Interview
Threads of Connection
Ekta Kaul, author of Kantha: Sustainable Textiles and Mindful Making explains how her Indian heritage led her to explore the rich world of the running stitch
Ekta Kaul, Riverside Walk (2022)
PHOTO CREDIT: Yeshen Venema
Traditional Kantha can often tell a story.
Born in India, contemporary textile artist Ekta Kaul, has recently used her fascination with the textile heritage of her country and family, to begin a journey exploring the history of Kantha embroidery. Her new book also demonstrates to readers how to get started on their own Kantha. We chatted to Ekta about this marriage between her own work and Kantha and what she discovered while researching her book…
Could you just tell us a little bit about your background, and how you got into textile art and how you describe your work?
I grew up in India in a household where textiles were around me everywhere. My mum was someone who loved to stitch.
She was also a prolific knitter. So either she would be knitting or she would be embroidering every day as her, I suppose now I would probably describe it as, mindfulness practice.
Because she had a very busy academic career she was a scientist and spending a lot of time in her research lab, but when she would come home and get done with all the chores that bringing up two kids involved, she would sit down with her embroidery and she was a cross stitcher primarily. So I think the mathematics of it really appeals to her brain.
So that was really the first introduction to making as such and as a practice, not as a one off thing. Also my grandmother who, when I was very young, used to live with us until I think I was maybe nine or 10. And she again was also a very talented needlewoman. She would make quilts and salvage old cloth, even scraps, and then she would fill up a bag and when there was enough to make a quilt, she would set about making a quilt. And I would help her with things like threading a needle, that kind of thing. But I suppose those were two really strong influences. Also around me. because I grew up in India, the tradition of wearing handmade garments and being surrounded by handmade traditions was very much part of everyday life – for example, the quilts were block printed quilts from Jaipur.