ARCHIVED EVENTS

And trunk show of artisan designed textiles

And trunk show of artisan designed textiles

And trunk show of artisan designed textiles

Colorado Textile Group

Judy Frater is a pioneering social entrepreneur whose work has transformed the lives and livelihoods of textile artisans in Kutch, India. In 2005, she founded Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the first design school created specifically for traditional artisans—an internationally recognized model that reimagined how craft traditions can thrive in the contemporary marketplace.

At this special event, Frater will present an illustrated talk inspired by her new book, Artisans by Design: An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisans in India. The book traces her groundbreaking collaboration with artisans in Kutch, a region of Gujarat celebrated for its extraordinary textile heritage, and offers a compelling vision of tradition, innovation, and cultural sustainability. The lecture will be followed by a book signing and trunk show of artisan designed textiles.

A Fulbright Scholar and Ford and Ashoka Foundation Fellow, Frater brings more than 35 years of hands-on experience working with artisans around the world. Her career has been devoted to empowering craftspeople and preserving cultural heritage, including her role as Associate Curator of the Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC.

This is a free event. All participants must be current members of FOFA. A Single membership allows access to one ticket. A Dual membership allows for two tickets. For details on how to become a FOFA member click here. For questions, please email friendsoffolkart@gmail.com.

We often believe purpose arrives as a calling.

For Judy Frater, it arrived as a question.

After years of academic research tracing history through textiles, living among the Rabari people of Kutch, India, and documenting embroidery traditions that carried centuries of identity, the Pennsylvania-born researcher was asked: “Instead of studying us, why don’t you help us?”

In that moment, Judy’s work shifted from observer to collaborator.

On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Lisa Champeau explores how Judy transformed scholarship into social entrepreneurship, co-founding Kala Raksha in 1991 to support women embroiderers navigating economic change. What began as income generation evolved into something far more ambitious: a design education system that teaches traditional artisans to innovate, market, and sustain their craft without surrendering their cultural identity.

Judy founded India’s first design school for traditional artisans, now Somaiya Kala Vidya, where students study not only design but business and management. More than 200 artisans from seven ethnic communities have graduated, building enterprises rooted in heritage yet responsive to contemporary markets.

This is not a story about preservation frozen in time.

It is about evolution with integrity.

It is about sustainability not as a buzzword, but as a relationship. Knowing who made your clothes. Buying better. Buying less. Choosing connection over consumption.

And it is about courage. The courage to make something new. The courage to resist interference and instead cultivate self-sufficiency.

At a time when fast fashion dominates and cultural appropriation is commonplace, Judy’s

life work reminds us that tradition is not fragile. It is adaptive when given tools, respect and opportunity.

Judy Frater will present a talk and sign her book, Artisans by Design

The event includes a trunk show of artisan designed textiles

Join author and former Textile Museum curator Judy Frater for a presentation and discussion of her 2024 book, Artisans by Design: An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisans in India>.
In Artisans by Design, Frater chronicles her journey in developing the first design school for artisans in India. Spanning 50 years, the story weaves together vignettes of individual artisans with the author’s own experience. Through this dialogue, readers gain insights into craft, cultural heritage and the creativity of traditional artisans in the contemporary world.

How to Participate

This program will be in a hybrid format. You can join us in person at the museum or watch the livestream online. Please register in advance and choose how you would like to participate. We will email virtual attendees a link and instructions for joining via Zoom. When you register, you can also request to receive a reminder email one day before the program with the link included.

Judy Frater will present an online talk on the journey of design education chronicled in Artisans by Design

Registration is FREE, and will be through Lessonface.
Links to the lecture recording will be available, usually for 30 days, through your Lessonface dashboard.

Judy Frater will present a holiday trunk show of artisan designed textiles

During this time, we’ll schedule a talk and signing of Artisans by Design

Phone: +1 215 925 0193

Judy Frater will present a talk and sign her book, Artisans by Design
The event includes a trunk show of artisan designed textiles.

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Rhode Island School of Design – Apparel Department – Guest lecture

Judy Frater will present a talk and sign her book, Artisans by Design
The event includes a trunk show of artisan designed textiles.

Judy Frater will present a talk and sign her book, Artisans by Design
The event includes a trunk show of artisan designed textiles.

