The incredible story of an artisan community's persistence and resilience using craft as a tool to rebuild their future.

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Journey through four different block printing communities in India using natural dyes: Ajrakh, Kalamkari, Dabu and Bagh. The skill and mastery of these artisans carries tradition forward, continuing to give life to these complex techniques that have been passed down for up to 9 generations. Continue reading

Slow clothes are a journey in the making. This lecture and film presented by Charllotte Kwon (founder of Maiwa) showcases points on that journey. Each maker that we feature is in full stride – with one foot in the traditional territory of the past and one foot already placed in the optimistic landscape of the future. Continue reading

For more than 20 years, Tim McLaughlin worked to help tell the stories of artisans — in video documentaries, publications, photos, exhibitions, workshops and media. This work has been collaborative and far reaching. In many ways it can also be seen as an extension of Tim’s background in the arts and sciences and his personal projects. Continue reading

The Long Thread Podcast Interviews Charllotte Kwon.

About this Episode:

Recovering from a health crisis, Charllotte Kwon needed to find a new career as well as an outlet for her love of color. She fell in love with the designs, hues, and pace of India, and she founded Maiwa to partner with textile artisans. Beginning with embroidery and printing, she cultivated relationships with families working in longstanding craft traditions, then worked to develop markets to create a livelihood for villagers who work with natural color. Maiwa's latest project is a new website that includes an exhaustive list of dyestuffs and how to use them (including 8 different methods for dyeing with indigo). In this episode, she reflects on how the scope of her project has changed over the decades—and what she hopes uncertain times will bring.

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Meet Maiwa’s Charllotte Kwon: Canada’s Pioneering Force for Ethical Fashion

Decades before eco-fashion hit the mainstream, artist Charllotte Kwon lived and breathed the ethos of sustainability. In the early eighties, Kwon developed septicemia from her work as a Heidelberg printmaker, which exposed her to high concentrations of toxic inks and solvents. Though she recovered after a series of blood transfusions, she was unable to resume her work as a printer—but a passion for vibrant colour and intrepid travel led her to unearth the magic of natural dyes, a discovery that would completely reshape the future of her career.

Read the summary here. Nuvo Magazine

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Hali Magazine has published a summary of the events at the Indigo Sutra conference written by Jenny Balfour-Paul. Charllotte Kwon and Maiwa gave a presentation, chaired a panel and provided a one-day workshop on building a variety of natural indigo vats. 

Read the summary here. Hali Magazine, Indigo Sutra.

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The World of Interiors is one of our go-to magazines for inspiration in textiles, arts, and culture. So we were quite proud to see that noted author and anthropologist Nigel Barley reviewed our latest book Textiles of the Banjara. The review is on page 100 in the October 2016 issue.

We liked the review so much we contacted World of Interiors and asked for permission to reproduce it here. We'd like to extend our appreciation to both World of Interiors and Nigel Barley. Continue reading

We just cracked the packing tape on our box of Selvedge Magazine #72. We were delighted to find Sonia Ashmore's review of our book in the "READ" section. Her review begins with the line: "This book should be required reading for anyone who does not consider that textiles are a subject for serious study." Thank you Sonia and thank you Selvedge. Continue reading

Maiwa is more than just a store, though—beyond scarves and blankets, Kwon is in the business of selling stories, and selling pieces of art that are labours of love, not labours of necessity. Each dye pattern or set of stitching is its own dialect; the textile pieces are statements from the hands of their makers. The items sold at Maiwa are lover letters written in cotton or sealed with indigo, while Kwon and her team take the role of the postman, delivering each precious message faithfully to the homes of those ready and eager to listen. Continue reading