Painting Art On Fabric: Kalamkari


Image credit: Gaurang Shah

Kalamkari refers to an ancient technique of painting on fabric using a tamarind pen and natural dyes to create beautiful fabics.

Image Credit: Gaurang Shah

The Kalamkari art is based at Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that serve as the largest manufacturers of Kalamkari textiles in the country.

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Kalamkari was born out of an art of story-telling where travelers would travel from village to village reciting stories from these canvases.

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Popular motifs found on Kalamkari textiles are peacocks, flowers, animals and scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Image Credit: Gaurang Shah

What makes Kalamkari extraordinary is that the most valuable fabrics have paintings that are first drawn free hand and subsequently painted on them.

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The process of creating a fabric involves 23 steps that include bleaching and dyeing which increases the value of these beauties.

Image Credit: Gaurang Shah

Even though silks are seldom used, the most popular fabric to paint these fabrics are undoubtedly pure cotton.

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Designer Gaurang Shah has painstakingly worked towards making Kalamkari part of high-fashion as well as incorporated fusion pieces with other textiles like Kanjeevarams.

Image Credit: Gaurang Shah

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