Jaipur is one of India's most famous cities for textiles and a great place to shop for fabrics and wood blocks. But to see traditional hand block printing I headed out of the city to Bagru village. A huge number of the villagers here have made their living through being part of the block printing process, from carving the wood blocks, dyeing the fabric to printing. A villagers role is traditionally determined by caste and it was clear that some roles such as drying the fabric was only done by women and others such as printing is only done by men.  

The village is like a giant open studio with colourful fabrics hanging or wood being carved everywhere you walk. We contacted Bagru Textiles the day before we went and they organised for us to be shown around by the project manager. A collective of 16 families of around 50 people, who supply fabric for companies such as Blockshop Textiles, Bagru Textiles is the link between the artisans and the buyers of both large companies and independent designers requiring custom made fabrics and products. In an ever modernising India, this link is vital in keeping the tradition of Block printing a viable source of income for a village where it is a life style as well as a profession. They also provide support to the community in other ways such as an annual health drive providing free medical care.

Bagru Textiles provide a base for quality control, one of the challenges faced was trying to convince the artisans to dry the fabric on the roof rather than on the ground outside where stray cows roam and were adding unwanted pattern in the form of hoof prints.  

Bagru Textiles use only organic fabric that is sourced in India and only natural dyes, other than indigo which is still 70% natural. One of the processes used by the artisans is a 350 year old process of Dabu resist printing, the pattern is printed with a clay mix which resists the colour when it is then dyed, this will then be boiled, washed very thoroughly with lots of slapping the fabric on stone in huge baths and dried.  

They run block printing classes and also sell their products and fabrics for very reasonable prices so it's a great place to buy fabrics, scarfs and small accessories whilst knowing that the profits are going back into the community. Bagru Textiles is a socially conscious organisation who are supporting the artisans efforts to keep a traditional textile art form alive. A visit to this colourful community is definitely a memorable experience.