The Craft of Jamdani
By MATTER PRINTS for Style by Asia
Jamdani, literally meaning “flower-pot,” is an ancient artisan weaving technique bearing its origin in the Central Asian culture, and was brought to India by the Mughals during their rule. Considered the most artistic and finest of Bengali craftsmanship, each thread is hand woven into the finest muslin.
Two weavers sit alongside each other at the loom passing small shuttles of threads through the weft. Each discontinuous supplementary weft motif is added separately by hand, interlacing the supplementary weft threads into the warp with fine bamboo sticks in a zigzag manner using individual spools of thread. Crafted in chambray swathes and bold stripes, old jamdani motifs are now reinterpreted through the fusion of heritage and modernity, old and new.
The entire process from yarn spinning, dying, weaving and embroidery takes up to a whole of 63 days. A tremendous amount of patience, time and effort is put into creating this masterpiece, where each scarf passes through twenty to thirty pairs of hands from yarn to finished piece.
MOTIFS
Shunya means zero, and by extension also origins. In Indian spiritual tradition it is the beginning that encompasses the end. This motif is an ode to the eternal tradition of textile artisanship that resurrects again after centuries, and represents insight, clarity and awakening.
Eksa signifies the primal symbol X. It represents cross roads and the unity of opposites. In certain cultures this shape also signifies the butterfly, a symbol identified with the concept of immortality, metamorphosis, and the soul’s journey home.
Jamiti translates to geometry and, in this context, signifies the unity that underlies the sacred geometry in primal shapes and the creative elements of the universe.
