Slow Fashion in the french countryside this summer!

Happy in the green fields of the french countryside!

This summer will be green for Takla Makan. 

I am so lucky to exhibit once more with Om Design by my friend Anne Laure Jalladeau, in the crafts village of St Yrieix la Perche! such a nice team of designers at "La boutique des créateurs 87"  I will be in the shop beginning of august and will conduct embroidery workshops and an introduction to ayurveda, call me on 06 36 88 78 95 to book!

We will also be doing an exhibition on  5th august at centre de santé ayurvédique in Limoges, during the ayurveda week, organized by Natacha Bokobza. A wonderful program of natural health and detox at centre Santé du Monde 28 rue de la Déliade lieu dit Beauvais à Limoges.

In Aubusson, I am proud to be part of La Maison des Artisans d'Art! around 40 designers and talented craft people will exhibit in this town  renowned for its tapestry. I well be there myself end of july and end of august.

What better regions than Limousin,  Haute Vienne and Creuse to taste the authentic Slow Art of Living?

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Pantin : designers’ festival for 3 days of fun!

Festival des créateurs et artisans à la Maison des Compagnons du Devoir

Takla Makan Slow Fashion is exhibiting with many a whole bunch of designers at Maison des Compagnons du Devoir in Pantin (just near Paris) during a festival called We Can Art from 30th June to 2d of july! The building is a beautiful place dedicated to crafts and teaching : there is a big exhibition hall and a nice garden with drinks and a food truck!

Fashion and accessories: lafabrikawax, Jokond, La Parisienne du Turban, Vijoly Concept, Obag, La ptite Envie, Au Contraire ...

life style, arts, beauty: Savons de Doucho, Celine Chevrel, Beata Kiwior...

22 rue des grilles à Pantin, Métro Hoche, from friday 30th June to sunday 2d july

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Melissa de Valera at work: the creative process

Melissa de Valera’s work of the past few months

A Takla Makan collection is a Slow Fashion collection : it takes time!

From  selecting the fabrics to creating the patterns, from prototypes to production, from photoshoot to communication... Months of work to offer you the 2017 summer collection, with the precious help of the many people who have helped making all this possible...

From september, I started dreaming about the creations, contacted the fabric suppliers, went through the hassle of the demonetisation that hit India by surprise and paralysed the economy for two months : It was not easy to move around and buy fabrics when I couldn't withdraw or change any money!  I also managed the creation work between Pondicherry and Auroville despite an unexpected shifting of house...

From Rajasthan to Tamil Nadu, the adventure rich and full of surprises this year.

I managed to procure wonderful blockprints  from the Sanganer craftmen family I have been working with since my diploma project at NID in 2002, tried a first order of  naturally died organic cotton from a young eco-sustainable company, and used a few touches of  vintage kimono fabric gathered during my last trip to Japan...

The creative process takes time, in the daily adventure of my life between Auroville and the Pondicherry workshop, with yoga, ayurveda an natural health, self development workshops, spending time with friends, supporting the projects of Fonds du Coeur with Sharana and A Way With You...

Day after day, my ideas become more precise, the colours and materials associations take shape, and the fittings allow me to improve the patterning. Then come the usual obstacles inherent to India: unavailable fabrics, delays, powercuts and insects everywhere...

And finally my own little reward: the photoshoot with women friends of such inspiring beauty... Each time I enjoy it more!

A huge thank you to all those who stood by me, it is thanks to you that Takla Makan goes on!

The Traditional and cultural Kantha embroidery: Upcycling rags into incredible pieces of clothing

Kantha is a typical technique of needle embroidery practiced by rural women in West Bengal.

Traditionally the Lep kantha was done sewing together layers of old cloth, mostly saris, with intricate stitches. The thread used for the purpose was pulled out of the sari itself. Their meticulous artistry transformed worn out rags into extraordinarily beautiful creations that could withstand further usage.

Until today, this combination of thrift and aesthetics is not mass produced as it is very time consuming. A cultural tradition, deeply anchored in the Bengal way of life: Making kanthas is also a ritual activity as they are used to wrap and protect precious objects, newborn babies. At her marriage every girl receives an intricate kantha that her mother would have worked on for years. A kantha is also used during cremation ceremony to cover the dead.

Designs range from elaborate folk motifs that tell a story of the artisan’s village life depicting hunting, farming and dancing, to elaborate florals, animal and bird scenes, and complex geometrics.

embroidery_kantha
Precise work of Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (18)
Zig Zag Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (8)
Geometric Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (17)
Mosaic Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (13)
Flower Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (12)
Stripes Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (19)
Geometric Kantha
Katna khanta patterns catalogue (10)
Geometric Kantha

Preparation of the home collection – the first samples!

Takla Makan is launching a new line of home textiles! Discover our complete set of cotton bed sheets (sheets and pillow covers) and cotton blankets.

This home collection is produced in partnership with the Aurovillian unit “The Colours of Nature” specialized in natural indigo dyeing. Melissa and Mathilde had a lot of fun creating the samples: sewing shiboris and dying fabrics in the indigo vats!

Here some snapshots of the first samples:

Our logo printed on an indigo bed sheets
Indigo 22

Pillow cases in shiboris
Indigo 9Indigo 8

First tests for graduate dyes!
Indigo 2

We hope to introduce the final collection pretty soon!