Rithihi hosts 4th Textile Tales featuring Indian Designer brand – Aavaran

When a craft goes extinct, it’s a permanent loss of knowledge and creativity that humans painstakingly assembled for centuries. This loss ripples far beyond a simple style or a product. It also affects delicate social and economic ecosystems; artisans, farmers, spinners, carders, dyers, weavers, and toolmakers whose transactions are often backed by human connections, not just money. How do we prevent such losses? How do we revive lost or nearly extinct crafts with the ecosystems that underpin them?

During a recent knowledge-sharing session hosted by Rithihi in Colombo, the painstaking work of revival was explored, offering a glimpse into what it takes to revitalize near-extinct crafts. This was the fourth edition of Rithihi’s Textile Tales knowledge-sharing series. Inviting Rajasthan-based revivalist designer Alka Sharma to Colombo, and with a documentary screening of Swati Dandekar’s ‘True Blue’ on indigo dye-making communities, Rithihi opened the space for a conversation on what it really takes to revive a craft and keep it alive.

Speaking to the circle gathered at Rithihi, Alka Sharma emphasized that preservation and innovation cannot exist separately. Stop evolving, and a craft slowly loses its relevance to a changing world; innovate without understanding it fully, and the very knowledge that makes it distinct is what’s lost. She explained how the designer's role is to listen, and to build the conditions under which inherited knowledge can find meaning.  A trunk show by the Rajasthani brand Aavaran founded by Sharma, was also held at Rithihi, demonstrating real outcomes of this close creative kinship between the designer and the artisan.

Swati Dandekar's documentary ‘Neel Raag’ screened at Rithihi showed how crafts are also living ecosystems. How deep the roots of a craft ecosystem run, and how the indigo colour mesmerizes, stains, and seeps into the skin, the nails, and the lives of those who craft it. From dyers and woodblock makers to designer-artisan collaborations, maker-to-maker networks are essential to reviving and sustaining a craft.

The evening made it clear as to why it’s never simple to revive a craft. It takes a mix of courage, love, and hope to believe that a nearly lost craft is worth reviving. Would discussing and sharing craft revival methods support future restorative work? Rithihi thinks so. This conversation and screening stemmed from that belief. Rithihi will be sharing more interesting conversations on South Asia’s rich handcrafted clothing legacies and the cultures that make them, through their ‘Textiles Tales’ series.

Founder, Rithihi - Valli Mohideen speaking at Textile Tales IV prior to the special screening of Swati Dandekar's documentary - ‘Neel Raag’

Image Caption : (From left) Founder/ Owner, Aavaran - Alka Sharma with Founder, Rithihi - Valli Mohideen