Judy Frater, Prakash Siju and Shakil Khatri share their experiences of design education, the challenges they face in realizing the value of craft today, and their vision for the future of traditional artisans.

WARP Continuing Textile Traditions Panel Discussion

The Society for Art and Cultural Heritage of India (SACHI) presents:

Frater will discuss her book Artisans by Design followed by a trunk show of artisan designed and created textiles.

Rehhuma, The Guiding Star

Creating Innovations in the Art of Ajrakh

Art brings meaning and value to us in a challenging world. It brings us the warmth and joy of human connection.

Bridging distances in time, space, language and perspectives, this exhibition presents a collection of one-of-a-kind textiles hand printed and natural dyed by Artisan Designers of the desert of Kutch, India. Illuminating embedded thoughts as well as technical innovations of the Artisan Designers, the exhibition seeks to create value for the whole of the work: concept and creation, and to create connections between the Artisan Designers and you.

Judy Frater, who developed and directed the first program of design education for traditional artisans of Kutch, discusses craft traditions in a changing world, restoring creative agency through education, and the personal expressions and innovations of the Ajrakh textiles on display. She demonstrates how shared understanding can reveal the ethos of sustainability and reinvent the essential human connection of hand craft.

Exhibition Opening Times

Nov 6 10am – 8pm
Nov 7 10am – 1pm

CONNECTING FOR INDIA | facilitated by SALONI

Keynote Address for Gendered Threads of Globalization, a symposium at U Victoria

Threads of Identity 2022: Gender, Value, Creativity, and the Marketplace

Who makes our clothing? How has the shift from artisanal production to “fast fashion” over the past century and a half devalued women’s textile labor in Asia? How are textile/ garment laborers and the organizations that support them preserving and reviving heritage traditions across Asia?

The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at UC Berkeley is pleased to co-sponsor Gendered Threads of Globalization: 20th c. Textile Crossings in Asia Pacific, a three-day conference dedicated to women’s roles in textile/garment production in Asia from the late 19th century to present.

Included in the conference will be a keynote speech from Ashoka Fellow Judy Frater, as well as a performance from ORION guest lecturer Monica Jahan Bose.

This is a hybrid event.

POSTER
PROGRAM

More details on speakers and panels may be found at the conference’s WEBSITE
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Established in 2013 with a generous gift from the Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at UC Berkeley champions the study of Bangladesh’s cultures, peoples and history. The first of its kind in the US, the Center’s mission is to create an innovative model combining research, scholarships, the promotion of art and culture, and the building of ties between institutions in Bangladesh and the University of California.

The event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Art Discussion Group

For Research as Practice 2.6 | Crafting Thought
Kiran Nadar Museum of Art presents ‘“Learning Together: Co-creating Education” a lecture by Judy Frater, part of the second segment of the ongoing lecture series ‘Research as Practice’ titled Crafting Thought. This segment consisting of six sessions has been conceptualised by Annapurna Garimella.

“Coming Together: Culturally Inspired Creation,” Judy Frater (Interdisciplinary Artists-in-Residence Program): The contemporary world is plagued by dependence on industry and technology. Interpersonal disconnection has been amplified by the ongoing pandemic. Climate change and inundation with waste threaten our existence. Fashion has been identified as one culprit and sustainable fashion only perpetuates the desire to continually consume. The link between these problems is the issue of meaning and value. Hand craft could direct us toward more sustainable lifestyles. But in India sustainable hand craft livelihoods are threatened by undervaluation. Each year artisans leave craft because it does not offer adequate income or recognition. Judy Frater’s residency aims to explore whether realizing the value of creativity and human connection can increase value for hand craft of the developing world. Students at UW Madison learned the basics of weaving, hand printing, resist dyeing, and hand embroidery. They worked long distance one-to-one with artisans of Kutch, India to co-create textiles inspired the HLATC collections. They studied value and its generation through framing and presentation. Now they will produce an exhibition that presents their co-designed textiles and experiences. Can they bring an audience to craft by creating value for it- and encourage more sustainable lifestyles? Hear this talk and come to the exhibition to find out. Judy Frater’s interdisciplinary arts residency is presented by the UW–Madison Division of the Arts and hosted by the Design Studies Department with Professor Jenny Angus as lead faculty.

