{"product_id":"london-textile-month-online-talk-demonstration-the-art-of-the-toda-thread-and-touch","title":"Sunday 20 September, 10.30-12 p.m. BST: Online Talk \u0026 Demonstration, The Art of the Toda: Thread and Touch with Coonoor \u0026 Co","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOnline Talk via Zoom\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003eCoonoor \u0026amp; Co is a contemporary design studio and online journal shaped by slow, considered living. Our work is inspired by over a decade of engagement within the Nilgiris — a UNESCO-recognised biodiversity hotspot in southern India — and the indigenous communities that inhabit this ancient land. At the heart of their aesthetics, storytelling and craft are narratives and artisanal creations nurtured by time, space, ecology, and form.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003eTheir studio develops small-batch contemporary apparel, home textiles and textile art that honour indigenous knowledge while placing it within thoughtful contemporary dialogue. Core to what they do is a long-standing engagement with Toda women, custodians of an ancient geometric embroidery tradition passed through generations. Together, their team, weavers and artisans have worked slowly and deliberately to bring this practice into new conversations in textile, design and art — while preserving its integrity, its authorship, and its deep-rootedness in the land that has always been its home.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEvent Description\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Art of the Toda: Thread and Touch\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eToda embroidery is one of the most singular textile traditions in the world. Practiced exclusively by women of the Toda community — an ancient indigenous pastoral people of the Nilgiri plateau in southern India — it is worked in red and black on ivory cotton, entirely by hand, without guides, sketches, or frames. The women stretch the fabric with their fingers and count threads purely by touch. No pattern is drawn. No frame holds the cloth. The geometry that emerges — precise, reversible, almost impossibly consistent — is carried in the body, passed down through generations of women who learned by watching and doing. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003eThe motifs speak of the world the Toda inhabit: buffalo horns, rays of the sun, mountain ranges, the flowers of the Shola forests, the geometries of ceremony and sacred space.This session is a rare opportunity to encounter that practice firsthand — live, with two senior Toda artisans demonstrating their work from the Nilgiris. Through demonstrations, film, and in-depth conversations, audiences will witness the embroidery as it happens and hear the artisans speak about their work in their own voices. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003eThe session moves through the motifs at the heart of the Toda visual vocabulary and the materials developed specifically to hold this demanding technique. Participants are then invited into a guided observation exercise — learning to read the geometry of Toda motifs, understanding how pattern emerges purely through counting and touch, and developing a new way of seeing what the eye might otherwise pass over. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003eThe session closes with a live Q\u0026amp;A with the artisans.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLocation\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThis is an online event. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eA PDF containing the Zoom link will be sent to you upon booking. Please ensure to download this file to access the link. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRecording\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eThis event will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all those who register following the live session. Please allow 7 working days for us to send you the recording.\u2028\u2028\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCancellation Policy\u2028\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003eAll places reserved for online events are non-refundable. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product__description rte\"\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/coonoorandco.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eVisit Coonoor \u0026amp; Co's Website\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/coonoorandco\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: rgb(64, 64, 64);\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eFollow Coonoor \u0026amp; Co on Instagram\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Coonoor \u0026 Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49077414756587,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1395\/5787\/files\/Screenshot2026-07-17at15.30.24.png?v=1784299031","url":"https:\/\/www.selvedge.org\/products\/london-textile-month-online-talk-demonstration-the-art-of-the-toda-thread-and-touch","provider":"Selvedge Magazine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}