Kantha work from Calcutta

While Tagore music is one unifying factor for Bangladesh and India, Kantha is another.  In the old, undivided Bengal, Kantha was used to recycle old fabrics and layer them to create cuddly Kanthas for babies and special quilts for families.  Kantha, as it is being revived by West Bengal and Bangladesh artistic NGOs, is essentially the running stitch used in different alignments of dyed threads to create an integrated variety of  folk and geometric designs.  Nowadays, kantha embroidery on women's saris, salwar kameezs, and scarves is popular in major capitols of the world, creating an enviable market for the village women who produce this traditional work.  In early May the Dhaka American Womens Club and the Asia Studies Society sponsored a mela at the American Club to display and sell the lovely Kantha work from West Bengal.

Shamlu Dudeja, who accompanied the Calcutta Foundation Orchestra quartet on their string concert tour in Dhaka, has been reviving West Bengal kantha from the throes of extinction during the last 20 years.  Designers have contributed traditional motifs to embellish garments, but Dudeja's goal is to keep kantha alive in rural Bengal by setting up Malika,s Kantha Collection, as a marketing outlet.   In bringing selected items to Dhaka, and later in the year to London and New York, she is providing these women, with little time on their hands away from their humdrum chores, with employment in their homes by connecting this craftform with the buyers.

DAWC mela shoppers  tried on the richly embroidered silk tunics, geometrically designed saris, stylish salwar kurtas with dramatic shawls, and purchased other carefully sewn wall hangings and place mats.  paintings rendered in fine, closely placed stitches.