Textiles of Kutch Tour

Overview 

This exclusive, off the beaten path tour will satisfy your desire to see the *real* India. We begin our tour in Mumbai, where we will explore the city’s unique culture, including a tour to a working Bollywood movie set.  

We then fly to Gujarat, a state in India, where we will travel into the artisan villages of the Kutch region to learn the history of textiles and see how textiles are designed, woven, printed, tie dyed, and hand embroidered.  Did you know there are over 42 distinct embroidery styles identified in Kutch? We will see precious heirlooms from communities like the Ahirs and the Meghwaad Maaru, who migrated to Kutch from the Sindh region of Pakistan.

This exclusive tour takes us into homes and studios of world-class, award-winning artisans.  Most of these families have been practicing their craft for generations, with techniques passed down from father to son, or mother to daughter, for hundreds, if not thousands of years.  Designers from all over the world come to drink chai (tea) and discuss design with these artisans. It is nothing to look around the studio and see pictures top European and American designers.  President Obama was presented with Rogan Art, an ancient technique of hand painted fabric, when he met the Prime Minister of India. We visit that very studio and meet the artist who created Obama’s gift.  We try our hand with workshops at some of the studios. Students of design take internships for months to learn bandhani or tie and dye techniques. This is the real deal and not just a demo put on for tourists.  

We will be guided throughout the tour by English speaking experts in the Kutch region.  You will begin to recognize the different styles and embroidery patterns of the Banni tribes of Kutch.  But most of all, you will feel the warmth and hospitality of the Kutchi people, as you sit with them over lunch or tea and try your hand at stitching, weaving, and block printing.

As we wind our way overland on our way to Rajasthan, we will visit the historic city of Patan and the Salvi family of weavers.  This highly complex double ikat silk weaving process migrated from Maharashtra in the 12th century.  The Salvi family keep the tradition alive today.  Near Patan, we will overnight at an eco resort in a traditional mud hut near the Little Rann of Kutch Wildlife Reserve.  There, we will be treated to a jeep safari to glimpse the famous wild asses, blackbuck deer, nilgai, wild boar, and colorful migrating birds. 

Our final overnight in Gujarat will take us to a former hunting lodge, built in the 1920’s for the Nawab of Palanpur, and located on the banks of the Balaram River .  The next day, we will wind our way through Ambaji village and the Aravali hills to the fabulous Venice of the East – Udaipur – where the next segment of our journey begins.