Sari Society X Meenal Patel
I had the pleasure to collaborate with Sari Society on a collection that features two of my patterns. The collection includes kids kurtas, kids pavadai chattai, and sari blouses. Along with the final results I'm sharing some behind-the-scenes of the process.
Through Sari Society, sister founders Bridget and Valentina share the rich culture and tradition of beautifully crafted saris, blouses, and kids wear that showcase traditions, designs and techniques from all over India.
One of my greatest joys is getting to collaborate with other businesses that share similar values. In this case: a dedication to craft and design, an appreciation of the warmth of what the human hand can create, the celebration of our shared cultures, and inclusivity (specifically a dedication to size-inclusivity in this collection).
Bridget and Valentina spent a lot of time finding the best technique and partners in India to bring the prints to life on fabric. After a lot of work on their end, we excitedly landed on wood block printing with artisans in Jaipur. I love this technique for the warmth of its handmade quality, history, and the delight of each resulting garment being absolutely one-of-a-kind with the textural variation that human hands create.
Wood block printing requires unique specifications for the art in order for it to be carvable on wood and to print properly in layers of ink colors. The Plant People art was ready to go in its original form (above). But the original Poppy art needed some adjustment. You can see below how I adjusted the art (original Poppy art on left) to marry well with the wood block printing technique (right).
The detail and precision of the wood block carving by these artisans is amazing!! You can watch a video of one of them carving a block for the Poppy pattern here. I could watch them carve all day!!
Beyond considering the execution of the prints onto fabric, Bridget and Valentina worked diligently to find a way to offer a wide range of blouse sizes and worked with their partners in India to create this flutter sleeve design.
