Jeevan Indigo seeks to both demystify and celebrate the colour indigo, in the harsh landscape of Kutch
Eight kilometres from the city of Bhuj in Gujarat, the village of Bhujodi is the glowing nucleus of handicrafts, local textiles and pattern-making techniques that harken back to a bygone era.
This is not a village stuck in time; in fact, far from it. Between its mud-thatched roof huts and shops selling everything from Kutchi keepsakes to endless reams of fabrics, three communities thrive—the Vankars who specialise in tie-and-dye, scattered migrant communities who work in the Ajrak form of block-printing, and the weavers.
/established/media/post_attachments/theestablished/2022-06/c177ebbb-f475-44ad-b929-cb9cc7e8f1a0/103188162_289218922207170_3173624716526332093_n.jpg)
Jeevan Indigo produces less than seventy pieces in a year
/established/media/post_attachments/theestablished/2022-06/99c88906-3464-482e-98d4-bbb9dcbee0d3/IMG_2174.jpg)
Jeevan Indigo comprises of just four people including Ashok Siju, the owner—two weavers and one kaarigar
Ashok Siju, a 25-year-old weaver from Bhujodi, tells me that the first two communities have always experimented with the colour indigo and that his weaver community has started to dabble in it only in the past 30 years.
Siju’s fascination with the world of handlooms and dyeing as a child led him to establish a small studio, Jeevan Indigo, comprising just four people including himself—two weavers and one kaarigar.
/established/media/post_attachments/theestablished/2022-06/15df8dbf-3e8a-42c7-8240-82713bf2003b/43913484_346825179410451_168528918285222195_n.jpg)
At Jeevan Indigo, the team keeps learning new aspects to the mysterious world of indigo
Small beginnings
“As a child, I was stunned by the number of foreigners who would visit us just to feel and touch the indigo,” he says. “I’d always wonder what was so special about this colour.”
Siju blended into his father and grandfather’s small weaving business after clearing class 12. At a time when hand-weaving and dyeing remain dying crafts with few takers, what spurred him to take this on?
“I grew up with looms and dyes all around me,” he says. “I’d touch different parts of the handloom machine and wonder how they worked. This is how the fascination for these crafts within any child from our community begins. He says that Jeevan Indigo is not a massive design studio, perhaps it will never be. Maybe he doesn’t want it to be one either.
“For the longest time, we would just create cotton fabrics and only from the last four years have we started with shawls and stoles,” he says. “Our only aim is to give customers the best fabric they can possibly have with purely hand-woven techniques.”
He recalls how Kutch didn’t even have a simple sewing machine for the longest time; it was as luxurious as owning a television set. It is for this reason that many married couples would often be gifted sewing machines for the longest time in north and western India. “So, we would either drape our clothes and pin them or simply hand-stitch them, and it is the technique of hand-stitching that I’d like to take forward.”
Not without its challenges
But in the arid landscape of Kutch, how does he ensure quality production of cotton, a water-guzzling crop? In 2019, the region even witnessed its worst drought in 30 years, where 16 out of 20 dams dried up.
“We use a variety of black cotton,” he explains. “This can only be cultivated with rainwater and does not require any added chemicals for colour or fluffiness. We conserve and use this wisely.” It is for this reason that Jeevan Indigo produces less than seventy pieces in a year. As far as Siju can envision the path of his studio, this is how he wants to keep it, too. The forces of capitalism and economies of scale are simply too intimidating for a small studio like Jeevan Studio. Once things escalate into numbers, the intimacy and personal touch that forms the superstructure of places like Jeevan Indigo is bound to be lost.
A majority of sales happen in the tourist season towards the end of the year, during the Kutch mela
/established/media/post_attachments/theestablished/2022-06/66f31ad9-99f0-458d-9ff6-327d99a75c57/Jeevan_Indigo_Indigo_Dye_Kutch.jpg)
Ashik Siju blended into his father and grandfather’s small weaving business at a time when hand-weaving and dyeing remain dying crafts with few takers
“We are literally just a team of four people,” he says. “We take almost two days to work on a single shirt because we want to take it slow and easy as that’s the only way you can bring in the intimacy of hand-stitched patterns with vivid blue dyes.”
Apart from keeping his community’s heritage and craft alive, the colour indigo remains a sweet mystery to be solved. Siju has already begun work—cultivating it, understanding how it always manages to outshine other natural dyes. “In India, a major chunk of indigo comes from Tamil Nadu, where the farmers themselves are unaware of how the indigo extracts work and the seller doesn't know any better either,” he says. “At Jeevan Indigo, we keep learning new aspects to the mysterious world of indigo too.”
A majority of sales happen in the tourist season towards the end of the year, during the Kutch mela. But Siju says when requests are received through social media and word-of-mouth publicity, it heartens him the most. “We don’t have ambitious dreams. All we want to do is create the best fabric we can with the best techniques we know.”
Jeevan Indigo’s story is thus about one man’s fascination with the endless bounties of nature and his near-spiritual search amidst the blue-hued, magical world of indigo.
Also Read: This rural design studio is inspired by the landscape and heritage of Kutch
Also Read: Did you know the buttons on your H&M outfit can benefit Bengaluru’s waste-pickers?
Also Read: Greenwashing is the marketing trick that's making you shop more