A new series on the blog – Heritage of Ahmedabad dedicated to 600 years of existence of Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad has a rich heritage including the old temples, mosques and crafts. I present here the first in the series of Heritage of Ahmedabad – The crafts of Ahmedabad – part 1.
1. Mata ni Pachedi – A rectangular piece of fabric offered to the goddess. Hand painted fabrics are now used for interior decoration and sold in the range of Rs 10 k to 30 k. The goddesses are satisfied with block printed ones as they are cheaper. (want to know more about it?)
A design at a very early stage of preparation. It takes almost a month for a design to be completed. Only 5 families are left with the know-how of this craft.
As this craft is preserved by the family system, it is necessary that each member of the family knows the craft well.
Including this small child of just 6 years. He is all focused on filling color to the design while his mother looks at his budding skill affectionately. It is generally expected that children will carry on the age old tradition of the craft as a livelihood.
Final product (hand made ones). Small sizes are also sold.
2. Applique Work – Its basically cloth wear design where a piece of cloth is stitched on the other making a design (know more).
An old lady old lady is making small quilt for babies.
A girl stitches cloth pieces making a design on a ladies dress
The place makhwana ni chali has a large number of women who know this work. Seen an old woman stitching a design on a hot afternoon outside her house.
3. Roghan Printing – This moghul art of printing papers/cloth with the help of a special paint called Roghan, prepared from castor oil and chalk powder (more here).
Seen here are different stencils used for printing kept on a printed paper
The workshop is situated on the top floor on a four storey building of a colony accessible through a very narrow and steep wooden staircase. Seen here a view of the colony outside the workshop.
The clips used to dry the cloth / paper after printing.
4. Chick making – Its a curtain / shade made from bamboo stripes. Its the simplest craft of India and very much in demand during the summer and rainy season (more).
A family in the business of chick making since the last 60 years. Seen below the work in progress on a roadside in Paldi.
An old lady of the family cutting the bamboo to shape for chick making.
With NID/NIFT located in Ahmedabad, craftpersons get more coverage and opportunity as compared to any other city. A picture in their album, where a tourist is seen learning the craft of chick making
More in the series of crafts may not come very soon. It will take time to shoot. Till then happy traveling 🙂
E.X.P.L.O.R.E | T.H.I.S | W.A.Y 
Mata ni Pachedi is nice and unique among all ……….
gr8 work , keep exploring bhai…….
excellent work
Excellent work.
Please also reaserch for AmdavadiSari and Kinkhab Cloth.
It’s really Interesting and Informatic site. We really find useful information from here.
amazing read….. missed seeing this and calico museum…. may be next time….
Thanks everyone.. @Keyur – will try to do it. But dont know when 🙂
@shivani – yes, do that 🙂
Can we learn this art from them? Do they teach?
@ Kiruthika – I think they will they will be happy to teach if they find you really keen to learn. However, they do not have any organized lessons as such
Moti bharat and patchwork video good sand address
Hello! i am an interior design student, pursuing my thesis. I wanted more information and pictures for other workshops, which was available on http://www.houseofmg.com/mata-ni-pachedi.htm, but now itsnot. If you could help me with the pictures and the information it would be a great help for the design.
Hello Krishna, what kind of information you require? I will be glad to allow you to use these pictures for the purpose of your thesis on the condition that you provide due credit. However, you will not be able to ‘host’ a copy of these photographs on your own website/blog, but you can ’embed’ the photo using these links above and provide due credit. Hope it helps.
Hi! I’m a fashion designer by profession. I’m in the process of documenting the craft Mata-ni-pachdi & want to work with the artisans. I’ll also like to interview a few craftsmen of the Vaghri community of Gujarat who are doing this craft and are knowledgeable. I would like to request you to kindly provide us the contact number of Mata-ni-pachedi artisans for the same.
Looking forward to your support.
With Warm Regards
Sakshi Bhatnagar