Once Darshan Shah worked out what she wanted to do, her life took off and has not stopped. On December 7, 1993, she founded Weavers Studio in a 200-square-foot shop with five women. Today, a 60-strong workforce of women and men spans design, dyeing, printing, embroidery and sales. It connects her with craftsmen, collectors and researchers across hundreds of villages in India and worldwide. She calls it her ‘thriving textile ecosystem … working in harmony’,
Her store is tucked unobtrusively into a corner of Ballygunge, where devotees beat a path to see and buy remarkable textiles. This is also Shah’s HQ for her big enterprises. In 2007, she initiated Weavers Studio Resource Centre (WSRC), a foundation comprising a significant textile archive and library plus training programmes, publishing and exhibitions, addressing her double commitment to documenting textile history and serving today’s weaving community. More recently, her pilot craft projects collaborate with Indian companies such as Tata, JSW Foundation and Manyavar to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
‘Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy’
In 2020, she began her most ambitious enterprise: a multi-year in-depth study of Bengal’s surprisingly little-documented textile history from the 16th to 20th centuries – arguably the world’s richest textile story. This now embarks on its first public manifestation, four years in the making: Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy. Its centrepiece is a magnificent textile show spanning Bengal’s textile history, which opens on January 30 at Kolkata Centre for Creativity and runs to March 31.
The opening is complemented by a two-day symposium. Eighteen hot speakers include Aparna Sen on the transformative power of film costumes, John Gillow’s unmatched knowledge of ethnic textiles, and new research on Murshidabad presented by Pawan Jain and Rosie Llewelyn-Jones. There is also book laden with new research, a show catalogue, and awards to give recognition to contemporary craft. The overall aim is simple: to remember the centuries when Bengali textiles ‘clothed the world’ and to revive Bengal’s fine textile traditions and bring them back into the global conversation.
Shah’s path is one of singular determination for 35 years. Having bravely abandoned her solid but unfulfilling career, she sold her jewellery to travel around the world. It was in Japan that Shah met Professor Hiroyuki and reconnected with indigo and other natural dyes, evoking childhood memories of tea and indigo production on her family’s Bengal estate. “My interest was always in natural dyes,” she says, “to use more hands, not machines. We Indians have the best craftspeople. My mission statement is “Use as many hands as possible.”
Soon, she was exploring not just the Bengali and Japanese ways of dyeing, but those across India – including Kutch, the land of her forefathers – and in neighbouring countries as well as Nigeria, Senagal, Ghana and Mali. “In Bangladesh, I learnt from Ruby Ghuznavi, the activist who specialised in reviving natural dyes – she could do 20 shades. She was also an expert in block-printing, and in block batik – in Bangladesh batik printed, in Bengal it’s done by brush.” In India, she took workshops at the Calico Museum, Ahmedabad, with Toofan Rafai, whom she has described as ‘one of the grand colourists of the nation’ having begun his work by finding a copy of Gandhi’s rare text on natural dyes, ‘Vanaspatiyon nu rang’.
A singular day for Shah
Amid all this, July 3, 1991, was the singular day for Shah. “I met the collector Hiroko Iwatate. I met her before I was even thinking about textiles. She gave me a signed and dated book, I still have it.”
Iwatate had lived textiles all her life since her schooldays. Today, about half of her 8,000-piece collection were made in India, which she’s visited twice annually since 1970, and are kept in her Tokyo museum. Shah would resonate with the title of her 2007 book, Textiles: The Soul of India. Indeed, Japan has been the largest influence on her textile journey. “My business started with Japan, my sensibilities developed there, towards fine quality of design, minimalism, high standards of materials and craft. These drove me to keep going back.” One Japanese technique she pioneers in India was shibori, abundantly popular in India today. Meaning ‘wring, squeeze or press’, it is a dyeing technique known from at least the eighth century. “I started using shibori 30 years ago, pure shibori, and I still do,” she says. “I first learned about it in the Arimatsu areas, attended workshops, observed.”
When Shah opened Weavers Studio, she used her initiative to give added value to unsold consigned items so she could get rid of them, introducing today’s fashion for layering textile treatments. “I block-printed on top of kantha pieces,” she remembers. She’d studied the block-printing of Bengal, centred at Serampore, which used walnut (not teak, as used in Rajasthan), then shisham.
But how can such time-consuming, specialist craftsmanship fit into today’s world? Shah has no doubt that it can. “I have great hope for young craftsmen. The value of the human touch will always be there, for dyers, weavers, embroiderers. India has a huge middle class, it has more money to spend. We need to build awareness, to connect the public to the back end, the makers. People are quick to learn, to understand craft is luxury. It’s about touch and feel.’
Today, she believes that fine textiles have a wider place than simply being garments for special occasions. “Any good weaving unit or master craftsman is now collaborating with film units, art galleries, interior designers… There is a new freedom to express talent through textile. India has such a large buying market, and everyone has a phone, touch and pay!’ She believes that “the best thing about India is digital India, which for textiles encompasses design, development, practicals, visuals, check-ups, guiding, motivation… But quality control must be hands on.”
For Shah, quality textile success is about creating a market that is ‘aspirational’ and then making the right goods readily available. “You can make what people think they want and dilute your sensibilities. Or you can make what you want, do what you believe in, then put the message out there. It takes trust, integrity and reputation built up over years.” Darshan Shah does just that.