Association of Designers of India and JKLU Institute of Design, Design Guru Day

Center for Soft Power (India)

Namaste 2021: Crafted in India: Indian motifs & Pushing Limits: Essence of Indian Sports

In this powerpoint presentation, Judy Frater presents the design education program for artisans of Kutch, India, that she founded, the impetus behind its development, and the of philosophy and methods of teaching. She demonstrates how the program encourages creativity and strengthens cultural heritage.

Slow Fiber Studios

With Zakiya and Adil Khatri- Bandhani

Karyashala Manthan Series of Talks

In 2014, to expand the design education program to an institute, Judy Frater joined the K.J. Somaiya Gujarat Trust to begin Somaiya Kala Vidya. From 2014-2020, as Founder Director she initiated a graduate business and management course, Outreach to other regions, co-design programs, and a course in craft traditions for non-artisans. Ms. Frater’s Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris received the Costume Society of America’s Milla Davenport award. Prior to her residence in India, she was Associate Curator of the Eastern Hemisphere Collections at the Textile Museum, in Washington, DC. Currently she is developing a social entrepreneurship to emphasize the value of artisan designers.

India International Center, Craft Revival Trust and Global InCh Journal Webinar

In the light of the Government of India’s National Education Policy 2020, the discussion will explore educational avenues for traditional artisans. The discussants will examine educational paradigms where traditional oral learning and apprenticeships have been deepened and extended through the layering-on of formal education for artisans (Collaboration: Craft Revival Trust; and Global InCh Journal) Moderator: Ms Ritu Sethi, Editor, Global InCH Journal of intangible Cultural Heritage and Asia InCH encyclopedia; and Founder-Trustee, Craft Revival Trust Speakers: Judy Frater, Founder, Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya (KRV), the first design school in India for traditional artisans Prakash Naran Siju, carpet weaver, graduate of KRV, and advisor of Somaiya Kala Vidya Jaspal Kalra, design academician and social entrepreneur. Founding member and Executive Director, Kalhath Institute, Lucknow Shobita Punja, writer, educator, thinker and teacher

The tradition of carving patterns onto blocks of wood, dipping them in wet dye and stamping them onto stretched fabric, has existed in India since the earliest human settlements began there 2000 years ago. These block printers we visited are famous for a particular style called Ajrakh, practiced in western India and Pakistan — nimble men dipping their blocks and stamping their patterns on cotton in a precise choreographed motion. This traditional Craft is being phased out in today’s economy. Machine printed versions of these traditional prints are faster to make and cheaper to buy, while consumers are not aware of the loss of livelihood and the loss of craft continuity their choices bring. With India’s booming consumer demand, a race to scale big and profit quickly has ensued. The reality for those resisting the trend is tough, but these artisans persevere heroically nonetheless. We met people who are fighting to help these artisans survive, promote themselves, and keep their culture of exquisite handmade Craft alive.

Presented by 200 Million Artisans

The 5th International Textiles and Costume Congress (ITCC)
October 3-5, 2019

The Department of Clothing and Textiles is an integral part of the renowned “ The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda” Vadodara. The University is one of the oldest centers of learning in Western India with more than 1200 well- qualified faculty members and 1500 administrative staff to facilitate the learning of more than 40000 students. Department of Clothing and Textiles of the Faculty of Family and Community Sciences ever since its inception in 1957 has grown dynamically. It has aimed to equip students with academic, industrial and research proficiencies to brace the professional world. The department has nurtured and trained individuals who display a highly effective combination of technical knowhow, a flair for design and innovation and clear understanding of various concepts of clothing, fashion, textiles and design. The University Grants Commission, the highest academic governing body of India has recognized the department for DRS-I under Special Assistance Programme (SAP) based on the academic achievement for advance teaching and research since 2012. Research in revival of traditional textiles and costume, product development, value addition have been the thrust areas at the Department. With the said fortes; the department has had many national and international level deliberations and is now looking forward to welcome you at The International Textile and Costume Congress (ITCC) in October 2019.

