Selvedge Textile Tour of India: Week Three - Gujarat

Week three of the Selvedge India tour moves through Gujarat with a shift in tempo – from the mercantile assurance of Ahmedabad to the salt-edged horizons of Kutch. The focus extends beyond textiles themselves to the familial, political and architectural frameworks that sustain them.

Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

In Ahmedabad, cotton sets the tone. Once known as the “Manchester of India,” the city built its prosperity on spinning and weaving, while its political identity was shaped through khadi. At the Sabarmati Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi lived for over a decade, cloth emerges as both material and manifesto. The ashram’s pared-back architecture and riverside calm stand in deliberate contrast to the intricate textures of the old city.

Ahmedabad’s UNESCO-listed historic centre rewards slow exploration. Carved wooden havelis and shaded pol houses lean into narrow lanes, their façades revealing a domestic architecture shaped by climate and craft. An artisan walk introduces kite makers, copper smiths and block carvers, underscoring the city’s continuing culture of skilled production.

Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Textile history finds its anchor at the Calico Museum of Textiles, founded in 1949 by Gira Sarabhai. Its collection – from courtly brocades to temple hangings and rare patola double-ikats – charts India’s technical and aesthetic breadth with authority. The Sarabhai family’s wider patronage is evident at the National Institute of Design, developed with the guidance of Charles and Ray Eames, and at Villa Sarabhai, designed by Le Corbusier, where modernist lines sit confidently within a garden setting. Together, these visits position Gujarat at the intersection of tradition and modernity.

RaasLeela Hand Embroidered Garment. 

Hands-on sessions bring welcome tactility: block carving in Pethapur, Raasleela appliqué workshops, and encounters with classical dance at the Darpana Academy all reinforce the connection between textile, rhythm and repetition.

Hodka village, Bhuj.

In Bhuj, embroidery functions as both adornment and marker of identity. Rabari, Ahir and Meghwal communities each maintain distinct stitches and motifs, their work presented at the Shrujan Trust Living & Learning Design Centre and supported by initiatives such as Kala Raksha. Workshops in Bandhani resist dyeing and Ajrakh block printing reveal the discipline behind these luminous surfaces, while weaving in Bhujodi reconnects cloth to fibre and flock.

Double Ikat weaving at the Patola Heritage Museum, Patan

The return to Ahmedabad, via the Sun Temple at Modhera and the stepwell Rani-ki-Vav, concludes with the Patola Heritage Museum in Patan, home to the technically exacting double-ikat tradition.

Week three offers a concentrated portrait of Gujarat as a region where engineering and embellishment, modernism and memory, coexist with ease – and where textiles continue to shape the cultural landscape as surely as architecture shapes the city.

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Further Information:

Read more about the Selvedge Textile Tours of India here.