Collection: Rafiq Ni Sujni

The artist:

Rafiq Bhai belongs to the Sujaniwalas of Bharuch. He is currently the last artisan who has the last traditional loom where two people sit on either sides of the loom and throw 2 different color shuttle alternatively. There were 3 families who used to practice this craft but almost everyone has moved on to a different occupation around 30 years ago due to poor sales. Rafiq bhai and his family have been struggling to keep the craft alive. Rafiq bhai , Ameen Bhai(Rafiq bhai’s brother) and Famitha(Rafiq Bhai’s wife’s sister) are the only artisans who takes shifts to sit in the loom to weave. It was a wonderful experience to meet his family, chai talks with Rafiq bhai, sharing stories and trying new Sujanis with him!

We have been Working with Rafiq bhai for around two months now, under the unschooled artist project and since its Rafiq’s Quilts we call this collection “Rafiq ni Sujani”

Technicalities:

Sujani is hand woven quilt from Bharuch, Gujarat. Its a stuffed double cloth where pockets are made by interchanging the two cloths in warp and weft and the cotton is stuffed inside it during weaving. Two artisans sit on either side of the loom and throw the Cutla (shuttle). The loom has 8 shafts and 2 sets of of 8 pedals are there where both the artisans need coordination to weave. The making of one Sujani quilt takes up to 2-3 days to weave.

Design Process:

Sujani pattern has been the same for the longest time. Not many design intervention was done and the craft itself has a lot of limitations. Initially we thought we can change a lot of things like the pocket size but only after the interaction with the artisan we understood that it would be very hard for him to the stuff cotton to different size of pocket since he is used to taking a standard amount . We wanted to try to give a new look to Sujani quilts but keeping the technique, loom specs and everything Intact so we only changed the colors in the weft and the placements. Initially convincing artisans to break from the check pattern that they were doing, was really hard. They told us that no new design would be possible on their loom. And once we sat beside the loom with Rafiq bhai, Ameen bhai and Famidha and worked on a few design they started to understand the possibilities and got very excited seeing the results.

This collection "Rafiq Ni Sujani" is about making the quilts one of the kind, a free flow in weaving and designing on the loom as to what the artisans like. Ameen bhai loves choosing the next color to weave and lets Famidha decide the placements and she changes the design as she throws the shuttle to weave the Sujani. Rafiq bhai jokes at them saying Famidha is the driver of the loom and Ameen bhai is the conductor.