India is known for its rich heritage of arts and crafts and which is reflected in its textiles and fabrics. The art of dying of fabrics and weaving was practiced in India from very ancient times. Indian textiles in particular is a vast subject to be talked about, today we are looking at one of its oldest aspects, the art of Hand Block Printing.

Bagru is a small village, located near the Jaipur-Ajmer road Rajasthan. It is known for its natural dyes and hand block printing. Bagru is the residing place for the Chhipa community, the people of the community have been involved in this printing tradition for hundreds of years now. The craftsmen from this region are practising this art from which is passed onto them by their ancestors and they continue to keep it alive even after being under crisis due to water scarcity and the competition with fast fashion.

This ancient art form uses natural plant dyes and requires a meticulous process. The color blue is made from indigo, the hues of green are made with indigo mixed with pomegranate, red is made from madder root and yellow from turmeric. Bagru prints usually have ethnic floral and unique prints in natural colors without the use of highly toxic industrial dyes.

The process of dyeing the fabric utilizes a hand-carved teak wood block that is dipped in dye and stamped by hand unto the fabric. The wooden blocks come with specially carved designs and all of them are unique and different from each other. They dip these blocks in an adhesive made of black clay, lime water, wheat powder and a natural gum. These designs are then covered with sawdust to prevent the cloth from sticking to itself during the process of dyeing. Minor irregularities and variations are the hallmark of this hand craft and cannot be seen as defects.

After the process of dyeing is completed, and the designs are incorporated on the fabric, the completed block print fabric is rinsed in a local river or waterway. The block printing process concludes by hanging the fabric to dry in the sun, this method contributes in minimizing energy consumption because of its sustainability.

The livelihood of the Chhipa community depends on this art form and they continue to invest in it, wholeheartedly despite the difficulties they face. They try to conserve the water they use in production by reusing it in irrigation and the women of the community gain a sense of independence as they have a source of income. The patriarchal roles of the society as a whole still prevail in terms of cleaning, cooking and taking care of the household.

There’s no authentic source of literature  to trace back the beginning of this kind of printing, but this art is said to have started around 450 years back. Until recently, about fifty years ago, the chhipa community relied on its local market and manufactured prints mostly for surrounding communities which were used in ghagras and odhnis for women of that region.

This art form gets coverage in international media in an attempt to preserve the heritage of India and showcase it to the world. The bagru hand block print gained recognition in the 1970s with the rise of the hippie movement as it brought a wave of interest to the traditional Rajasthani attire and its craft. During the early 1990s when India opened its gates to international trade and machine made goods gained popularity, this ancient craft had to carve out a niche for itself in order to sustain its popularity and that’s when the craftsmen thought of unique patterns, indo-western looks, non traditional designs to attract the attention.

In the fast paced world, this process has been threatened by copying it with screen printing from various manufacturing units. In order to create replicas of the original hand block printing, these units create false imperfections on screens and then print it on the fabric thus giving the effect of the actual hand craft. In the hope that this community will preserve the authenticity of the craft, we need to invest in the original and not get fooled by mere cheaters. By doing this we get a chance to save hand block printing from completely vanishing and also, we get a safe alternative from fast fashion with this sustainable and environment- friendly choice of clothing.

We, at Bindnee believe that if our society comes together and puts an effort in consciously choosing traditional textiles, we would have the capability to support villages and craftsmen who strive on these ancient traditional crafts. People, as consumers, often focus on buying clothes for their cost and looks, failing to consider their ethical value and longevity which makes it difficult for people to differentiate between real block prints and screen copies. Our motto is to create a sustainable process and the Bagru and Dabu prints are considered to be crafts with low carbon footprints making them our best choice.If we come together we can not only consider the difficulties our artisan communities face but can also join in to treat them sensitively in order to attain the bigger goal.