Tales of Prints Where India's Textile Traditions Come Alive

An immersive celebration of hand block printing, handcrafted textiles, artisan stories, music, dance, conversations, and conscious living.

ABOUT CHHAAP TILAK

Chhaap Tilak celebrates the timeless beauty of Indian hand block printing and handcrafted textiles. Bringing together master artisans, designers, collectors, performers, and craft enthusiasts, the festival creates a living space where tradition meets contemporary creativity. Every print carries a story, every motif reflects a culture, and every artisan preserves a legacy..

Craftsmanship here is not observed. It is handed to you.

Curatorial focus

Bengal, shown next to the traditions it is usually left out of

Ajrakh, Bagru and Sanganer are established names in Indian textile scholarship and in the market. Bengal’s own printing and resist-dye practices are neither, and the number of households still holding that knowledge falls each year.

This edition places Bengal’s printers at the centre of the floor and sets the other traditions around them, so that technique, motif vocabulary and dye practice can be compared directly rather than described. Alongside the exhibition, we record printers explaining their own methods and lineages on camera. The recordings are transcribed, catalogued and published for open use.

Traditions represented

Specimen catalogue

Eight printing and resist-dye traditions, each represented on the floor by practising artisans.

Ajrakh

Kachchh, Gujarat

Double-sided resist printing in indigo and madder, built up over sixteen or more stages of printing, dyeing and washing.

Sanganeri

Sanganer, Rajasthan

Fine floral repeats printed on a white ground, historically favoured for its delicacy of line and small-scale buti work.

Bagru

Bagru, Rajasthan

Earth-toned printing on cloth prepared with fuller’s earth and turmeric, using iron and alum mordants for black and red.

Dabu

Rajasthan

Mud-resist printing. A clay paste is printed onto the cloth to block the dye, then washed away to reveal the pattern beneath.

Bagh

Bagh, Madhya Pradesh

Vegetable-dye printing finished in the running water of the Baghini river, which is credited with the depth of its reds and blacks.

Kalamkari

Machilipatnam & Srikalahasti, Andhra Pradesh

Block-printed and pen-drawn narrative cloth worked in natural dyes, historically produced for temple hangings.

Bengal tradition

West Bengal — district to confirm

Curator to supply: the tradition, its district, its technique and the households still practising it.

Craft · District, State

Two sentences from the curator on lineage, technique and what the artisan is bringing to the festival.

00 yrs in practice

First edition, 2025

Four days, a full floor of printers, and the beginning of the oral history record.

Organisers

Taal Connect

Founded by Suman Sarawgi and Sangeeta Dudhoria to hold India’s cultural heritage in active practice rather than in memory. Taal Connect has organised performances, exhibitions, bazaars and heritage programmes across the country.

Sangeeta Dudhoria

Co-Founder, Taal Connect

Suman Sarawgi

Co-Founder, Taal Connect

Sonali Basu

Executive Trustee, Basu Foundation for the Arts

Mrinalini Mukherjee

Designer and Curator

IX — Partners and supporters

With the support of

Plan your visit

Getting there

Venue. Dhono Dhanyo Hall 4, Thackeray Rd, Alipore Police Line,
Alipore, Kolkata, 700027.

Nearest metro. Netaji Bhavan, Ashutosh Mukherjee Rd, Bhowanipore, Kolkata, West Bengal 700025

Parking: Available

Accessibility. Step-free entry throughout and accessible washrooms. Wheelchairs are available on request. Write to us in advance and we will arrange assistance.

Photography. Permitted throughout. Please ask an artisan before photographing them at work.