‘Passion Fruit’ Takes You On a Journey of Art & Colours through Its Workshop!
What happened at Creative Co-workers Cube, Girinagar, Kochi, was certainly the restoration of Bihar’s Madhubani painting through a workshop conducted by Susan Anna Mathew, textile designer and the Creative Head of Passion fruit (a workshop based initiative curated by her). The combination of being an ex-student of one of the prestigious design colleges in India,(Pearl Academy Of Fashion, New Delhi) and her experience working with Fabindia Overseas Pvt Ltd for Several years has made her love for Indian textiles, arts and crafts grow deeper like the roots of the tree of life you see in Madhubani Paintings.
In conversation with her, she said, “There was a point in my life where I go shopping at Dastkar or any Indian crafts mela and I go gaga seeing the exquisite works by the artisans but crib about the price of the products.” The close interaction with artisans involved in different conventional crafts, during her course of studies, made her realize the hard work, immense dedication and love that is put into each piece of art – whether its hand woven, hand embroidered, hand painted or printed.
“I want to make people understand that the labour that goes into making such priceless creations is immense, so that they understand the value of it along with the fact that every penny they spend on it is worth it. As Indians, we should try and avoid bargaining with them and buy the products and promote them, as Indian arts and crafts have an integral role to play in our values , tradition and roots,” she says with affirmation.
Passion fruit is the beginning of a movement that she has been dreaming of for the past 6 years. “The workshop was a fantastic triumph and without prompting I had one of my students at the workshop say,” oh! Now I understand why saris and dupattas with Madhubani paintings are expensive. I was overwhelmed to hear that and I hope God will help me touch more hearts through arts by conducting workshops regularly.” Passion Fruit is based in Kochi and will be coming to Trivandrum soon. Reach out to Susan through the Facebook page ‘Passion fruit’ for details about upcoming courses and events.
