Two textile designers from India were hosted in March by the School of Textiles and Design of Heriot-Watt University's Scottish Borders Campus as part of a successful residency exchange programme that saw two Scottish designers spend two one month periods in India.
Ms Swati Unakar and Mr Murji Vankar, from Bangalore in the south of India and Bhujodi in the north west, have been visiting the Borders to develop their weaving practice in response to a development visit spent in Scotland late last year. The visits brought opportunities to share skills and discuss crafts with University staff and students as well as the wider community, who met Swati and Murji with their Scottish counterparts Lindsay Roberts and Jeni Allison during school workshops at Jedburgh High and Galashiels Academy, and at craft evenings at Borders Textiles Towerhouse in Hawick.
reSIde exchange programme
Their visit has been funded by Creative Scotland and Scottish Borders Council as part of the reSIde exchange programme which was launched by Minister Fiona Hyslop at the Scottish Borders Campus last September.
Swati, who is also a University lecturer said, "I am pleased to have been given the chance to travel to the Borders which, similarly to India, has a rich textile heritage. This visit was an ideal opportunity to build on these ties and also see where we might collaborate further to develop innovative research opportunities between Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore and the School of Textiles and Design in Galashiels."
This visit was an ideal opportunity to build on these ties and also see where we might collaborate further to develop innovative research opportunities between Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore and the School of Textiles and Design in Galashiels.
Ms Swati Unakar
Britta Kalkreuter of the School of Textiles and Design, herself recently returned from a visit to design schools and craft projects in India with fellow reSIde organisers Louise Butler, freelance curator with Exfactor in Ancrum, and Shona Sinclair, area curator for Scottish Borders Council.
Dr Kalkreuter said, "As part of the programme, we visited craft projects and communities in the Kutch region of Gujarat with a chance to compare Indian and Scottish textiles heritage and futures. While the heavy embroideries and vibrant colours of India are outwardly quite different from the more sombre cloth which Scotland is famed for, we discovered a shared enthusiasm for craft skills and narratives. What struck us most perhaps was the community spirit which is still central to the production of textiles in Gujarat, and we hope that students and designers in the Borders might have experienced this spirit in a small way at least during our project."