Handcrafted Home Furnishings - India. Meet Aanya.

“I always knew this is what I wanted to do. It took me a long time to get here but I was always progressing to this goal of having my own design workshop"

Location: India

Craft: Textiles, baskets, kitchen linen and home accessories

Materials Used: Cotton, wool, acryllic, brass, fabric

Aanya alongside her mentor, Ishaan

Background: After graduating with an interior design degree from one of the top universities in India Aanya worked for several years as a textile producer in an export house. After building up a reputation within the industry Aanya was able to start freelancing full time for clients in the home furnishings export industry. After doing this for over 10 years she decided to pursue her growing desire to create and develop her own product range and set up a small artisan co-operative in Jaipur, India. Working together with a small team she creates everything inhouse and finally realised her dream of bring her own design visions into reality.

Team in action

Technique: The entire life cycle of these products are made in Aanya’s design studio, from concept to finish:

• An initial drawing is made of the proposed product on paper
• The best colours are determinined for the print before it the stencilled design is transferred to silk screens (a piece of silk stretched tightly over a wooden or metal frame)
• Once the screen is stretch it is coated with a light sensitive emulsion
• The design is exposed on a screen by passing it through laser in a screen-making machine or affixed by stencil
• Each colour requires a separate screen
• Once the screens are made the fabrics are reading for printing after degumming and drying
• A hot wax table is prepared and now the actual printing starts
• Ink is pushed through the holes in the silk in the shape of the image previously burned in the screen
• Once printed, it is now left to dry to allow the ink to harden and adhere to the design

Tools on the table

Interesting fact: India is the largest producer of cotton. Cotton production in India reached 6,106 million kg in 2016-17.