Window dressing

Bamboo chiks, made of indigenous material are light, inexpensive and the best solution to interiors in warm climates. They lend an individualistic touch and reflect the country's heritage, says SABITA RADHAKRISHNA. An exhibition of designer chiks opens in Chennai on Thursday.

ENMESHED in the claustrophobic confines of crowded metros and proliferating townships, we need to bring nature inside our homes allowing the play of sunlight and the caressing breeze to transform a beautiful interior. Most of us, however, look to the West, by using heavy woollen carpets and thick drapes designed for a colder clime. While heavy curtains may be necessary in certain rooms where the glare of the western sun has to be kept at bay, bamboo chiks, made out of indigenous material, light and inexpensive, offer the best solutions to window dressing, magical in its filtered light with hazy prints of nature peeping through. In the South East Asian countries, particularly the Philippines, the ingenious use of natural material, available in abundance, is visible, and it leads to each home being individualistic, reflecting the country's tradition and heritage, without being clones of a culture totally alien to our lifestyles.

A common sight is people sitting on the pavement weaving the bamboo reeds into blinds, which, at one time, were designated to back verandahs, and to areas not so visible in the main living areas. The popularity of these chiks waned, with the sprawling bungalows making way for smaller living spaces and apartments. What the new homemakers needed were new designs, as the old stereotypes were no longer inspiring. The Delhi Crafts Council (DCC), a craft NGO affiliated to the Crafts Council of India, was concerned that a beautiful craft was in danger of languishing. It set up a project to resucitate this craft. After a survey and documentation, they decided that chikmakers be selected on the basis of their skill together with a willingness to accept design intervention as their repertoire needed to be improved.

The handicraft of chikmaking faces stiff competition from machine made bamboo chiks which, like the power loom textiles, are cost effective as compared to the hand woven ones, leading to a possible extinction in a few years time. The main aim of the DCC project was to open up the urban market to the craftspersons, and contribute to the growth and development of this handicraft. Feasibility of execution was also borne in mind, and the possibility of mass production. With the successful implementation of designs developed, the project was followed up by a workshop to disseminate the knowledge gained, imparting the skills to a fresh set of craftspersons.

According to the Delhi Crafts Council, the craft of chikmaking has its roots primarily in the districts of Aligarh, Agra and Gwalior. Some of these craftspersons migrated to Delhi in search of new markets, and this was the beginning of a widely practised craft in Delhi. The two essential raw materials for making a chik are bamboo and yarn in the form of cotton twine. Cotton tapes, cords, and wooden pulleys are used for finishing and rolling up mechanisms. All the loom consists of is a stout bamboo pole about eight feet in length which rests on a locally constructed crossbar, sturdily supported at either end.

The bamboo is first split into tilis of the required number. The split tilis are bunched together and rubbed on a rough floor to smoothen their edges. The residual waste is used as fuel for cooking. Balls of yarn are prepared from the yarn hanks bought from the market. Bricks are broken into small pieces to prepare weights for keeping the yarn in tension. Each tili is inserted in position and the yarn interlaced between them, which constitutes an elementary form of weaving. When the

desired length of chik is achieved, the second bamboo strip is inserted and the yarn ends knotted together.

On completion the chik is taken off the loom and the edges on either side are trimmed, and the tape or newar is doubled and sewn on all four sides. If the client so requires, a lining fabric is sewn on the back, and wooden pulleys are fixed to the top to facilitate easy rolling. Curtain rings can be also sewed along one length for draping like fabric curtains.

The existing designs are the barfi or diamond grid, the choori or hexagonal grid, the filas or tumbler grid, the makri or spider's web. Today the patterns have become more varied and intricate, by cutting geometric patterns with a chisel, and combining two trellises or grid patterns. The chiks are priced at Rs. 18 to Rs. 50 per square foot.

The craftspersons who were specially selected, and who have contributed vastly in bringing out these designer bamboo curtains, are Laxman Singh, from Khichripur (East Delhi), Shankar Lal and Sunder Singh from Mangolpuri (North Delhi).

The design and development of bamboo chiks were conceived to address the need of revitalising the craft of bamboo chik-making at Delhi, and at the end of it a number of vital insights were gained. CCI hopes to hold chik workshops in Chennai to introduce new skills to our own chik makers, helping them to find a promising market and extending possibilities to architects, interior designers and people who want to beautify their homes with drapes so excitingly different.

To expose Chennai to this successful experiment, the Crafts Council of India together with the British Council, is organising an exhibition of designer chiks from Delhi. The exhibition supported by Centaur Furniture will be on view on February 24 and 25 at the British Council.

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