Sunday Read: Indian Block Printing by Tess Grace and Holly Jones
The first time Tess Grace travelled to Rajasthan, she was already familiar with the gentle rhythm of pressing wood into cloth. From her Oxfordshire studio she had explored the possibilities of block printing, yet it wasn’t until she and fellow designer Holly Jones stood among the dyers’ vats of Bagru and heard the hollow thud of carved blocks against fabric in Sanganer that the depth of this tradition truly revealed itself. Those journeys, now repeated annually, became a wellspring of inspiration — connecting their work in the UK to the centuries-old artistry of India’s printers.
Indian Block Printing: An Inspirational Project Book by Tess Grace and Holly Jones
That sense of continuity and exchange runs through both their studio practice at The Indian Block Print Co., and their new book, Indian Block Printing: An Inspirational Project Book, published this summer by Herbert Press. At first glance, it is a practical manual, guiding readers through 14 projects that move between textiles, card, paper, and even clay. Yet threaded through its pages are glimpses of the people and places that sustain the craft: the carvers hunched over chisels, the dyers stirring vats of indigo, the printers working by hand with a precision that has outlasted machines...
(...)
Want to read more of this article?
We are proud to be a subscriber-funded publication with members in 185 countries. We know our readership is passionate about textiles, so we invite you to help us preserve and promote the stories, memories, and histories that fabric holds. Your support allows us to publish our magazine, and also ‘what's on’ information, and subscription interviews, reviews, and long-read articles in our online blog.
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CONTENT
OR...to continue reading….
Magazine subscribers automatically get free access to all our online content. We send the access code by email with the publication of each issue. You will also find it on the envelope containing your magazine. Please note the access code changes every issue.
-
Image Credits:
Lead: A wooden block and the resulting fabric print. Image: Tess Grace
All images courtesy of Tess Grace and Holly Jones