“It’s easy to not be affected by a farmer’s struggle because we don’t hear or say their stories every day.” Rias Jaipur, which has recently launched their ‘Farak’ series to enumerate farmers’ struggles says, “Let’s change all that.”
Now, more than ever, the world, especially our country, is being reminded of the importance of farmers. At least 10,281 persons involved in the farm sector ended their lives in 2019, accounting for 7.4 per cent of the total number of suicides in India, suggests the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report 2019 by the National Crime Records Bureau. It is also that the history of India is a history of struggle, of which farmers’ struggle has been a major component. Honouring this very legacy is Rias Jaipur’s Farak series, which is made of 100 per cent local cotton cultivated, hand-knitted and woven by craftspeople from Vidarbha, Wardha, and Murshidabad. What’s more special is that each garment, inspired by a farmers’ struggle, comes with a scannable QR code which can be scanned to learn more about it.
Homegrown had the good fortune of speaking with the founders of Rias Jaipur about their initiative and motivations.
1. Please tell us a little about Rias Jaipur.
Rias Jaipur is a brand which is formed by Arshia and Avishek in 2018 with a view to reviving Indian crafts and textiles. Studying Bachelors of Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Chennai but being from two different states of the country, Rajasthan and West Bengal, gave the two of us a perspective of all the crafts from these states. Hence, we decided to work on the lost crafts, Dabu and Hand-Block printing from Rajasthan. We put the crafts onto handspun khadi sourced from a village near West Bengal. An attempt to keep these crafts alive, Rias Jaipur is a bridge between the artisanal skill and modern designs. Our aim is to innovate constantly and create striking outfits using a combination of age-old techniques and our modern design skills.
2. Please could you talk about the Farak series? How you are promoting the message and helping the artisans?
Farak is a concept that is very close to our heart. It is inspired by thousands of stories which are unheard and stand lost with time. Rias Jaipur has decided to keep this category live with us all year long. It will have collections inspired by different stories of people around the world making some difference. It will educate us all, helping artisans, and allowing us to build new ways of learning and moving forward together. We strongly believe progress and success always go together.
Through Farak, we only want to say one thing to every farmer: “Humein Farak Padta Hai.” (It makes a difference to us!)
We assume the impact of this collection will be in different sectors. We hope that the QR code technology will make the product interactive for people and young generation, through which they will also get to educate themselves and their surrounding. This, we hope, will eventually affect their future buys, and change their buying choices to something more meaningful. The new technology has reduced the usage of all types of tags and labels which are the most waste items of the garment industry. Local indigenous cotton and local technique of printing used with natural dyes is sustainable and uses minimal resource. It also doesn’t pollute the surroundings greatly. These techniques are not dependent on faraway lands for the seed that goes into making the garment, so we can sustain the same practices forever as they are our own.
This concept is about how we can make a difference. Actually, they are the masters of their craft, but as designers and the education given to us, we can make big positive changes in their lives. This series is an example of how we are and can help in the near future.
For instance, our new set of handspun indigenous cotton denim joggers are inspired by a story of how a tiny change can make a big difference. At the time of the partition in 1947, large numbers of traditional gamcha (towel) weaver communities from Bangladesh moved to West Bengal. Five families from the group decided to settle in Chak, a village close to the border. The other members moved inland and settled in Bishnupur, Nadia, Hoogly and Phulia, which have now become the main weaving hubs of West Bengal. Finding themselves out of this circuit, these farmers were unable to grow their work and continued weaving their traditional gamchas using the simple two-shaft handloom.
Rias Jaipur and Nani Gopal, a weaver from Chak, worked with these families on a skill-building exercise to enhance their weaving practice enabling them to work on a four-shaft loom. Now, these weavers can continue their traditional gamcha weaving but also weave modified contemporary textiles and grow their market.
Hoping to find them more work and new avenues, we have introduced these cool hands knitted denim in indigenous cotton, all we say is, ‘buy to support!’
3. What difference do you hope to make in the industry?
To hugely create the demand for artisanal products. We also want to work towards the skill development with the artisans and make an honest contribution by making sustainable changes in the value chain of the product.
4. What do you think about the state of the artisans in the country and how can the fashion industry intervene in the same?
As an honest reply, the state of artisans in few parts of our country are better than many others, but the sectors which have not been commercialised are suffering and do not have many sources of income. They do not have steady incomes even and here is where the industry, designers need to intervene. If we, as designers, see the true ability in our selves, we shall pick crafts and artisan who really need our help to push their crafts – intervention in terms of design and technique keeping there age-old technique intact can open new ventures for them. The industry can also become partners with the artisan community in their business, so both can grow and build together than just provide them with job works.
5. What are your hopes with the Farak series and what other series/steps are you hoping you take up in the near future?
With this series, we hope to change the mindset of people and push them towards more locally made, artisanal-based products, moving towards slow fashion but still keeping their fashion trends the same. Every new collection drop that we will see in future under the Farak series, will be inspired by more and more stories around us. There will be a constant effort to keep the makers and the buyer engaged by these products.
Rias Jaipur is soon to launch their zero waste high- street bomber jackets made from manufacturing waste collected over the past 3 years. The collection is named ‘(RE) ! START /WIND / CYCLE).’
Find Rias Jaipur on Instagram here.
Read more about the Farak series here.
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