Kaleidoscope patchwork stole

To make a textile kaleidoscope, the stitching craftsmen must assume the highest concentration. With a single-mind focus, Gurmel Singh blocks out all other distractions and carefully engages in picking each tiniest piece of fabric and aligning it into the desired geometry. He then engages with it through cutting, ironing, aligning, joining, recutting, ironing, aligning, and joining each triangle to construct new boxes. Over a few days of meticulously joining each of these tiny scraps, a kaleidoscope takes shape. In its construction, it is a patchwork, in its execution, it is his pursuit for perfection. A constant has been kept alive where the workshop is handled by my dear mother, who has given tangibility to this vision. She meticulously manages and segregates each smallest piece of fabric that appears in the process of stitching, and those become our gold mine to cull out wonders from!

I called this stole Bikhri Bikhri because she is like me. Bikhri Bikhri on the outside, a visible mess, something that cannot be made sense of. Yet, upon looking closely, there is a method. There is a flow and structure. I like to stay destructured on the outside because, within that chaos, my inner order is revealed. I am busy looking after that inner order. I am okay being Bikhri Bikhri. 

Bikhri Bikhri is a one-of-a-kind textile designed to highlight a unique coming together of various techniques and creativity of handcraft. This design will not be recreated.

Param did the beadwork

Gurmail, the tailor

Cotton is woven with Amlawati, Arunachal Pradesh

Mumma, Madhu, patchwork technical eyes and segregating hands

Midtoan.com, the photographer

Designed by Ritika