Limits? Learn to love ‘em - Working with Artisan Block Prints

October 26, 2019

You'd think I'd be happy with a new customer who arrives with an exact vision of the fabric she wants me to produce in my Jaipur printing facility. You'd be wrong. The more precise and exacting the vision, the less likely our collaboration will be successful.

Heritage block printing techniques are anything but precise--it's part of their charm. A customer who expects exactitude beyond the capabilities of our process is not going to be happy. On the other hand, customers willing to modify their visions to accommodate the limitations often wind up with a more creative end product.

To me, it's a universal truth: Limits can--and often do--increase creativity, regardless of the art form.

A friend’s son, in fourth grade, experienced the creative constraints of an assignment to write an adventure story. Immediately, visions of soldiers and ninjas at war popped into his head. And then came the second part of the assignment: No weapons, no violence. What!!??!! In the end, his story did feature two heroes, each with a weapon. One was a whizz at making people laugh helplessly, the other could wield words to mightily confuse  an enemy or clarify a dire situation. He was forced by the limits to think more creatively.

Ernest Hemingway is said to have faced a similar challenge when he wagered he could write a story in six words. The result? “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.” Whether Hemingway wrote them or not, those artfully chosen words packed emotion far beyond many a full-length novel.

We’re in the midst of a “slow fashion” revolution, one with many facets. The one I’m addressing is a lack of understanding that that slow fashion creations—especially those based on heritage handcrafts from another culture—are limited in some ways by the creative process and by elements beyond our control.

I've been working with Rajasthani heritage block printers, producing clothing and other textile products, since 1999. My husband and I became manufacturers ourselves in Jaipur 10 years ago. We currently produce our own brand, Mehera Shaw, as well as products for companies around the globe. We have 40 employees.

What I've noticed in recent years is an increase in the number of Western wholesalers/brands that profess to appreciate and desire authentic handcrafted products. But they insist on standards and deadlines that are inherently impossible to achieve with a hands-on process. Not to mention understanding how factors we can't control--like the monsoons--affect production.

Traditional hand-block printing is, by definition, inexact. Every step of the process involves at least one pair of human hands—the carving of patterns into wooden blocks, the mixing of dyes, the stamping and alignment of the patterns, especially when two or more colors are involved.

If you’re looking for a repetitive exactitude, block printing won’t suit you. If an occasional blurred line disturbs you, don’t plan a block-printed fabric. The process isn’t suited to computer-generated or avant-garde designs, despite the fact that it does encompass a wide array of styles. 

We urge our customers to take these factors into account, to realize that computerized precision isn't do-able with handcrafts. That fast turn-arounds and tight deadlines fall by the wayside in the face of a blustery monsoon--or a four-day religious festival. It's called "slow fashion" for a reason!

We have wholesale customers who recognize limitations and our suggestions for adapting to them, or avoiding the pitfalls. Those people are willing to modify or even discard their own vision for something more suitable. Often, what results is a more artful product. I’ve been approached by others who insist no modifications are possible. More and more frequently, I turn those people away—if I don’t, I know I’ll be frustrated and they will be dissatisfied.

One of my favorite “thought leaders” on creativity and productivity is Derek Sivers, who has taken himself off to New Zealand to think and write.

“You only really learn when you’re surprised. Unless you’re surprised, everything is fitting into your existing thought patterns,” he wrote recently in a post advocating immersion in new cultures.

“So to get smarter, you need to get surprised, think in new ways, and deeply understand different perspectives…At first, their values and methods will feel wrong. You’ll feel the urge to tell them how it could be better—meaning more like what you know.”

I’m not sure staying flexible means constant disruption of my comfort level. But I do know that some of my best decisions in life meant pursuing a path that veered somewhat from the conventional as the result of obstacles or limitations.

No less an expert in creativity than the late actor, director and producer Orson Welles extolled the role of limitations in forcing creative thinking.

“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations,” he said. “Economically and creatively, that’s the most important advice you can be given. You have limitations. … Instead of having money to  hire hundreds of extras, you have to sneak a cameraman in a wheelchair through the streets of New York City and steal the shot, which gives you a look of much greater reality.”

I’ll give the last word to Derek Sivers: “If you don’t flex, you lose your flexibility,”

 

Shari Keller, Ph.D. is creative director/owner of Mehera Shaw Textiles, a certified Fair Trade Alliance company headquartered in Jaipur, India, and Chapel Hill, N.C. The company manufactures its own brand of block-printed clothing and home goods on organic cotton, as well as custom manufacturing garments for companies in Australia, England, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and the United States.

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