Many of our farmer friends also have had their hands full trying to stabilize fields, salvage crops, and begin the general task of rebuilding. The spot in Bells Bend where we planted our dyeplants last year is completely underwater, our friends at Hill and Hollow, Arugula’s Star, Sulphur Creek, and a host of other farms also experienced record flooding, and the wet-weather springs at West Nashville Community Farm are running at full bore. We’ll be waiting for the fields at Sulphur Creek, where we will be planting this year, to dry out a little before setting in this year’s crop of dyeplants.

In seemingly unrelated-but-to-our-thinking-connected news, we’ve been implementing some long-term changes over here at ASK Apparel World Headquarters. ASK is shifting its focus to establish itself as an artisanal natural dyehouse (named, appropriately enough, Artisan Natural Dyeworks), focused on using all-natural plant- and earth-based dyes to do natural dye work on a larger-but-still-human-sized scale. We’ll be providing dye services for designers and craftspeople working to produce their lines with ecological integrity and beautiful natural color (although we’re always available to do custom dyework for individuals, as well). That being said, our attention will shift away from producing our own line of shirts, accessories and baby items. We’ll still be able to fulfill orders from our online store using our existing inventory, but once those pieces are gone, they’re gone. We also will still be creating beautiful one-of-a-kind and experimental pieces using natural dyes, so please check back to see what we have to offer on that front.

The flood of 2010 has only strengthened the beliefs that have shaped our business model and our lives, and, at the risk of sounding trite or cliche, I’m going to list some of them here, in no particular order. Honor and respect the earth. Try to work in harmony with nature. Community matters. Small is beautiful — local, too. Help those around you. We’re all in this together. Be grateful. Count your blessings, but more importantly, share them.

Hope to see you soon, if, as they say, the good lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise …

I first met Rauf Khatri, a tenth-generation ajrakh artisan, at an exhibition in Delhi. His booth, which he and his brother staffed, was piled high with beautiful hand-printed textiles (although the piles daily dwindled in height as the three- and four-person deep crowds of customers in front of their booth snatched up the jewel-toned cloths). At some point in the nine-day exhibition, Rauf stopped by Avani’s booth, where I was helping out, and proceeded to grill me on the natural dyes used in Avani’s textiles. After he ascertained that I halfway knew what I was talking about, Rauf first introduced me to a bunch of his classmates from Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, an innovative design school for working traditional artisans in Kutch, and then extended an invitation to visit his family’s ajrakh workshop.

Rauf and medicinal plants, processed and unprocessed
(the green stuff is a natural flu treatment, the package is gutkha, a mix of betel nut, tobacco, catechu, and lime).

The second week in January, I boarded a rattle-trap old bus (with my big backpack in my lap, since it was way too oversize to fit in the miniscule overhead compartment), and settled down for the bumpy one-and-half hour trip to Dhamadka. Dhamadka, in eastern Kutch, has been a center for ajrakh block-printing for many generations. For many months I had planned to visit the workshops of Abdul Razzaque, Abdul Jabbar, and Dr. Ismail Khatri, three now-famous brothers who, along with their late father, Mohammed Khatri, and their brood of children, have helped re-introduce the use of natural dyes in ajrakh printing.

cloth laid out to dry, khatri farm
I got off at Dhamadka and had my requisite post-bus ride cup of chai. Long strips of printed and dyed fabric, secured by strategically positioned stones, lay drying in the sun on both sides of the road, and lumbering bullock-driven carts piled high with yards of fabric were travelling down the highway alongside speeding box trucks and motorcycles. I asked at the chai stall for Abdul Razzaque’s workshop location. “Down that way,” the chai-walla gestured, and I set off down the dusty road, tuning down the wrong street before someone waved down an eight-year-old boy and told him to show me the way. I followed my trusty new guide down a narrow alley and was dropped off in front of a large white-walled complex. My ajrakh adventure had begun …

I’m giving up any semblance of chronological record keeping for our India trip (handily enough, there’s hardly an electronic whisper of any sort of record-keeping, chronological or otherwise). Instead we will start in medias res — or rather, in the middle of Kutch, where I spent an amazing month at the start of this year.

In former times — up to as recently as 60 or so years ago, before major dams disrupted river flow (more on that later) — Kutch was a seasonal island. Though it’s now part of Gujarat, connected by highways and trainlines (which have to pass through the Rann on elevated land bridges), and sharing certain customs and traditions, it is its own cultural and geographic entity. Historically, in fact, it was more closely allied to Sindh, now part of present-day Pakistan (history geeks might like to check out this article on the relation of Sindh and Kutch). Today, many people still speak Kaachi — a language written with the Gujarati script, but actually more closely linguistically related to Sindhi — as well as Gujarati, Hindi, and English.

Many cultures meet in one place — Muslims and Hindus; former Rajput warriors and rulers; nomadic Rabari herders; ship-builders and fisherfolk; farmers and shepherds; big-city merchants and small-town artisans; Ahirs, Jats, Meghwals. All the colors are tints and shimmering shades — desert colors, whether glimpsed from a bus window or walked by on a winding bazaar street.

road to monastery, than

Men and women wearing traditional dress — somber subtle red on black woolen tie-dye shawls aned skirts for Rabari women, with intricate richly-colored embroidered backless cholis; spotless white lungi and kurta (and mustaches) for Rabari men; multi-colored hand-woven hip-length mashru kurtas over brightly colored ankle-length skirts; Muslim women in head scarf, abaya, or burka — abound, as do modern interpretations, like the ever-popular Muslim men’s mechanic jumpsuit accessorized with oversize-print psychedelic-colored rose prayer shawl and high-heeled leather shoe-boots.

