Ajrakh

Hand block painting or Ajrakh is an age-old tradition practiced in Ajrakhpur, a village in the Kutch district of Gujarat. The 100-odd families of the village take part in a laborious process that takes up to three weeks to complete. Textiles are treated with vegetable and mineral colours and the fabric goes through a washing cycle about eight times. But the end result is a beautiful piece of fabric that has also made its way to high-end fashion labels today. This fine art includes a detailed process of resist-printing and dyeing using about 20 blocks. Today, it is used extensively on turbans, shawls and bedsheets.