Connecting the textile history of India and Netherlands is a fabric called Chintz which was made in India and later in the workshops of Amersfoort, Netherlands. Chintz textile used natural dyes, and created minimum environmental impact. This project will trace the complex skilled based production process of Chintz Fabric and translate it to a more democratized digital production. The project attempts to capture the intricacies of blocking printing and showcase the possibilities of block printing in the context of digital production. These interventions would be applied on to a single piece of cloth and that work would be exhibited both in Amer Fort and Amersfoort and made open for examination and discussion.
Amer Fort to Amersfoote: The block journey in the digital world
The Context
Indian Textile and Amer Fort
Bagru and Sanganer are block printing hamlets of Jaipur, Rajasthan and they are enveloped in the shadow of Amer Fort. The Sanganer artisans employ a method of ‘Calico printing’ where the outlines are first printed, then filled in and repeated in diagonal sections. The finer lines and subdued colours make it remarkable and revered.
Chintz Fabric and Amersfoort Chintz or Calico print fabric from India was arguably the first global textile and it brought out the global fashion revolution. It became a driving force of the spice trade in the East Indies, and it attracted European merchants, who by the 17th century were importing millions of pieces. It reached the Netherlands through Dutch East India Company and led to the creation of the first block print workshop of Europe in the city of Amersfoort.
On July 15, 2021, the craft of cotton printing (internationally also called block printing) was added to the Inventory of Intangible Heritage Netherlands.
Present scenario
When the ace Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee teamed up with Swedish apparel retailer H&M to create a capsule collection of printed apparels there was a huge internet uproar about the sanctity of preserving India’s legacy. While Sabyasachi claimed to have taken the country’s rich hand crafted textiles and design to a wider audience, the handcraft connoisseurs saw it as a missed opportunity to showcase the Indian handicraft to the western world. This also brought out the politics of consumption and exploitation. The labour intensive, back breaking work that goes behind the creation of these block printed clothes are not rewarded monetarily. This disparity in wages deters the younger generation from continuing this as a career.
While these debates are ongoing, there seems to be no attempt to address the fact that the beginning of the end of this craft practice has already started. There is a need for preserving and documenting this heritage. It also calls for exploring the possibilities of new methods of production and dissemination. Hence this project explores dynamic documentation and the potential of new working methods while investigating the digital applications of this craft through new materials, mediums and machines.