A RADICAL new innovative combination of TWO CRAFT traditions.For centuries, painted textiles from India reached the far corners of the world through extensive networks of trade and commerce. These fabrics not only narrated folktales and mythological epics on their surfaces but also wove within them the diverse socio-economic history and regional artistic knowledge of the peoples of the subcontinent. Textiles decorated with the hand-painted technique of Kalamkari and the tie-dyeing process of Bandhani are prime examples of how traditional artistic practices continue to carve out a place for themselves in contemporary markets.Kalamkari &ndash; which consists of the words&nbsp;kalam&nbsp;(pen) and&nbsp;kari&nbsp;(craftsmanship) &ndash; was initiated centuries ago by folk singers and painters. The art form eventually evolved into something truly remarkable, as the spoken word was brought to life by painting stories on fabric. Today Kalamkari continues to flourish in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is practised by master craftsmen, with knowledge of it handed down from one generation to the next. Creating Kalamkari textiles requires extensive technical skill and precision that can only be accomplished by seasoned artisans who have honed their abilities over many years.Bandhani is derived from a Sanskrit word for &ldquo;to tie&rdquo;. It is one of the oldest tie-dye techniques and has been practised in South Asia for more than four thousand years. A dye-resist method, it involves pulling the fabric into tight, small knots, which are tied firmly with strings and then dyed to create remarkably delicate and intricate patterns. The practice of Bandhani still thrives in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Its splendid patterns are mostly seen on veils (also known as odhanis), turbans and saris. And today is also used creatively for modern and cutting-edge fashion.Photos by Shovan Gandhi

Bandhani and Kalamkari

Pattern making is an art form that is often overlooked in today&rsquo;s&nbsp;fast-paced,&nbsp;consumer-driven,&nbsp;ready-to-wear&nbsp;fashion landscape. It is the pattern makers who give concrete form to a&nbsp;designer&rsquo;s&nbsp;inspiration&nbsp;by creating the perfect cut. The craft of pattern making has evolved over several centuries,&nbsp;particularly&nbsp;in the field of menswear. The profession of bespoke men&rsquo;s tailoring has existed in Germany for over a millennium and&nbsp;encompasses&nbsp;the region&rsquo;s rich cultural history. At the end of the nineteenth century, Michael M&uuml;ller invented the original M&uuml;ller &amp; Sohn cutting system in Munich, allowing for designs to be converted into cuts with a precise fit. This cutting system still leads the world market in design today and has been constantly used and adapted in innovative ways to meet the demands of modern consumers.For this collaboration,&nbsp;made/in&nbsp;worked with designer and pattern maker&nbsp;Kai Lehmann, who demonstrates the process of creating a custom-made men&rsquo;s jacket. Lehmann is currently a professor of model design, pattern design and CAD (Computer Aided Design) at the University of the Arts Bremen. He was previously a guest lecturer in the menswear master&rsquo;s programme at the Royal College of Art in London. His experience includes working for prestigious brands such as Vivienne Westwood and Hugo Boss as well as running his own menswear label called Suit E. Here Lehmann takes us through the details for creating a perfectly tailored suit.The transition from pattern making and bespoke tailoring is fluid. Tailoring as a craft requires a combination of skill, precision and attention to detail. A customized tailor-made suit can cost anywhere from three- to six thousand euros &ndash; and upwards. It could take from four to six weeks to create, including at least three fitting sessions. The price of a well-made suit depends on the expertise of the tailor, the equipment used, and most importantly, the quality of the fabric.In the spring of 2022, UNESCO will decide whether the craft of tailoring &ndash; and terms such as &ldquo;tailoring&rdquo; and &ldquo;men&rsquo;s tailor&rdquo; &ndash; will be included on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Germany. Technical terms such as &ldquo;bespoke work&rdquo; and &ldquo;men&rsquo;s tailor&rdquo; also need to be protected. Similar terms such as &ldquo;bespoke&rdquo; or &ldquo;made-to-measure&rdquo; are only suggestive of customized tailoring, but that is only partly true. The aim is to preserve this craft along with the methods and services associated with it.Photos by Astrid Grosser

Pattern Making

The skill of Indian embroiderers in transforming the look and feel of any fabric is perhaps unparalleled in the entire world. Traditional embellishment of textiles has evolved in different regions throughout the subcontinent, leading to a vast array of techniques and motifs. Embroideries practised in India have used a dazzling variety of materials, including different fabrics, coloured cotton and silk threads, metallic threads, mirrors, beads, and shells to name a few. Every form of embroidery creates its own unique texture and visual impact. Zardozi, for example, is a technique that uses metallic threads of silver and/or gold to create dense and rich designs that shimmer against the light.Contemporary designers are re-inventing the application of traditional textile practices by experimenting with unconventional materials and designs. Design houses such as White Champa are committed to drawing on the hereditary skills of Indian craftspeople, but at the same time the brand takes pride in meeting the needs of a contemporary market by creating bespoke, handcrafted garments. The images presented here show us the incredible abilities of textile artists to transform plain cloth into works of art.Photos by Shovan Gandhi

