In the small town of Bagru, a few kilometres from the Royal city of Jaipur, Rajasthan, lives a community of artisans called chhipas. The term chippa comes from the term thappa chhapai or block printing. These artisans have been doing the same thing for generations; carving gorgeous wooden blocks & stamping them over and over on fabrics to create beautiful patterns. The carve, stamp, weave and dye all by themselves creating yard after yard of art that can be worn by anyone and everyone all over the world.
The dyes and colours used for this fabric are all natural, chemical free dyes. The chhipas have perfected the art of dyeing. using everything in nature's arsenal, from alum to mud, they produce multiple colours and shades. Every form of dyeing uses a different process; dabu printing uses mud to create beige, indigo dyeing requires fabric to be dipped again and again in vats of natural blue dye to create the richest navy blue you will ever find and so on and so forth.
Suppliers and middlemen flock to Bagru to get their hands on this coveted fabric. It is used for clothing, bed linen, homeware, accessories & tens of other things. They procure this at dirt cheap rates, inflate the prices and resell to manufacturers & retailers. This fabric is either sold at a high markup or made into a finished product using cheap labour at an equally high price.
An art that goes back almost 300 years (records go only as far back,) has been fighting for its survival for most of it. 200 years back, greed, corruption and politics took over in an effort to drain the craft, mint money and leave the artisan to fend for themselves.
An art that flourished under the Mughals and managed to linger on despite the adversities it faced, is still being exploited. Multiple brands go to Bagru and get the fabric that is then sold as a finished product at premium rates. A few brands and entities are now trying to create fair-trade and buy directly from the artisans. But, we still have a long way to go.
In an effort to be as sustainable as possible, our policy is to only buy from the chhipas directly. We then sell this fabric to you at a minimal markup so that the bulk of the profit goes into the artisan's pocket. when you buy from Tarini Devraj Maniktala, you help put a smile on an artisan's face in Rajasthan. In our continued endeavour to keep this art alive and thriving, not just surviving, we continue to procure our fabrics, bed linen and clothing from the manufacturers and printers directly. thank you for supporting a small business & thank you for helping Indian artisans.