LECTURE SERIES

ESSAYS

Pranav Jagtap
Batch-2
 Wood Craft & The Importance
of Craft in Fashion Industry
Art, craft and design introduces participants to a range of intellectual and practical
skills. It enables learners to use and understand the properties of a wide range of
tools, machines, materials and systems. Craft & Design supports and services
other subjects, industries and sectors.
The cultural importance of handicrafts are that they play a role in representing
the culture and traditions of any country or region. Handicraft are substantial
medium to preserve of rich traditional art, heritage and culture, traditional skills
and talents which are associated with people's lifestyle and history.
 Design Process and Destructive
Design
The Design Process is an approach for breaking down a large project into
manageable chunks. Architects, engineers, scientists, and other thinkers use the
design process to solve a variety of problems. Use this process to define the steps
needed to tackle each project, and remember to hold to all of your ideas and
sketches throughout the process.
Designing for Destruction may include preparing a product to
biodegrade, or perhaps to explode. But often the endgame for a new
design will be eventual recycling, sometimes called demanufacturing.
Typically, that involves designing a product so that it can be
disassembled or shredded. And so that its components and constituent
materials can be harvested and sent along for constructive reuse in future
products or machines.
 Leadership, Management and
Motivation
Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and
influence the behaviour and work of others towards accomplishment of
specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to
induce the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

Management is essential for organized life and necessary to run all types of
management. Good management is the backbone of successful organizations.
Managing life means getting things done to achieve life’s objectives and managing
an organization means getting things done with and through other people to
achieve its objectives. Whether management is an art or science, will continue to
be a subject of debate. However, most management thinkers agree that some
form of formal academic management background helps in managing
successfully.

Motivation is the reason for people's actions, willingness and goals.

Motivation is derived from the word motive which is defined as a need that
requires satisfaction. These needs could be wants or desires that are
acquired through influence of culture, society, lifestyle, etc. or generally
innate. Motivation is one's direction to behaviour, or what causes a person
to want to repeat a behaviour, a set of force that acts behind the motives.
An individual's motivation may be inspired by others or events (extrinsic
motivation) or it may come from within the individual (intrinsic motivation).
 Fashion Basics
Terminologies and History
Fashion design is the art of applying design aesthetics and natural beauty
to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by cultural and social
attitudes and has varied over time and place.

Basic terminologies in Fashion Basics:-

• Haute couture- High sewing or high dress making and often refers to
exclusive design creation

• Label- It refers to upcoming designers who make RTW outfit in limited

numbers

• Silhouette- It is the outline of an outfit

• Off the rock- Clothing that is made in large numbers

• Hemline- Lower edge of a garment

 Ethics in Design and
Design Thinking
Design concerns moral behaviour and responsible choices in the practice of
design. It guides how designers work with clients, colleagues, and the end
users of products, how they conduct the design process, how they
determine the features of products, and how they assess the ethical
significance or moral worth of the products that result from the activity of
designing. Ethical considerations have always played a role in design
thinking, but the development of scientific knowledge and technology has
deepened awareness of the ethical dimensions of design. As designers
incorporate new knowledge of physical and human nature as well as new
forms of technology into their products, people are increasingly aware of
the consequences of design for individuals, societies, cultures, and the
natural environment.

Design thinking refers to the cognitive, strategic and practical processes by

which design concepts (proposals for new products, buildings, machines, etc.) are
developed by designers and/or design teams. Many of the key concepts and
aspects of design thinking have been identified through studies, across different
design domains, of design cognition and design activity in both laboratory and
natural contexts.
Design thinking is also associated with prescriptions for the innovation of products
and services within business and social contexts. Some of these prescriptions have
been criticized for oversimplifying the design process and trivializing the role of
technical knowledge and skills.
 Importance of
documentation for projects
and exploration in design
Learning diary plays an important role in designer's career. Not every
company sees the GPA score. Design is a field where marks play jo major
role. Something that counts is the creativity and imaginative power of an
individual. Therefore learning diary and portfolios play a major role in
designer’s career.
Design exploration- Design Exploration is a particular way of arriving at an optimal design
solution. To be formal, design exploration is the human-driven, often computer-assisted,
divergent/convergent process used to evolve and investigate multidisciplinary design space with the
intent of design discovery and to inform decision making throughout the design process.
Because design exploration is so different than traditional design optimization, it’s also so much more.
The great irony here is that design exploration leads to better, more desirable solutions than design
optimization does.
 Documentation of Craft
Research
Documentation helps to ensure consent and expectations. It helps to tell
the narrative for decisions made and how yourself or client responded to
different situations. In the same manner, it is important to record
information that can help support the proper treatment plan and the
reasoning for such services. Design thinking exploration- we all want to
design most desirable products. Not surprisingly, the way we design them
has a big influence on how good and basicable those products have
become.

