Two Sisters Design: Wearable Paintings from Bagru, India - Remodelista
“Art objects with function.” This is the philosophy of Block Shop, an online heirloom textile company run by sisters Lily and Hopie Stockman. It’s a manifesto the sisters have put into action in the designs they create with a Bagru, India, printmaking co-op. Lily lays out two just-printed scarves to dry. Local flowers are soaked to prepare for the natural dye-making process. Within the co-op, Block Shop works with about 20 printers, many of whom are from families that have been in the business for generations. Block Shop’s chief printer prototypes the Zipper Scarf ($120) in the Bagru studio. The process for a Block Shop scarf begins with the design, drawn freehand in ink and watercolor. After the pattern is created, designs are carved into blocks of sisam wood by master carvers in Bagru. Our dabu resist patterns are printed with a mud paste, then dipped in the dye vat. After being printed, scarves fix in the sun for three days; they’re then boiled in a bath of alum and flowers and dried on the grounds again, before being shipped to the US. The Stockman sisters say they’ve received an occasional scarf stamped with a “Bagru blessing,” the hoof print of an errant cow. The Flock Marigold and Gray Scarf is $120 through Block Shop online. Hopie works on designs at the home of Block Shop’s foreman. Explains Hopie, “We know exactly how much every single person is being paid, who needs more work because auntie is in the hospital, who is the best indigo dyer, and who needs a micro loan for a new sewing machine at home.” “Our printers are like family to us,” says Lily. In addition to building relationships, the sisters of Block Shop feel a responsibility to contribute to the community. According to Lily, over 200 people received medical examinations and 67 received corrective lenses; just this past month, the initiative sponsored eight successful cataract surgeries.