Japanese designers team up with Indian artisans to create traditional outfits

Japanese textile designers Chiaki Maki and Parva Tanaka have collaborated with Indian artisans to make traditional hand-woven Japanese outfits in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. These designers opened their own work station in 2017, Ganga Maki Textile Studio in Bhogpur, Uttarakhand. Rakesh Singh is the Indian director for their textile studio. The studio makes beautiful and distinctive Japanese outfits with the help of hardloom weavers and artisans. These designers started by exporting hand-woven fabrics from India to Maki Textile Studio in Japan. Gradually they constructed a more comfortable workplace for the Indian artisans in Bhogpur, Uttarakhand.

Gradually, they started cultivating their fields to grow materials for natural dyes and fibres. They cultivate natural dye plants such as indigo, henna, marigold, harshingar, anar, etc in their own fields. Currently, about 50 workers, including, 10 weavers, five tailors, women workers for various hand-woven tasks, caretakers, and farmers are working at Ganga Maki Textile Studio. Their products include: woollen coats, jackets, silk scarves, silk shawls, silk dresses, bed covers, tablecloths, fabrics to rugs and much more. They conduct exhibitions twice a year, displaying their hand-woven outfits for the visitors.