Milan Design Week is kicking off on Monday, but, if you are already in the Italian Capital of style, design, and fashion on Sunday 7th April, don't miss the Ganga Maki shawl and turbans workshop at the non-profit organisation Assab One (6.00-8.00pm).
Ganga Maki Textile Studio is a laboratory created by Chiaki Maki with Studio Mumbai's architect Bijoy Jain. This creative and artisanal space is located a few kilometers away from Rishikesh at the foot of the Himalaya.
After graduating from the Musashino Art University, Maki, who currently lives and works between Tokyo and Dehradun, continued her studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. Then she developed a research in the practice of weaving, spending time in India producing original hand-woven fabrics.
In a statement on the Assab One site Maki states: "When I was studying at the Rhode Island school of Design, I experienced a moment while weaving in which I was disappearing. Only the act of weaving remained. The piece produced by that experience was extraordinary, beyond any possible description. That moment became the heart and the meaning of my work. When touching the yarns, when dyeing with the plants, when throwing the shuttles, no matter where I am, in India, Japan or the United States, I disappear. Emptiness occurs, the absence of thought, this is what allows me to create."
Ganga Maki Textile Studio was born out of that experience of disappearing through weaving: here local craftspeople follow the production from the very early stages, starting from the cultivation of fibres and the making of the yarns and of the natural pigments, to the creation of compositions of exceptional uniqueness on wooden looms.
Maki is known among textile fans for creating with the studio yarns pictorial tapestry-like fabrics, her work is indeed characterised by natural pigments, as well as the reaction of colours to light and matter.
Some of her textiles are currently on display at "The Alchemy of Weaving" exhibition at Assab One (Maki's first exhibition in Italy; open until 14th April), so going to the workshop (where there will also be a surprising and exceptional casual visiting guests – Romeo Gigli) will allow you to check out the exhibition as well. In the meantime, have a look at the colourful Ganga Maki Studio Instagram page that features some beautiful images of artisans at work.
