bindaas collective

Independent Moble Republics- Cellphones and rural social change ;-)

2011-03-29T07:29:00.001+05:30

This essay was written 2 years ago when there were 350 million mobile connections and mobile phones were still expensive and Nokia ruled the roost. Now Chinese made phones with hundreds of apps and really cheap are available and the number of connections have crossed 700 million ! Young people change their mobile phones every 2-6 months and there is a booming second-hand market in rural India. There are small shops loading animation clips to local song videos to keep everyone from your babies to your granny happy ( bhajans too !) . PC's meanwhile are no more aspired for. The next big dream is the laptop.

Independent mobile republics

Painted Trunks of Kaladera !

2010-10-22T08:54:00.000+05:30

There are tin trunks of every size imaginable in rural Rajasthan. From those in which you can fit a single bed to those for your jewellery. Trunk making is a skill in every village. And then there is the village painter , who paints everything from Baraat carts aka chariots on which the besura singer stands while the shaadi band plays ahead of him , to hoardings of shops, to walls inviting guests for marriage - and now due to us - trunks. We have used these same trunks to keep our wooden blocks for years.

Chart Pepper

2010-07-26T13:14:00.000+05:30

Masala stationery to record your spicy thoughts .

100% recycled hosiery fabric. 5"X7".

Dabu or mud-resist printing.

2009-10-29T22:32:00.003+05:30

Dabu or mud-resist is a special printing technique of central Rajasthan, done in Jaipur district , in villages of Bagru, Kaladera, Jairampura and Badagaon Jahota. Dabu is a thick viscous paste made of clay, lime, tree gum and insect eaten wheat. It was used as the last print in the print process to save the "booti" or motif from the dyeing colours. The outline print known as "rekh" was either left empty or printed with another colour "datta" and then developed in alizerene dye in copper vessels. Later the dabu was done before the dyeing. We along with Chaubundi and Raghunath Nama developed a special range of saris which used only the dabu process. We also developed special blocks to explore the negative form so that we could use the dye colours as print forms , using the strength of Dabu. Sawdust is thrown on dabu to dry it faster.Look at the palm tree on top, its not a print but a dye, "kashish" or grey .

New cards on the blo(g)k !

2009-10-05T10:43:00.007+05:30

Aaj phir marne ki tamanna hai from "Guide"
Roll baby roll, Ghoom barabar ghoom

Auto dil-bahar

Maharani Chhap old match-box

A series of 9 cards available in Either Or Pune, People Tree Delhi

Loose Ends Mumbai

Hand block printed hand dyed T-shirts

2009-05-23T22:06:00.008+05:30

Mud-resist ( Dabu) T-shirt, Indigo vat dyed.
Bagru print in Begar and PD, then dabu and dyed Kashish.

Left-Dabu and dyed Kashish Right- Begar print,then dabu and dyed indigo.

Syahi and Begar dyed, then dabu and Kashish dye.

Syahi and Begar print,then indigo and nasphal dye.

Dabu hand block printing.

Close up mud resist.

Mail from the past- letters,postcards and postmarks to Kaladera.

2009-04-09T10:12:00.004+05:30

in an old haveli, built before independence , in Kaladera , we found postcards and letters dated in the early fifties, lying half burnt. these postcards tell a story of how "baniyas" or trader caste, from Rajasthan were spread all over India, mostly Calcutta and Assam as early as the fifties , linking small villages with the most happening city of that time, and a land of opportunity the North East, where they spread over small towns opening kirana, stationery and cloth stores. They also were big time provision suppliers to the tea estates. According to locals from Kaladera, the tribals were taken by British from central India to work as labour on tea estates and the Rajasthani "bania" as storekeepers, munshis and other supervisory work.

2009-04-07T13:14:00.004+05:30

at the end of a lane, you see a cow standing, turn left, and you will see at one corner of Chippon ka Mohalla in Kaladera, Rajasthan, a little white two storeyed house, with a hanuman painted on one door,lifting a smaller version of the same house. This hanuman was drawn so this dead-end would not be used to pee and shit anymore. We had total success with adults, some with children, and none with pigs and dogs!

the tiger men and hanuman were both painted by Sutanu Panigrahi , an artist/illustrator/poet friend ( http://theartofsu.com/ ).

banjaron ka dera, we call it .

Wood blocks,hand printing and design

2009-04-05T10:27:00.004+05:30

Hand-blocks were traditionally made of hard seasoned wood like sheesham, which was left to mature for a couple of years. Now blocks are made of softer local woods which chip easily and as designs also change every season for exports, one does'nt need blocks that last forever. We at Bindaas Collective have since 1993 , along with alternative design stores People Tree http://www.peopletreeonline.com/ , Either Or http://www.eitheror.in/ , and various other graphic designers , artists , illustrators deeply immersed ourselves in the traditional hand printing and dyeing processes of various regions of India , more intensively Rajasthan and Kutch district of Gujarat. We have developed contemprory prints and used multiple dyeing techniques to create yet another stream in the amazing textile printing story of India.

Dabu- mud resist printing

2009-04-04T14:36:00.004+05:30

Hand block printing

with

mud-resist

"dabu" on T-shirts

already printed in

syahi-begar ,

the classical Bagru colours,

before final dyeing.