Why the festival exists
Block printing survives where there is demand for it. Chhaap Tilak is an attempt to make some.
A working floor, not a display case
Chhaap Tilak is a four-day festival built around one craft: hand block printing, carried forward in India by families of carvers, printers and dyers.
Printers bring their blocks, their dye trays and their cloth, and work through the day in front of visitors. Around them sit workshops, recorded conversations with makers and scholars, and a marketplace where every stall is held by the person who made what is on it.
There is no middle margin. A visitor who buys a length of cloth buys it from the household that printed it, at a price that household set.
The tradition nobody is showing
Ajrakh, Bagru and Sanganer are established names in Indian textile scholarship and in the market. Bengal’s own printing and resist-dye practices are neither, and the number of households still holding that knowledge falls each year.
Kolkata is the obvious place to correct that, and no one else is doing it. This edition places Bengal’s printers at the centre of the floor and sets the other traditions around them, so technique, motif vocabulary and dye practice can be compared directly rather than described.
Four things happen at once
Each supports the others. The demonstrations bring people in, the marketplace pays the artisans, the workshops fund the programme, and the recordings outlast all of it.
01
Demonstrations
Printers work full repeats across a length of cloth, all day, with visitors able to ask anything.
02
Marketplace
Every stall is held by the maker. No resellers, no middle margin.
03
Workshops
Small ticketed sessions taught by the exhibiting artisans. Fees go to the teacher.
04
Oral histories
Printers recorded describing their own methods and lineages. Transcribed and published for open use.
Taal Connect
Founded by Suman Sarawgi and Sangeeta Dudhoria to hold India’s cultural heritage in active practice rather than in memory. Taal Connect has organised performances, exhibitions, bazaars and heritage programmes across the country.
Sangeeta Dudhoria
Co-Founder, Taal Connect
Bringing her passion for culture and creative expression to the festival, Sangeeta helps shape Chhaap Tilak as a platform celebrating India’s rich craft traditions.
Suman Sarawgi
Co-Founder, Taal Connect
With a vision for meaningful cultural experiences, Suman contributes to bringing artisans, artists and audiences together through Chhaap Tilak.
Sonali Basu
Executive Trustee, Basu Foundation for the Arts
With a deep commitment to the arts and cultural preservation, Sonali supports Chhaap Tilak’s vision of creating meaningful connections through craft and creativity.
Mrinalini Mukherjee
Designer and Curator
Bringing her creative and curatorial perspective to the festival, Mrinalini helps shape an engaging celebration of Indian textiles, design and craftsmanship.
Exhibit, sponsor or volunteer
Artisans, weavers and craft organisations can apply for a stall. Stall rates and the exhibitor prospectus are on the homepage under Press and downloads.
Sponsorship supports the workshop programme and the oral history recording, both of which run at a loss by design.
Gallery
