As a child, I was not aware of folk arts. I was introduced to this craft as a design student during my graduation, and ever since, I have been in love with it,” says Maneet Kaur, a Ph.D. scholar. Recently, she organised a workshop on the Indian folk art of Phulkari and Sashiko, a Japanese folk artform, at the Sunder Nursery.
“Art brings people together. The artist expresses her experience by giving a tangible form to their feelings about the world. To give the public those artistic and crafty moments, I organise workshops in parks and cafés,” she says. Kaur started the workshop by handing over an envelope, which had in it two pieces of cloth, colourful threads, tracing paper, and some artwork, to each participant. It also came with instructions for the needle movement for sashiko and phulkari.
Widely common in Punjab, phulkari means floral work, but the designs also include cover motifs and geometrical shapes. On the other hand, sashiko is a traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching used for the decorative or functional reinforcement of clothing. The latter, however, has found popularity in India through various exhibitions and markets.
Even though Kaur was born and brought up in Jalandhar, a city in Punjab known for its phulkari, she ‘met’ sashiko first, and later phulkari. “I have spent around two months in Japan to learn the art of sashiko. My teachers maintained a pre-planning and scheduling of the days before beginning or creating or even selecting any motif inspired by flora, fauna, river, sea, Mount Iwaki san, Mount Chokai san for their artwork.” She learned the basics of phulkari from a senior citizen at a youth festival. To gather a deeper knowledge of the craft, she visited villages, families with heirlooms, craft museums and art fairs.
Kaur believes phulkari and sashiko are connected. Apart from the fact that they are used in winter wear, what unites them is the feeling of sisterhood in their practice. Kaur’s workshop is proof; it was attended by only women -- from 11-year-old girls to 64-year-old retired professionals. “In both India and Japan, it is a primary skill for women eligible to be married; it also encompasses the goodwill and blessings by the maker, usually mothers or grandmothers.”
The material, colour, and technique of both are different though. Cotton threads are used on hemp-woven fabric in sashiko. The colour combination is white-yarn fabric and indigo-dyed yarn or fabric. “Phulkari requires silk thread work in bright yellow, red, white and brown colours on indigo-dyed cotton-woven fabric. In sashiko, the artist leaves the thread loose in the beginning and in the end, without any knot, but in phulkari, the thread gets wrapped around the yarn at the beginning and the end of the embroidered thread,” adds Kaur.
