Name
C.R. Balapreethi
Course
Masters of Fashion Management (1st year)
College
Indian institute of fashion technology
CONCEPT BOARD
Kalamkari
Kalamkari is an ancient style of hand painting done on cotton or silk fabric with a tamarind pen, using natural dyes. The word Kalamkari is derived from a Persian word where ‘kalam‘ means pen and ‘kari‘ refers to craftsmanship. This art involves 23 tedious steps of dyeing, bleaching, hand painting, block printing, starching, cleaning and more.
Motifs drawn in Kalamkari spans from flowers, peacock, paisleys to divine characters of Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. There are two identifiable styles of Kalamkari art in India – Srikalahastistyle and Machilipatnamstyle. In the Machilipatnamstyle of Kalamkari, motifs are essentially printed with hand-carved traditional blocks with intricate detailing painted by hands. On the other hand, Srikalahastistyle of painting draws inspiration from the Hindu mythology describing scenes from the epics and folklore. This style holds a strong religious connect because of its origin in the temples.
In the past decade, due to the tedious technique involved in its making, Kalamkari art was losing its shine. The emergence of high on technology machine looms and printed textiles also escalated the extinction process of this art. But it was the fashion designers of the Indian fashion industry who came together to revive this art and helped artisans practicing this art in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
DESIGN – 1
DESIGN – 2
DESIGN – 3
DESIGN – 4
DESIGN – 5
FLAT SKETCH
DRAPING STEPS
STITCHED GARMENT
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