Dakshina Chitra, Chennai

Seminar: Maker and Meaning: Craft and Society Revisited

“In India today, craft is perceived as an inferior form of manufacturing and artisans are perceived as skilled laborers. The introduction of design as “intervention,” contributed to this perception. With little to no opportunity for creativity or recognition, artisans are leaving craft. The chapter describes the result of a program that the author runs in Kutch, in western India, to teach traditional artisans design, and enable them to gain respect and income. The underlying beliefs are that craft is cultural heritage, and money is not the ultimate goal. Results have demonstrated graduate artisans’ success in the market considering recognition, tradition, and community as well as income. Additionally, the author notes that traditionally, Kutch artisans created within a community-based horizontal social structure, where artisans were economically and socially equal. However, as craft is pushed into the world of cash economy and industrialized scaled-up production, the structure of artisan societies inevitably changes from horizontal to vertical.” Judy Frater

This seminar—organized in Mumbai by The KR Cama Oriental Institute—stands at an important juncture in India’s history

Education for Artisans: A Means to Strengthen Regional Identity

Design has been a complex term that has circulated in areas of making things, the shape of objects, the ideas of how we use things in our everyday lives, to the ideas of art and lifestyle. However, in the last two decades the popular currency of this term has been on a special rise. Economic liberalisation brought about an exposure to objects of varying kinds that exist beyond the basic values of function and use, or even art and beauty.

Objects have a draw that is often difficult to explain, yet design has been an area where one imagines the possibility to solve problems of life, livelihood, and the ability to cope with a changing world. Design has become a quotient of lifestyle more today than ever before and often even gets compared to artistic practices. While design and its elements have also become the ground on which ideas of nation and national histories, sense of belonging, journeys of locality, are discussed and the visual world is a complex landscape of meanings and traveling ideas.

The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan Global
Textile Society of America’s 16th Biennial Symposium

At the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco 

MS University Baroda International Textiles and Costume Congress

Judy Frater is the director of “Somalya Kala Vidya”, a design school for indigenous artisans in Kutch, India.  She will discuss the uniqueness of this school which was founded with the idea of local artisans, reflecting their own traditions, becoming the designers of products for the global market. A special selection of products from the coop will be available for sale, cash or check only.  Refreshments are included, for current members of Friends of Folk Art only!

RSVP by sending email to friendsoffolkart@gmail.com or call and leave a message at  (505) 982-7799 extension 8.
For more information, contact Chris Vitagliano at 505 476 1209 , chris.vitagliano@state.nm.us

International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference

A keynote speech by Judy Frater, Founder and Director of Somaiya Kala Vidya and a recipient of Janet Else International Visiting Scholar/Practitioner award in 2015.

The title of her talk is “Valuing the Unique: Matching the Maker and the Market for International Craft”

with Judy Frater

Co-founder and Project Coordinator for the Kala Raksha Trust, Bhuj, Kutch, India

The Rabari are a community of pastoral nomadic people who live throughout the arid regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat, India. Originally camel herders, Rabaris migrated from Rajasthan into Sindh (now in Pakistan) and back to India over a period of more than ten centuries. Rabari women are particularly famous for their dense, intricately embroidered garments, household decorations and animal trappings. The rich languages of the distinctive styles they use tell their history. The styles continue to live and evolve increasingly rapidly as Rabari lifestyle adjusts to a developing world. Judy Frater has documented Rabari life and textiles for the past 43 years. This illustrated talk will explore the concept and design aspect of traditional Rabari work, based on conversations with Kala Raksha artisans. It will highlight the fact that in traditional work, design is an integral part of a style. Based on decades of work with the nomadic Rabaris of Kutch, the talk begins with background on the community, and elucidates the elements of traditional Rabari style through the way a Rabari girl learns it. Bringing the audience from the past to the present, it finally shows how traditions continue to evolve.

Judy Frater is the Co-founder and Project Coordinator for the Kala Raksha Trust, a 1,000 person artisan group in Bhuj, Kutch. As coordinator, Judy has guided the enterprise since 1993, culminating in the establishment of the first design school in India specifically for traditional artisans: Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, of which she is Director. In recognition of her accomplishments, Ms. Frater was awarded an Asoka Fellowship for social entrepreneurship in 2003, the 2009 Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Services to Design Education, and the Crafts Council of India Kamala Award in 2010. Ms. Frater is author of Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris, for which she received the Costume Society of America’s Milla Davenport award. Prior to her residence in India, Ms. Frater served as Associate Curator of the Eastern Hemisphere Collections at the Textile Museum, in Washington, DC. Ms. Frater lectures widely and serves as consultant to museums with South Asian collections throughout the world.

