Layer by Layer

There is something special about hand printed fabrics that drew us to them from the very beginning. If you take a closer look, you’ll see how the pigment saturates the fabric. There’s natural variance in depth and saturation, and that gave us a feeling of seeing a painting come to life.

Below are scenes from our printing house as they work on printing Vintage Posy Bleu. Like all natural materials, wood responds to time and use; carved blocks gradually change and new ones were made so the print can continue its life. We have also refined the rekh (outline) block, giving the pattern a finer, more delicate outline when stamped.

Everything about hand printed fabric breathes life — teams of people work together, each practising a craft they have spent years perfecting. From dyers and wood block carvers to colour masters and printers, each works steadily to create our prints and the fabric we use in our pieces. Some prints are coloured through stencils while others are coloured by pressing wood blocks onto the fabric. These wood blocks have been intricately carved by skilled craftsmen. Every colour requires a different wood block, just as stencil frames do. They are then layered one by one until the pattern is completed.

Swatches of the same print arrive; weeks and sometimes months are spent refining the print. Everything takes time, and yet this gives us a sense of beauty. Choosing to work this way has allowed us to see the small wonders of how craft adds meaning to our everyday lives.