shaped by her lifelong study of natural dyes, Silpinwita draws inspiration from the landscape of Santiniketan—a place she describes as “red soil and meadows of lush green paddy fields, where rows of chhatim trees and palms charmed me from the very beginning.”
Each piece is further enriched with hand-stitched kantha, a traditional embroidery practice from Bengal. Worked slowly by hand, the running stitches add texture and rhythm—bringing another layer of history and human touch to the painted cloth.
Silpinwita has named this body of work Haridra. In Sanskrit, haridra means yellow—the colour of sunlight, warmth, and spirituality. No two pieces are alike. Each is entirely handmade, carrying its own movement and energy, whether worn as a shawl, hung as a textile artwork, or draped within the home.
The colour pallet is achieved with natural dyes; the black colour is created through a fermentation process using scrap iron, molasses, mahua flower, chickpea flour and betel leaf. Other colours come to life with Indian madder root, catechu (cutch), indigo, marigold flowers, pomegranate rinds, turmeric and myrobalan.
Each shawl is one-of-a-kind. There is only one of each design.
This kit includes 60ml Synthrapol soap for scouring, 100g Gallnut Extract, 250g of Alum, 100g Soda Ash for mordanting and 10g each of these natural dye extracts: Chestnut, Cochineal, Cutch, Fustic, Lac, Logwood, Madder Rich, Quebracho, and Weld. Maiwa's Guide to Natural Dyes is included with the Kit.
Extracts easily dissolve in water and are so concentrated that only a small amount is needed. Great to use on all natural fibres.
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