Clad in a plain green Kota sari with a hand-painted crepe pallu that depicted scenes from a farmers life,Mamta Reddy stood out amid the young college students around her. Giving her company at the Talent Box section of the recently-concluded Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) was Nagmani Tumuru,dressed in an elegant salwar kameez with an image of Lord Krishna painted on it. Seated on the floor with a piece of cotton yardage in her hand,this Kalamkari artisan was sketching an elaborate design on it. Alongside,Reddy,a Hyderabad-based textile designer,explained the process of creating Kalamkari at the workshop conducted to create awareness about the art. Kalamkari means the craft of the pen (kalam). A form of hand-painting used to create temple art,it is native to Andhra Pradesh and uses vegetable dyes on hand-woven fabric, she explained. Reddys love affair with Kalamkari spans over two decades. I was a young Mathematics graduate back in the 80s when I was struck by the beauty of this art form at an exhibition. But it was shocking to see that the counter with these exquisite Kalamkari wall-hangings was not making any sales, recollects the 46-year-old. What makes Kalamkari unique is the complex process of creating it,which involves 23 steps in all. The first stage is removal of starch,after which the cloth is dipped in a solution of cow milk and karakai (a variety of fruit) powder. Then the artisan draws a sketch on the dried cloth using a tamarind twig,followed by the black outlining that is done with kasimikaram,which is a blend of iron rust and jaggery left to ferment for 24 days. The vegetable dyes are then used to fill in the colour and the cloth is treated with hot and cold water at the subsequent stages, explains Reddy. However,it is this elaborate process coupled with the fact that Kalamkari was restricted to just painting mythological figures for wall hangings in temples that also made it financially unviable in comparison to the processes of block-printing,machine-printing and even digital printing. I realised that Kalamkari was a dying art form,which prompted me to start working with the craftsmen, recollects Reddy,who worked with Kalamkari artisans for over 22 years before launching Kalamkari Creations Artisan Society 10 years ago in Tirupati. Today,Reddys Artisan Society makes customised clothing saris,stoles,salwar kurtas and shirts and other textile accessories,such as purses,pouches,ties,cushion covers and home décor items. This,in turn,helps support the families of 40 Kalamkari artisans from Tirupati and Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh and another 100 textile weavers and karigars from across the country,including Lucknow. I make sure my artisans are taken care of and that they all have their own roof to live under. Besides,I rope in only girl students as I want them to become independent, adds Reddy,whose artisans have done Kalamkari for designers Rohit Bal,Sabyasachi Mukherjee,Anand Kabra and more recently Sashikant Naidu,among many others. Tumuru,one of Reddys chief artisans and a local from Srikalahasti,today earns Rs 30,000 a month. I want to make more people realise the importance of crafts such as these,which are integral to our countrys culture and heritage, asserts Reddy,who took the opportunity to hold a workshop at Lakme Fashion Week to reach out to Mumbai and will soon be heading with Tumuru to the US with her Kalamkari work to participate in an exhibition. I hope that the younger generation across borders will take a cue and extend their support to this art, she says.