Documentation of Craft Research ( interview ) is a most widely used

method of data collection in social science. Benney's & Hughes (1956)
famous quotes ' sociology has become the science of interview is more
relevant than ever . 21st century social researches has become interviews
and their work bears marks of those interviews. Therefore the evaluation
research are mostly informative, process of development approaches –
interview are frequently the main and only tool to generate data about
programme effectiveness.
 AJRAKH CRAFT
Ajrakh is a unique form of blockprinted shawls and tiles found in Sindh, Pakistan;
Kutch, Gujarat; and Barmer, Rajasthan in India. These shawls display special
designs and patterns made using block printing by stamps. Over the years, ajrakhs
have become a symbol of the Sindhi culture and traditions.

History

Early human settlements in the lower Indus Valley found a way of cultivating and using
Gossypium arboreum commonly known as tree cotton to make clothes. These
civilizations are thought to have mastered the art of making cotton fabrics.

The level of geometry on the garment comes from the usage of a method of printing
called woodblock printing in which prints were transferred from geometric shapes etched
on the wooden blocks by pressing them hard on the fabric.

Ajrakhs are made all over Sindh, especially in Matiari, Hala, Bhit
Shah, Moro, Sukkur, Kandyaro, Hyderabad, and many cities of Upper Sindh and Lower
Sindh.

Dyes
Ajrakh craft products are made with natural dyes. The entire production of the products
include both vegetable dyes and mineral dyes. Indigo is a key dye.

The process of ajrakh making

Ajrakh Block printing undergoes various stages of process of printing and dyeing. The selected cream (any

light colour) cotton fabric is soaked in water for overnight and lashed with the wooden beater (bat shape wood)

in the flowing water to remove the starch content and impurities in the fabric.

Stage 1 (Hardae Process):

To the mixture of 100gms of Hardae powder (Tamarind seed powder) 20 litres of water is added and stirred

well for 5 minutes, to which the fabric is soaked for about 5-10 minutes and dried under sunlight.

Stage 2 (White Print):

For white print- Arabic gum and Lime stone (chunna) are stirred well and this mixture can be used for about

two days’ processes with minimum of two times stirring in a day. To highlight white, cream colours in the blue

cloth, it is print with the white mixture. The hardae fabric is spread on the printing table and printed with

outline blocks (Rekh) with white print on both sides of the fabric. The white print reserves the areas of the

fabric to which it is applied with lime and Arabic gum. The white printed fabric is dried under sunlight for

about 15- 20 minutes.

Stage 3 (Black Print):

For black print- Iron and Jaggery mixed with water, kept for about 15 -20 days. This solution is mixed well

with the tamarind seed powder and boiled up to 80-90 degree centigrade for about 30 minutes and cooled.

The black print mixture is poured in the printing tray, spread evenly and printed with blocks locally called as

Kat.

Stage 4 (Red Print):

For red print- 5 litres of water and about 200gms of multani miti is mixed well which is filtered with a piece of

cloth. To which 1kg of alum, 2kg of Arabic gum and 100gms of eco-friendly lalkasi (chemical) is added and

mixed well. Red colour is printed after the fabric is dried with black print.

Stage 5 (Indigo):

For 300gms of indigo powder, 1.5 Hydro’s (Sodium dithionite), 100 litres of water is stirred well. The fabric is

immersed from one side; the whole fabric is fully immersed in for about 5 to 10 minutes without rinsing.

Stage 6 (Boiled with Aligirin (madir):

213 gms of aligirin is filtered with a piece of cloth in 7 to 8 litres of water in a copper vessel. To which

Dhawdaka phul (Pawdas, Rajasthan flower) and indigo dyed fabric is immersed completely and boiled for

about 45 minutes. After the above 6 stages, the process to the fabric is done as per the choice of the end

product to be obtained. For more of blue colour shade meena colour method is preferred, for more of greenish

blue shade green colour method is preferred.