‘Curator as meta/artist, artist as meta/curator’ – Paul O’Neil
in the attempt of internalizing this thought, I am working on developing ‘Quilt Culture’ (the community art project with quilt craftswomen in Pune India) as a cultural platform, where I curate different projects to invite creatives and initiate a discourse on pressing issues. I co-curated ‘Beyond Quilting’ was a fifteen-day workshop with 3 Dutch designers, 3 Indian designers, and 30 Godhadi craftswomen at Quilt Culture in Kondhava Pune. It was a cross-cultural co-creators’ workshop, where we aim to research and develop innovative cultural products that resonate with the importance of fabric recycling processes in traditional Maharashtrian Godhadi craft and contemporary sustainable design trends.
Sustainable development is the pathway for the future we want for all. It offers a framework for economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen the governance. -Ban Ki Moon
Handicrafts production has been identified as a key facet of sustainable development, as it can provide opportunities for employment, especially in rural communities, and contribute to economic growth and environmental stewardship. In the workshop, we invited textile designer Simone Post and Mae Engelgeer; Interior and space designing initiative Studio alternative; and fashion designer Karishma Shahani Khan. They together researched on the form and process of traditional Godhadi quilting and developed products design from waste fabrics. The attempt was to explore and reimagine the possibilities of the craft of Godhadi making. Karishma worked on the narration and characterization of Indian epic of Mahabharata to develop quilting patchwork pattern. Simone Post used Sari borders to create patterns inspired from traditional Indian stepwell architecture. Richard Niessen created 26 visual alphabets which he developed using morse code and international maritime signal flags. For me, this workshop developed as a visual montage of contribution of cross-cultural community of designers and craftswomen.
The co-creation values of the workshop, where the designers and craftswoman share the rights of the products, aims to address the issues of cultural appropriation. The research projects and products developed by each designer and craftswomen not only contributed to financial independence to quilter women, but also assured the sustainability values of the Quilt Culture project.
in the attempt of internalizing this thought, I am working on developing ‘Quilt Culture’ (the community art project with quilt craftswomen in Pune India) as a cultural platform, where I curate different projects to invite creatives and initiate a discourse on pressing issues. I co-curated ‘Beyond Quilting’ was a fifteen-day workshop with 3 Dutch designers, 3 Indian designers, and 30 Godhadi craftswomen at Quilt Culture in Kondhava Pune. It was a cross-cultural co-creators’ workshop, where we aim to research and develop innovative cultural products that resonate with the importance of fabric recycling processes in traditional Maharashtrian Godhadi craft and contemporary sustainable design trends.
Sustainable development is the pathway for the future we want for all. It offers a framework for economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen the governance. -Ban Ki Moon
Handicrafts production has been identified as a key facet of sustainable development, as it can provide opportunities for employment, especially in rural communities, and contribute to economic growth and environmental stewardship. In the workshop, we invited textile designer Simone Post and Mae Engelgeer; Interior and space designing initiative Studio alternative; and fashion designer Karishma Shahani Khan. They together researched on the form and process of traditional Godhadi quilting and developed products design from waste fabrics. The attempt was to explore and reimagine the possibilities of the craft of Godhadi making. Karishma worked on the narration and characterization of Indian epic of Mahabharata to develop quilting patchwork pattern. Simone Post used Sari borders to create patterns inspired from traditional Indian stepwell architecture. Richard Niessen created 26 visual alphabets which he developed using morse code and international maritime signal flags. For me, this workshop developed as a visual montage of contribution of cross-cultural community of designers and craftswomen.
The co-creation values of the workshop, where the designers and craftswoman share the rights of the products, aims to address the issues of cultural appropriation. The research projects and products developed by each designer and craftswomen not only contributed to financial independence to quilter women, but also assured the sustainability values of the Quilt Culture project.
