Down to the Brass Tacks

India is famous for its textiles, and hand weaving is particularly important here because of its connection to Gandhi and one of his modes of civil disobedience. He and his followers encouraged people to make their own cloth and clothing, rather than buying from British-supported industries, as a form of economic rebellion and to elevate a traditional Indian industry.

On Saturday a friend of mine hosted a discussion with the owner of Brass Tacks Madras, a company that uses traditional Indian textiles to create clothing that's more contemporary and Western than what you'd usually see on the streets of Chennai. The company's name comes from an expression that's common here, "down to the brass tacks," which means something like "getting back to basics." This photo links to the company's web site.

shamelessly stolen from brasstacksmadras.com

Anaka Narayanan, the owner and designer, walked us through the design of this cocktail dress, which is made in a silk that's dyed using wood block clamps.

Also shamelessly stolen from brasstacksmadras.com

She used a draping method to design the dress, since it's not closely fitted, and then took a pattern from her work. She showed us every step, including her first set of paper patterns, a muslin mockup, and a mockup done in a synthetic fabric that better captured the flowy look of the top. Then she showed us the final piece.

All that was interesting, but what I really liked was her discussion of traditional weaving and dyeing techniques. I'd like to learn more about one technique in particular, ikat, in which individual threads are dyed multiple colors so that a pattern emerges as they are woven together.

This photo links to the "Learning Centre" page of the Brass Tacks web site, which gives a quick overview of ikat, as well as khadi, mashru, jamdaani, cutwork, leheria, mothada, shibori, and mud resist dyeing.

you guessed it ...

Brass Tacks designs aren't really my style, but I found our discussion fascinating anyway. I'd like to explore the traditional textile industry more, and now at least I can go to one of the textile exhibitions and know a bit about what I'm seeing.