BENGALURU: East meets West, a collaboration featuring 40 fashion design students from LISAA school branches in Bengaluru and Paris saw students work on natural fabric dyes made from herbs like mehandi and mulethi at Tharangini Studios, Sadashivnagar.
The focus of the visit was to educate students on sustainable practices and work with eco-friendly and organic colours. They were guided by artisans on various types of block printing, pattern dyeing, wood carving techniques, preparation of pigment colours and contemporary interpretations of block printing. They then created pieces by combining different techniques.
“Hand printing by using natural fabric was something we had never seen,” said Chloe Moulin, a French student.Srishti Munoth, a first- year student of design, said, “Everything we used was eco-friendly and sustainable. We were surprised to see the natural elements like plants and fruits that go into the making of dyes. For example, pomegranate peel can be used to get a blend of yellow and green. There are very few artisans who do block printing and it’s very important for a student, designer or an artist to learn because it reflects our Indian culture as well. ”
Avi Keshwani, director, of the design school that organised this visit, said the idea was to give students wide knowledge in the development process of dyeing and hand block printing. “This is a student exchange programme. A majority of the students who have taken this workshop have decided to make changes to their collection,” she says.