Hello, February!

How are you? It’s that strange, short month of the year, and the calendar is already filling up fast – work, play, and more are jostling for attention. Amongst it all, however, I’ve tried to take some time to unwind. I’ve found that reading is the perfect decompressor, away from the glow of the phone, TV, and computer. My pick this week was “How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” by Katy Milkman.

There were many takeaways, but one stood out to me the most - “the key obstacle to behaviour change is self-control, causing both impulsive decisions and procrastination.” From that statement, she then moves into discussing the impacts of laziness, forgetfulness, and other impasses we face on the way to success. I won’t get into those this time – I know I’m guilty of doing those things, not always within my control, and you can make your own call on self-reflection.

At the end of 2021, I made a commitment to writing a weekly blog in 2022. This was to be in addition to making time for myself, enjoying those rare moments of peace, fun, and exercise. This week, however, my old habits made me nearly give up. Hello, procrastination! It’s been a while since you appeared. I was hoping you were away on a long holiday … alas, you’ve returned. In my procrastination, I pondered what my weekly topic would be, and how it would take me closer to one of my goals.

Luckily, inspiration struck (thank you, Amisha!). It was Amisha who caught an overnight train from Bombay last week, to a new region we are exploring for fabrics, in preparation for my upcoming trip. It’s an exciting time for Naudic, finally the month when we start to gather and source new ideas for upcoming collections, that we can further explore on the ground in India. If this feels like working far in advance, it is – each collection encompasses a long process of finding the direction that is true to the Naudic ‘look’.

Both now and during my trip, I want to show the behind-the-scenes story of Naudic, every stage that happens on the ground and the background of a collection. Within this, there are the artists making these fabrics, the inspirations in the architecture and streets, the people who pull it all together. There is also the culture and history behind these techniques – the indigenous methods of block printing, batiks, and knotted and dyed bandhinis, piled high and drying from the ceiling. Seeing Amisha’s photos that show these delights made my heart skip a beat.

In India, it’s been slow in the markets, towns and cities crippled by Covid once again. The villages that are home to the factories and suppliers took a real hit when Covid closed the world down. The good news, however, is these integral members of the Naudic family were looked after, the sense of community carrying them through. I’m glad they were able to weather the storm of the past (nearly!) two years, to a world beginning to pick up. In recent weeks, emerging from Omicron, business is picking up again, life returning to the markets and shopfronts that line the streets.

I enclose pictures from Amisha’s factory visits. In them, you can see the wooden blocks that are used for stamping the fabrics with their designs, along with the screens that are also used in this process (hanging to the right of the picture). The more complex the print, the more screens needed.

There are also some pictures of the process involved in batik, where a pattern is drawn on the fabric so it doesn’t absorb the dye. There are also some pictures of bandhani screen printing and block printing, intricate works that take many hours and skilled artisans to create. The pieces that come from this work are produced with all indigenous and highly skilled work, passion and tradition seeping into the fabric and our collections.

Thank you for reading, and getting in touch! I’m feeling grateful as I commit to this year of showing the processes, people, and cultures from round the globe. Come along for the ride, won’t you?

Talk soon,

Emma

Blocks, Batiks and Bandhani