Natural Dyeing & Printing Technique

NATURAL DYEING

Learning from and reviving ancient, traditional techniques has always been a passion of Keshav Rao, our partner and co-founder of Creative Bee. Keshav is among the handful of natural dye masters in India.

Coupling ancient knowledge with decades of experience, he has developed one of the most extensive colour-ranges ever seen using natural dyes. He also brings a scientific approach to the traditional art of dyeing, making every shade extremely colour-fast, rubbing-fast, and light-fast.

What's more, with an innate eco-conscious sensibility and an urge to generate employment locally, Keshav has set-up our production in a way that it uses zero electricity, is carbon-neutral, and causes zero water or soil pollution. . 

SHIBORI

Similar to tie-dye and bandhani in principle, shibori is a Japanese form of multi-technique, resist dyeing. We incorporate tie-dye, mud resist, clamp resist, stitch resist, local application, block print, and various other methodologies in our shibori fabrics, resulting in some of the most striking patterns.

We use also 100% natural dyes and most of our shibori artists are women from neighbouring villages. Though our shibori is done on our handloom fabric, we also train rural women - elderly widows, single mothers, and anyone interested - to use the technique on readily available fabric. This empowers them to create value-added, sellable products as a way of earning their livelihood.

BLOCK PRINTING

We practice the art of traditional woodblock printing by hand. The printing is done on 7 to 15 feet long tables that are lined with 25 to 30 layers of Hasin cloth to achieve near-perfect uniformity of print.

We create customised blocks based on chosen patterns. And no pattern is too intricate for our block-makers who have decades of experience in the intricate skill which has been passed down to them through generations. We also employ unique techniques such as mud-resist, discharge, and cross-printing, etc. in combination with shibori and hand-painting to make our garments distinctive.

KALAMAKRI PAINTING

Hand-painted Kalamkari is one of India's oldest art-forms invented thousands of years ago and is practiced to this day. It is the art of painting on fabric with a traditional, improvised pen.

We contemporised this heritage technique by replacing the traditional religious motifs of gods and goddesses with more modern ones such as animals, birds, leaves, and the Tree of Life. Our Kalamkari is also unique in the way that, while most other pieces smell of the cow milk that is used to keep the ink from blotting, our garments go through a post-process which fixes the colour and completely eliminates the smell of dairy.