Painted Silks; Kalamkari with Zandra Rhodes and artists of Dwaraka Women’s Collective

€2,250.00

Zandra Rhodes with Kalamkari artists of Dwaraka Women’s Collective

January 18th - 24th, 2026

Wonderful Workshops invites Dame Zandra Rhodes to teach this week-long workshop in collaboration with Kalamkari artists of Dwaraka. Since 1981, Zandra’s love of India and knowledge of India’s vast craft culture has been a huge influence upon her work, resulting in many long lasting collaborations. Inspired by the city of Jaipur, Zandra will guide participants through the process of building a sketchbook and library of motifs to translate into cohesive textile design. Focusing on the length of saree, we will examine the cultural and historical implications of saree dressing and how various drapes can be highlighted through experimental and innovative print design. The designs will then be translated to fabric via the ancient Kalamkari technique, painting directly onto cloth using natural dyes. In collaboration with artists from the Dwaraka Women’s Collective, we experience a meaningful exchange of technique, tradition and design intervention.

Kalamkari is the popular name for mordant-painted and dyed fabrics created by drawing motifs and patterns onto silk and cotton fabric using natural dyes and a bamboo pen (kalam).This technique of painting natural dyes onto fabric has been used in India for centuries.

Zandra Rhodes with Kalamkari artists of Dwaraka Women’s Collective

January 18th - 24th, 2026

Wonderful Workshops invites Dame Zandra Rhodes to teach this week-long workshop in collaboration with Kalamkari artists of Dwaraka. Since 1981, Zandra’s love of India and knowledge of India’s vast craft culture has been a huge influence upon her work, resulting in many long lasting collaborations. Inspired by the city of Jaipur, Zandra will guide participants through the process of building a sketchbook and library of motifs to translate into cohesive textile design. Focusing on the length of saree, we will examine the cultural and historical implications of saree dressing and how various drapes can be highlighted through experimental and innovative print design. The designs will then be translated to fabric via the ancient Kalamkari technique, painting directly onto cloth using natural dyes. In collaboration with artists from the Dwaraka Women’s Collective, we experience a meaningful exchange of technique, tradition and design intervention.

Kalamkari is the popular name for mordant-painted and dyed fabrics created by drawing motifs and patterns onto silk and cotton fabric using natural dyes and a bamboo pen (kalam).This technique of painting natural dyes onto fabric has been used in India for centuries.

DWARAKA (Development of Weavers and Rural Artisans for Knowledge and Action) is a social enterprise created in 1999 by activist and philanthropist Anita Reddy with the goal of supporting artists and impoverished communities in the southern Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. DWARAKA devotes much of its efforts to supporting kalamkariartists in the small villages surrounding the temple town of Kalahasti by creating new markets for kalamkari products. Youth education, women’s empowerment programs, and healthcare workshops are just a few of the many initiatives that DWARAKA pursues as part of their holistic approach to supporting kalamkari artists.

Zandra Rhodes is among the most famous names in British fashion. A pioneer of the British and international fashion scene since the late 60s, Rhodes’ career has seen her produce over five decades of fashion collections and collaborations. In 2003, she founded London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, which to this day  showcases some of the best in fashion and textile design. In 2020, she formed the Zandra Rhodes Foundation, a charity that ensures future generations of designers, artists, researchers, students and educators are able to study her life and designs, with an emphasis on her methods and techniques. Dating from the mid 1960s to the current day, the Foundation is working to catalogue her six thousand garments, printed textiles, drawings, accessories, fashion films, kodatraces, silk screens, press cuttings, personal memorabilia and collected artworks. Her work can be found in the Fashion and Textile Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.