Kantha, the centuries-old Bengali embroidery tradition, is a deceptive craft-simple running stitches capable of conjuring stories of people, nature and entire communities on cloth. At Weavers Studio, the Kolkata-based textile atelier founded by Darshan Shah, the embroidery stitches together the past and present. On a wool panel, kantha narrates an abstract story of Bauhaus architecture; on another textile, it is pinched to create a three-dimensional embossed effect. “In our world, the uncut cloth is not just a starting point-it’s a provocation,” ,” says Shah. “Imagination is the only limitation.”
Kantha is one of the hero crafts of Weavers Studio, known for its revival of heritage textiles such as baluchari as well as contemporary experiments with kantha, tie-dye and hand-block printing. While the label’s saris, dupattas and wearables are immensely popular, Shah is now turning the lens on Weavers Studio’s”art textiles” designed to multitask as tapestries, table linen and wall hangings.”Each textile is crafted with care and reverence for the process-whether destined to drape a body, grace a wall or define a space,” she says.