Perhaps in part because of the historical isolation of the area, amazing textile and craft traditions abound, rooted in a time when people created things of beauty primarily for themselves, in response to their own surroundings, their own needs, and their own rhythms, rather than the demands of the market.

garden variety hand-pieced quilt, roadside, bhuj.
this one was being used to cover a stack of sugarcane for sale by the side of the road




afroz tyeing bandhni, khatri chowk, muslim quarter, bhuj

Kutch is particularly famed for its embroidery and bandhni (tie and dye) work. Kutch is also a center for ajrak printing — hand blockprinted cottons traditionally dyed with natural dyes in shades of blue, red, black and white, although today a wide range of shades are used. I met Rauf Khatri, a 10th generation ajrak printer, at an exhibition in Delhi in November, and knew I had to visit his family’s workshop in Dhamadka, in eastern Kutch. I met his friend Abdul Vahab, who does bandhni work in Bhuj, in central Kutch, and knew I had to visit his workshop too. But more on that later.

traditional double-sided ajrak print, khatri workshop, dhamadka

The thing I can’t get out of my head — besides the amazing richness of crafts, and the beautiful, subtle and always-changing desert colors — is the amazing welcome offered by the people of Kutch. “My people are always drinking tea,” said my friend Rauf to me one day after we had had one glass of tea at each of the four houses we had visited. “You cannot go anywhere without being offered a glass.” I drank my fair share of tea in Kutch (Rick always ribbed me about the number of chai stall owners with whom I was on a first-name basis), but the full extent of my cultural imbibing will have to be relayed over numerous posts …

These eco friendly items are created with plant dyed silks, and filled with a range of lightweight and ecofriendly fillers, such as packing peanuts, recycled papers, wine corks and more! Clasps and other findings are all lead-free. Each one is dyed and created in the US. Beaded silk necklaces to be available from recycled glass beads and tagua nut beads for wholesale orders. Let us know what you think, place a color order, and stay tuned for the full line this March!

indigo dyed silk

here’s a sneak peak at a new spring accessory, available online or in stores in March! Think warm!

Himalaya mountains, solar energy, local sericulture and natural dyes … it’s not the lead-in to a bad joke, but rather what I’ve been up to for the past month or so. Rick and I have spent the first month of a five month trip to India working and living at AVANI, a voluntary organization in the Kumaon Himalayas. We’ll be here through the beginning of December working on various projects, learning about the sustainable projects AVANI has initiated in this region, trying to improve our paltry knowledge of Hindi, and just generally enjoying this peaceful yet innovative place.

Renu and Hansa at work in the dye unit … and Sachin at play

Some of the ongoing projects I’ve been involved with …

identifying local dyeplants that yield blue and red

working to develop a line of pigments using natural dyes

printing with natural dyes

cultivating a mini-indigo fermentation vat

I’ll post more pictures and news soon!

The “Gorgeous in Green” eco-fashion show will feature Nashville-area designers and stores with a commitment to sustainability through products they design and sell.

The fashion show will take place on Thursday, Sept. 10, from 4 to 6 p.m. on The Commons Lawn near Hank Ingram House on Vanderbilt’s campus. Tickets are $7, and proceeds benefit outreach for the nonprofit Kilowatt Ours and the World Wildlife Fund.

The show will include lines from Clothing XChange, ASK Apparel, Scarlett Begonia, Prophetik, Whole Body by Whole Foods, Natural Oasis and more. During the show, representatives from each store or line will speak to the audience about what makes their line sustainable and/or environmentally friendly.

The Vanderbilt University student group SPEAR (Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Responsibility) has partnered with Vanderbilt Student Government (VSG) and the Vanderbilt Sierra Club to sponsor “Gorgeous in Green.”

Hope to see you out there!

ASK Apparel will be teamed up with ‘Wasted Threads’ artist Tiffany Denton, creating 100% earth friend outfits.

Please call Sarah with questions at 615.306.3154

On Friday, July 24th, from 6 – 8 pm in the Frist Center lobby, meet
members of the Freedom Quilting Bee for an informal social hour.
Members of the Freedom Quilting Bee will share the history of their
community, their connections to the craft of quilting, and their
visions for the future. The quilters welcome discussion of projects
old and new.

The Freedom Quilting Bee is a nationally-recognized quilting
cooperative established in 1966 in Alberta, Alabama as an outgrowth of
the civil rights movement. When local people lost their incomes, and
sometimes their homes, after registering to vote, women banded
together to put their skills to use in order to earn family income and
build community. Today, the Freedom Quilting Bee remains one of the
oldest cooperatives in the country.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is located at 919 Broadway,
Nashville, TN. For further information on the Freedom Quilting Bee or
ASK Apparel, please contact Sarah Bellos of ASK Apparel at
info@askapparel.com, or 615.306.3154.

We would also like to thank Southern Echo for helping bring our organizations
together. Southern Echo is a leadership development, education and training
organization working to develop effective accountable grassroots leadership
in the African-American communities in rural Mississippi and the surrounding
region through comprehensive training and technical assistance programs. For more
information on their work please visit http://southernecho.org/

She is keeping a blog of her experiences with us. She’s also keeping us on our toes!