Homegrown Brand Khadiwala Designer Explores Indigenous Jharkhandi Art Through Khadi Revival

In the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, local tribal women practise the art of Sohrai Khovar. Sohrai Khovar is a traditional and ritualistic mural art that is traditionally painted on the walls of mud houses using the naturally available different colours of soil in the region. While Jharkhand’s Sohrai Khovar painting was accorded a Geographical Indication (GI) tag (awarded by the Geographical Indications Registry, it is “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”), like most tribal art forms, Sohrai Khovar too is fighting a decline.

Dedicated to the cause of the revival of authentic Indian khadi and Jharkhandi textiles, NIFT Gandhinagar graduate, Ashish Satyavrat Sahu, for his immense love for Jharkhand’s culture and its people, introduced the brand ‘Khadiwala Designer’.

Using locally sourced products and employing women from the local tribal communities for the Sohrai art in their designs, it is the love for Jharkhandi communities and its artisans that reflects the brand’s ethos and their Sohrai Mitti Ghar Collection.

Of the collection, their social media reveals that the intent behind it is sustaining local art and the local artists: “The collection is an amalgamation of art, culture, and community. Layers of the overlapping khadi represent hues of the sun-baked walls of traditional Jharkhand Sohrai art. The aim is to sustain the art by sustaining the hands behind it.”

The collection infuses elements from the folk art of Sohrai which is the harvest painting on mud houses inspired from forest life. There is an emphasis on clean lines, dots, plants, and animal figures that represent their religious iconography – a celebration and reverence of the forces of nature. Daubed in different art colours, their designs are also rooted in yellow ochre, brown, and reddish rust shades. The free-flowing and minimalist design is an accurate representation of the simplistic lifestyle of Jharkhand’s people.

A champion for local textiles like Khadi, a fabric that has so much history rooted in it and has been an integral part of India’s struggle to self-determination. Fused with the local Sohrai art of Jharkhand, the Khadiwala Designer has made a mark on us with the vibrant designs and sense of compassion and community at the heart of it all.

You can check out their collection here.

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