Embroidery

Pleats are multiple folds introduced to a garment to make it visually distinct by adding volume and movement. The earliest examples of pleating can be found on linen robes traced back to ancient Egypt. The&nbsp;traditional&nbsp;art of pleating involves gathering and securing numerous folds on a piece of fabric by pressure,&nbsp;temperature&nbsp;and steam. The term Pliss&eacute;e itself originates from the French word pli, for pleat, derived from plier, to fold. Pliss&eacute;e originally referred to a fabric that was woven or gathered into pleats. It is also widely known as crinkle cr&ecirc;pe.From the mid-sixteenth century until the middle of the seventeenth, prominent figures such as Mary Stewart and members of the renowned Medici family helped establish the popularity of the elaborate pleated neck ruff, which formed part of an ornate clothing ensemble. This extravagant style marked the upper echelons of European society, although pleated collars also started appearing in traditional costumes by the eighteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth century, individually folded cardboard moulds came into use for pleating. With the onset of the industrial revolution, the first pleating machines were introduced to the market, making pleated fabrics and garments widely available and more affordable. Since 1990, computer-controlled pleating machines have been used to fabricate pleats of different sizes. Today, the preferred fabric for pleating is lightweight with a crinkled, puckered surface that can be shaped into ridges or stripes. The traditional practice of adding continuous folds to clothing remains a part of our everyday wardrobe.In Germany only a few studios remain committed to the traditional craft of pleating. One of them is the Gie&szlig;mannpleating workshop in Berlin&rsquo;s Charlottenburg district. Producing both hand- and machine-made pleats, the family firm is managed by Sigrid Gie&szlig;mann and her daughter Stefanie John. Their clients include several haute couture and fashion companies as well as over three hundred opera houses, theatres, and film studios from all over Europe. To feature the pleating technique, made/in collaborated with the Gie&szlig;mann atelier to create two striking garments working with traditional craft practices.Photos by Astrid Grosser

Plissée

The traditional technique of printing and dyeing textiles with indigo has been practised in Europe for over four hundred years and continues today. This method of embellishing cloth is done on natural fabrics such as cotton, linen and silk. Historically, the process of indigo dyeing began by extracting colour from a species of plant called woad (Isatis tinctoria),grown in Germany&rsquo;s Thuringia region. It was in wide use throughout Europe until the medieval period, when various European East India companies began expanding their trade with Southeast Asia. From the seventeenth century onwards, Dutch merchants began to import indigo (Indigoferatinctoria) from India. It was preferred for its intensity of hue and hence gradually replaced the older method of extracting the dye from the woad plant. With the introduction of mechanization and bulk production in today&rsquo;s market, syntheticallyproduced indigo (indanthren blue) is increasingly used in place of natural dyes. This shift has taken place in most parts of the world; although some craftspeople still prefer to create vibrant printed textiles using conventional dyes and the labour-intensive processes associated with them.Today a handful of active workshops in Germany preserve the indigo craft, which is known locally as as Blaudruck (blue printing). One such establishment operates out of an old warehouse in Jever, a renowned traditional centre in Lower Saxony. Blaudruckerei Jever is headed by Georg Stark, one of Germany&rsquo;s few remaining traditional indigo printers and dyers, and his successor Sabrina Schuhmacher. Their practice focuses on long-established East Frisian and North German indigo dyeing techniques. They use a method known as reserve printing on such materials as cotton, linen, hemp, velvet and silk. Blaudruckerei Jever&rsquo;s wide repertoire of historical designs consists of around 1,100 printing blocks. Among these patterns are five hundred vintage designs ranging from the years 1660 to the 1920s. These include Asian motifs such as pomegranates and peacock feathers, Christian themes, numerous floral patterns, delicate floral pattern stripes, and designs from the Art Deco period.For the project featured here,&nbsp;made/in&nbsp;collaborated with&nbsp;Matthias Mansen, a Berlin-based artist who works with woodcut, to develop a new printing block with abstract motifs. This is the first time that Stark and Schuhmacher worked with a printing block specially designed to demonstrate the precise, individual stages of the reserve print process. Blaudruckerei Jever mainly works with centuries-old, historical blocks, which Stark has collected assiduously over the past thirty years.In the technique of reserve printing, practised predominantly in Europe, practitioners use hand-crafted wooden and metal blocks to apply the designs onto the fabric. Large pattern blocks are traditionally made of wood from the pear tree. For intricate designs, blocks are preferred that are set in fine metal pins or stripes. Printing blocks were conventionally made by mould makers, although this specialized craft is also slowly declining. With the onset of industrialization, mechanized roller printing came into wide use, replacing traditional craft practices. Today in Germany, only twelve Blaudruck workshops continue to print textiles through age-old craft processes. Indeed, the art form has become so rare that the European indigo dyeing process was officially included on UNESCO&rsquo;s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in 2018. This has brought greater visibility to the art form.Photos by Astrid Grosser

Indigo Dyeing

Textiles decorated with hand-block printing have been synonymous with India for many centuries. The earliest evidence of this vibrant and rich tradition dates back to the ninth century BCE. (Printed cloth fragments&nbsp;originating&nbsp;in Gujarat were unearthed at a burial site in Fustat, Egypt.) The art of printing fabrics on the&nbsp;subcontinent,&nbsp;however, goes all the way back to the Indus Valley&nbsp;Civilization.&nbsp;Over the course of history, trade in these&nbsp;magnificent&nbsp;stamped fabrics made the Indian&nbsp;subcontinent&nbsp;a vital commercial hub for merchants and traders from around the world.Indian craftsmen have perfected to the highest degree the art of block printing on a myriad of surfaces using wooden and metal blocks. The rhythmic, almost mechanical movements they make while printing the textiles is a result of deep knowledge and many years of training. The traditional practice of creating block-printed fabrics primarily uses carved wooden or metal blocks that are dipped in natural colour and then firmly pressed on cloth. The more intricate and colourful the pattern is, the more rounds of printing are required using different kinds of blocks.Photos by Shovan Gandhi