Celebrating ‘gamchha’, a common Indian cloth loved by designers globally
Summary
The simple, versatile ‘gamchha’ is inspiring artists and designers to create clothing and décor
She doesn’t have a specific memory of seeing a gamchha for the first time, but former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly remembers being greeted at political meetings in West Bengal and Odisha with the cotton cloth woven with checks and stripes. “These were beautiful, colourful gamchhas with bright plain bodies or bearing ikat patterns and narrow borders with little temple spikes," recalls Jaitly, now president of Dastkari Haat Samiti. “They were long-lasting, bright and would go with so many of my saris," she says, explaining that she turned them into blouses. The politician, activist, author and crafts curator also became a collector of the gamchha, picking them up from weavers and artisans from various parts of the country.
In a bid to showcase the diversity of this fabric, Dastakari Haat Samiti is holding an exhibition, Gamchha: From the Extraordinary in the Ordinary, from 1-10 March at the National Crafts Museum and Hastkala Academy, Pragati Maidan, Delhi. It documents gamchhas from 14 states of India and from some South-East Asian countries, highlighting their regional diversity, unique craftsmanship and cultural symbolism. There will also be art installations, design interventions and live demonstrations, exploring the fabric’s many uses.
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This simple, coarse fabric, typically 70x35 inches in length and width, which traces its origin to the working-class communities’ need for a practical, multipurpose cloth, has been around for a long time. Chances are that one might overlook the fabric when one sees it around the shoulders of the neighbourhood fruit seller who wipes the sweat from his brow with it or around the waist of a migrant labourer. Draped casually across the shoulders, tied around the waist or wrapped around the head, the gamchha is a constant companion.
According to the show’s curator Suparana Bhalla, principal architect, Abaxial Design, a Delhi-based architecture and design practice firm, the gamchha is crafted with quality, shaped by toil, and upheld by perseverance. “In its simple weave lies the resilience of artisans, the essence of everyday utility, and the quiet strength of tradition," she says.
Bhalla is also displaying a latticed bamboo and steel installation intertwined with the gamchha to reflect a dichotomy—the liberation felt when the weaver creates it and the oppression that the fabric’s creator and/or wearer faces daily.
Architect and origami artist Ankon Mitra, who has created two spatial installations that reimagine the gamchha as multidimensional art, believes there’s an innate beauty to the garment that needs to be given attention.
NOT JUST A PIECE OF CLOTH
The gamchha has over the years evolved as a fashion statement in its own right, especially with celebrities and designers making it a fashion mainstay. Remember Amitabh Bachchan wearing it in Bunty aur Babli in 2005 or director Anurag Kashyap pairing the red-and-white indigenous stole with a Dior suit in 2012 at Cannes when he was promoting Gangs of Wasseypur? Or actor Dilip Kumar flaunting a bright-pink gamchha in the 1960s film Gunga Jumna?
The fabric is a favourite with several brands and designers for the versatility and diversity with which it can be used. In 2010, Rajesh Pratap Singh made a fitted red-and-white check jacket, now part of the permanent collection at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, from the gamchha fabric. In 2015, actor Kangana Ranaut wore a Péro gamchha dress. The design label continues to experiment with fabric-inspired checks, as seen in its Péro x Hello Kitty collaboration last year.
Saurabh Dwivedi, founding editor of The Lallantop, a Hindi media website, often talks about his gamchha collection on social media. He frequently wears a gamchha at his interviews.
According to designer David Abraham, co-founder of the brand Abraham & Thakore, it is the graphic simplicity of the design, either as a border or as a check, that makes the gamchha so versatile that it can be used as a base fabric that can be embellished. A&T used the gamchha as part of the Sadak Smart collection in 2018, mixing the classic red-white check with a floral chintz. More recently, the brand used the check motif as an ode to the fabric in collaboration with Obeetee to create handwoven carpets.
Other boutique brands specialise in clothing, accessories and home décor inspired by the gamchha. Working closely with artisans, craftspersons and weavers, brands such as Chidiya, 145East, Good Earth, Rangila Dhaga and Johargram continue to find popularity on social media and e-merchandising sites for their trendy jackets, co-ord sets, crop tops, dresses, bustiers, saris, trousers, jewellery, bags and even dog collars.
However, Jaitly cautions. “Although the gamchha is appearing in some fashion brands, we must be careful not to harm the livelihoods of the original weavers by shifting the market away from them and potentially exacerbating class differences," she says. The gamchha’s future, according to her, involves maintaining the existing market while simultaneously exploring newer avenues for the fabric in other sectors such as fashion without making it exclusively a high-end product.
Abhilasha Ojha is a Delhi-based writer.
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