***There will be a special Trunk Show of Rabari textiles following the lecture, until 1 p.m.

Textile Arts Council – DeYoung Museum

Sinton Lecture

Textile Society of America Symposium 2012 – Textiles and Politics

Citation
Published in Textiles and Politics: Textile Society of America 13th Biennial Symposium Proceedings, Washington, DC, September 18- September 22, 2012.

Comments: Copyright 2012 by the author(s).

Abstract
Through Kala Raksha we explore the dynamic relationship between fashion and tradition, and examine how mutual influence shaped and reflected changing identity among traditional embroidery artisans of Kutch, India. In India, ethnic affiliation has predominated over individuality. Traditional embroidery eloquently expressed this cultural identity. Styles evolved, but visual expression of group affiliation remained clear. Commercialization of embroidery indirectly influenced the development of fashion. Women had less time for hand work, but now had purchasing power. Fashion in turn impacted embroidery. Commercialization eroded the artisans’ aesthetics. Cultural identity was devalued and traditions were diluted. Kala Raksha used cultural heritage as a key resource. This valuation of traditional styles activated creativity and revived pride in cultural identity. For a decade, Kala Raksha successfully promoted contemporary crafts with cultural integrity. In the New Millennium, fashion and increased choice encouraged the concept of the individual. Kala Raksha began to think away from the industrial model, and to consider intellectual property. The Trust returned to maintaining and valuing cultural identity realizing that the artist is the steward of tradition. In 2005, the Trust founded Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the first design school for artisans, as a sustainable solution for the survival of traditions, and in 2010, it launched Artisan Design, a trademark to certify that a product is an artisan’s own creative innovation. The cultural evolution of a stronger individual identity created a space for the concept of intellectual property. Artisan Design accesses intellectual property for development and greater value.

Download Proceedings Publication

Textile Society of America Symposium 2002

by Judy Frater

Citation
Silk Roads, Other Roads: Proceedings of the 8th Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, September 26-28, 2002, Northampton, Massachusetts

Copyright 2002 by the author.

Abstract
Monghiben Rabari is attending an exhibition and sale in Mumbai. Her traditional embroidery has taken her from Vandh, her village of mud huts and camels on the seacoast of Kutch to India’s most cosmopolitan urban metropolis. She is thrilled by the glittering bustle, and by the customers’ enthusiastic response. She deals directly with them, as a professional artisan. And not only do the customers buy; one woman is so impressed that she wants to learn embroidery. She engages Monghi as a teacher during the afternoon lulls of the exhibition.

Surely, we have succeeded in the transition from tradition to profession. Crafts have become viable both economically and culturally. Women are earning fair wages for their art, and also respect. I ask Monghi how she likes being a teacher.

“Sometimes it seems like all we DO is embroidery!” she exclaims in exasperation.

Thus Monghi provokes me to examine whether embroidery today is viable, economically or culturally, to the Rabaris who execute it?

Rabari Traditions

Traditionally, Rabari women practiced embroidery as an integrated part of their nomadic existence. Embroidery was an affordable aesthetic expression of community, subcommunity and status within that community. Embroidery was portable, created wealth. A woman adorned herself and her household with her own efforts, utilizing time between more essential chores. The glittering pieces that a girl embroidered for her dowry were considered a contribution to the marriage exchange. Women worked as artists, without thought of time, concentrating on making the most beautiful contributions they could, knowing that their work would be appreciated by community members who shared their aesthetics and values. Not only would Rabaris not think of dowry pieces and personal adornment in terms of commercial value; they feared showing them lest outsiders would try to purchase them.

The Advent of Commerce

In the last four decades many changes have impacted traditional embroideries and women embroiderers of Kutch. During this time Kutch, like most of India, has seen increasing population, increasing cultivation and deforestation. With less grazing land, it is difficult to maintain large herds. Rabaris have adapted by relying more on sheep and goats than the original camels, and herding in nuclear rather than joint family units.