HANDICRAFTS OR
FOLK ARTS?
Padma provided the following information on Indian designs. Embroidered Quilt, Kantha from Bangalore.
Do you know embroidery? Do you know what embroidery is?
It is the addition of pattern or other ornamental effect, to textiles by the use of the needle and thread. The wonder is that Kantha embroidery uses only the simplest of stitches, the running stich!
The state of Bengal is famous for Kantha art.Kanthe actually means ‘embroidered quilt’. The embroidered quilts of Bangalore are wonderful in their beauty, colour and design.
The Sanskrit word’Kantha’mwans rags. It is a cottage industry, and is also a form of folk art. There are two types of embroidery. In one the old, discarded cotton sarees or dhoties are put one on top of the other and is quilted by using discarded cotton bed spreads.
The colours used for this embroidery are black, deep blue and red. These colours stand for the tree basic aspects of nature-earth, sky and space. The designs used are of lotus flowers, creepers, foliage, floral, scrolls’and animal and human figures.
Today the Kantha embroidery is famous all around the globe. The old Kantha designs are priced possessions now. They are found on sleek shawls, sarees, and, bags.
The village women spend a great deal of time and care in getting the perfect designs.
M.D.Harshani pradeepika
Pradeepika6@gmail.com
harshani.pradeepika@yahoo.com
