Woven from the environment: Madhu Jain on her latest collection

Textile conservationist and designer Madhu Jain has been working with bamboo for nearly 15 years and with ikat for three decades. She recently launched a collection in Delhi, by blending the two with silk to create a unique bamboo-silk ikat weave.

"When one thinks of bamboo yarn, the first thought is that it will be coarse and tough on the wearer. That is not true," says Jain. "The yarn I've developed is interspersed with silk yarn, making it soft and extremely comfortable. It is an all-weather textile that breathes well in summer and keeps one warm during winters."

Jain, who has filed a patent for the fabric, is guarded about the process but reveals that the textile is handwoven and that she has used mulberry silk. Over the years, she has experimented with the thread, its pliability and tensile strength. "The production process of this textile is not that different from that of other textiles," she says and adds that it was a challenge to ensure a steady source of bamboo supply that doesn't vary in quality.

The latest collection, Jain says, is a confluence of cultures from Indonesia, India and Uzbekistan. "In Indonesia, ikat is typically worn on formal occasions and the colours are muted and earthy. In Uzbekistan, ikat is anything but quiet. It is worn by the royalty and the rich, mostly as short or long coats in myriad hues such as ruby reds, splashy sapphires and turquoise and blazing emeralds. In India, the ikat tradition of Odisha, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are all distinct. Gujarat specialises in the double ikat weave, which is the most difficult to render. Odisha uses icon-based temple designs, while Andhra ikat is famed for its geometric patterns. My motifs take the richness of each tradition and blended their sensibilities into a composite structure," she says.

Why bamboo?

Several designers have been working with sustainable fibres such as hemp and jute. Jain says she had been on the lookout for a eco-friendly textile for long and in early 2000, her research led her to bamboo.

Working with bamboo, says Jain, is her way to reduce carbon footprint. "It is biodegradable, has a negligible ecological footprint, is UV protective and has antibacterial properties. In this age of global warming, it is a textile that ticks all the right boxes," she says.

"The fact that India is the second-largest bamboo producing country and that bamboo is among the fastest growing grass made me see its economic significance. Finally, it's a bountiful resource that will not deplete through consumption," says Jain, who claims to be the first in India to introduce bamboo-based handmade textile.

"I formally introduced bamboo-based textiles in 2004 at the 7th World Bamboo Congress in Delhi. For that collection, I had combined bamboo with khadi, chanderi, wool and cotton. Since then, I've been repeatedly using bamboo in different avatars," says Jain, who has won several awards including the 8th Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award 2017 for outstanding performance in the field of crafts revival and contribution to the industry and the India Eye International Human Rights Observers Women Achiever Award 2017 for distinguished work in promoting indigenous forms of textile weaving and design.