Did you know? In 2010, thousands of spectators were left spellbound when they saw 150-ft long eco-friendly craft installation at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, designed by Madhu Jain using bamboo fibre and kalamkari craft technique from Andhra Pradesh, around which a thousand dancers performed, showcasing the six Indian classical dance forms
Madhu Jain’s latest initiative is to re-introduce Gujarat’s rare textiles and delicate embroideries like Suf and Banni
Traversing through remote villages, crawling in the knee-deep waters or taking an expensive dig into her own pockets, veteran fashion designer Madhu Jain has never feared of taking extraordinary steps to satisfy her creative ego that nests in the ever-burgeoning world of Indian textiles. She endorsed Indian textiles when designers were upbeat about machine-made fabrics like georgette, net and chiffon. All she wanted to do was the re-introduction of heritage craft that dates back to the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata. And in her process, she ended up gifting a lot to the fashion industry.
People had almost forgotten kalamkari when she presented a whole range of garments on it. Who would have thought that bamboo can be an interesting fabric? Madhu Jain did. Today, over 25 years later, her every creation is like an elaborate artwork on intricate canvasses. So much hard work and detailing go into her garments that one wonders whether to protect them as priceless gems or to flash them at rare occasions to accentuate appearances.
“The environment was not conducive then. Yet we didn’t compromise on our fashion ethos. Today, there’s a remarkable turnaround,” she tells us as she launches her next prime project The Rare Textiles of Gujarat – A historical perspective.
Through this three-year long project, the designer will rework on the rare embroideries that caught her fancy long back. “I try to create a movement and not just a collection of a few clothes. Today, it’s fascinating to find Kalamkari an integral part of many collections and art and craft melas. Twenty years back, I had done clothes on Banni and Suf embroideries which are practised by tribals on Indo-Pak border based between Gujarat and Sindh. Inspired by nature, Banni is the finest form of mirror work. A single-thread stitch, Suf is the most delicate embroidery in the Indian sub-continent. Now I want to re-introduce these rare embroideries and create new textiles using ajrak, bandhani and patan. Contemporary forms, motifs and colour patterns will be used without destroying the ethos of the craftsmanship,” she said.
The initiative is expected to empower several hundreds of women artisans who are protecting the dying embroideries. This is exactly how Madhu Jain brought Dhaka Muslin back. In 1996, she collaborated with Bangladesh’s largest NGO, BRAC, on the revival of Nakshikantha and was responsible for the reintroduction of the legendary Dhaka Muslin, a gorgeous handmade fabric renowned as Empress Noor Jehan’s favourite textile which had disappeared from India after Partition. “We travelled to remote villages, sourcing it at the grass root level, waiting through knee-deep water, trying to find out how to go about it. We ended up creating new fantastic textiles, stitching Dhaka Muslin and Mulberry silk together using nakshi stitch,” she tells us.
QUICK RECAP
🙂 In 1997, Madhu received international acclaim for her Nakshikantha creations showcased at the Miss World pageant.
🙂 In 2003, her collection took the Singapore Fashion week by storm.
🙂 Madhu’s work has been continuously featured at Ogaan, Kimaya and Ensemble and loyal patrons include Maneka Gandhi, Princess Maha Al Sauduri of Saudi Arabia, Nita Ambani, Rani Mukerji and Juhi Chawla and Vandana Luthra. She also designed a special line for Waheeda Rehman.
🙂 She launched ‘Projekt M’ with supermodel Milind Soman in 2003. They introduced bamboo-based textile at the VIIth World Bamboo Congress and instantly catapulted the label into the limelight.
🙂 In October 2010, she designed an eco-friendly craft installation for the opening ceremony at the Commonwealth Games 2010 using bamboo fibre and kalamkari craft technique from Andhra Pradesh, around which a thousand dancers performed, showcasing the six Indian classical dance forms.
🙂 In March 2011, Madhu restored a rare khadi sari woven by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in prison in 1941 for the Maneka Gandhi for the Varun Gandhi wedding.
