Eri silk double-sided shawl with Kaleidoscope patchwork

I call this shawl Faridkot. Faridkot, because that is my childhood, even though I was born in Kotkapura. I bloomed in Faridkot in my school. The school principal and the teachers introduced new experiences to my expanding mind. Mumma-Papa had insisted we go to a good school, even though it was very far from home. In Faridkot, I learnt Mool Mantra. In Faridkot, I served Langar. In Faridkot, following my heart became my heart religion. I saw the logic of compassion, service and courage. The teachers from the cantonment revealed curiosity beyond my family and Punjab. They made me fall in love with languages and writing. My mother encouraged us to participate in all activities as a way of learning. She did not care if we did not win. My father used to be a sportsperson so he encouraged me to join a sports team. I joined the women’s hockey team. I was not very good. My teammates were so solid. Faridkot is where I learnt to listen to others. It is also where I learnt rebellion.  Faridkot is the kaleidoscope of my heart. 

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!

The patchwork is celebrated in the frame of Eri Silk, which is a wild silk with a woolly fibre hand spun into yarn, handwoven on traditional throw shuttle looms of Assam. With non-injury as our core totem, we have given colour to this fabric using those natural sources that are procured locally, leaving the least violent footprints on life and nature. The dye raw material for eri silk  is natural i.e. plant-based, instantly compostable, non-industrial and non-toxic.

Faridkot 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

Narmohan Dada, the master Eri silk pioneer

Mumma, Madhu, technical supervision of stitching 

Midtoan.com, the photographer

Designed by Ritika