2010

Barmeer, is a small town in Rajasthan near the Indian/Pakistan border where there is a traditional Ajrak printing house.  I was invited by a company called Adivasi to work with the printers to develop new designs utilizing these hand-crafted techniques.

Ajrak printing is a traditional Artisanal craft of India. Using hand-carved wooden design blocks, a resist paste is hand-printed onto fabric as one of the first steps before the natural dyeing process begins.  The resist printing continues between the various dye baths until the final outcome is achieved.

Initially, the designs I created were inspired from traditional Indian patterns, and were to be marketed to an American audience.  These fabrics were a successful seller and have remained in production for over ten years.

Then began a project dear to my heart, one that came from personal inspiration: the trucks of India!

A studio was set up for me in Udaipur, Rajasthan where I spent a few months developing my truck-themed designs.

Then back to Barmeer to work with the block carver and printers.  Not surprisingly, my designs were breaking all the rules of what they considered possible.  But with persistence they humored me and created the beginnings of some inspired yardages.

These fabrics went into small production, and were then used for a body of work called Tribal Truck’r.  Tribal Truck’r (a-work-in-progress), and can be viewed in Portfolio.