Sustaining the Beautiful art of Hand Embroidery

India has a very rich heritage in embroidery and a wealth of varieties.

Each variety has intricate techniques of execution. These executing skills however lies predominantl with the "Karigars" (specific pool of skilled workmen/women, mostly peasants and tribals). A number of commercial institutions uses them to promote the craft and the business and this is pretty much within a limited circle.

Each regional type of embroidery in India has a unique regional design concept, stitch structure & techniques , color combination and applications.But in reality today the common public in India (educated to be specific),doesnot seem to have much awareness or knowledge to identify the various Indian embroidery types or skills to apply them to the traditional or emerging dress applications except for a few, mostly in the states of Gujarat,Kashmir,Rajasthan and Bengal who continue to have these skills as a part of their life.

Also due to aspects of growing commercialisation, asthetics and nuances of the essence of the various embroidery have diluted.People seem reluctant to pay for the very fine and exquisite hand embroidery pieces for its real worth and this has led to the deterioration in the quality of commercially available hand embroidery. The genuine ,classic appeal of Indian embroidery practised and developed over centuries seem to be getting inferior as a result of all this.

On the other side of the fundamentals, Many of the schools today neither have time nor interest to include embroidery as a subject in their curriculam of the Craft courses leading to the dearth of knowledge ,creative talent and skills with the students, who would be the driving force for the emerging India to the extent of sustaining,leveraging and growing this art.

It was really a fantastic experience for me understanding the gaps in today's much needed focussed education in a beautiful and complex art of embroidery and I could get a great of depth in this through finishing my Diploma course in Mridula's school of Embroidery & Fashion Design in Chennai being a very unique school for Embroidery tied up with Coats India Ltd which enables entrepreunerial ,educated women to tap the emerging economic opportunities in Dress and Fashion design by applying embroidery and its techniques.The school has also been doing its best to enable a means of livelyhood for poor women through skills development,employment in Embroidery .This would also help create a crucial labor mass for the entrepreuners in their embroidery/fashion design pursuits.

Amidst today's fast pace of life and constraints of time ,place and commuting, amongst working and non-working women and students to learn embroidery in an institution/school ,The school has provided a solution by pioneering the learning of Embroidery to the women in India and across the world through its Distance education programs. Working women,House wifes and children can vastly benefit by this.