Hanji Madam Ji

Welshie in Dehli

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My very first weekend in India with my a lady who I can now call my big sister Jyoti and her fam.

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These are the living conditions outside of a mill which we regularly work with in Faridabad. This is a heavily industrial area, there are many of these small make shift shelters alongside the road selling various items of food, paan etc to the hundreds of factory workers who line the streets. 

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My very first weekend in India with my a lady who I can now call my big sister Jyoti and her fam.

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A pantone chip is selected - the dye is matched in the colour kitchen..

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Touchy Feely

When I was younger my dad would make fun of the way that I would walk through a clothes shop and touch all of the fabrics that I walked past. My hands  would be drawn to them like a moth to a flame.

Then my first day here, I was taken around this printing mill by the owner and Devender my colleague. As they led me through the mill, I watched as they touched the piles of fabrics that we walked past. Instantly I felt the connection and that my being here had some sort of purpose. 

This was a cutting of a georgette fabric that had recently been printed in the mill. This was used for an ASOS dress. Such a beautiful print.

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Watching it come to life..

Our CAD design lecturer in University once described illustrator as ‘Sexy’.. and with that quote I was instantly turned me off.... I could not take a class seriously with a lady who actually used those words. Little did I know then that Illustrator would become my best friend..Don’t get me wrong.. it’s class, but sexy? Not so much

The glamorous life of a design assistant. So an essential part of my role within my first year and a half in retail was illustrator. CADs CADs CADs. From day one I was re-colouring ranges, placing prints in to garments, drawing new shapes, creating tech packs. Then finally as the demand for prints increased, I began designing more and more prints..

Unfortunately for me, my ignorant student self didn’t pay attention in those illustrator classes so everything I have learnt on illustrator I had taught myself on the job. I am no graphic designer by any extent but I know a thing or two on ai. Little did I know that on my first day in India I would be witnessing the physical printing of a print that I had helped to create.

This print technically was a toughie for the mill to create. This print was a dip dye / ombre floral print being printed on 30s rayon (100% viscose) It had ombre effect meaning that the bottom part of the print was light and gradually become market running up the print. However this print wasn't being created by the dip dye process.. it is being printed using rotary rolls. Printing this type of print on rotary is difficult to achieve as it needs to give this dip dye ombre effect - while being printed flat.

As you can see the fabric goes on to the bed white, it is pulled along the length of the bed where it meets the rotary rolls. Each roll has a layer of the design etched in to it, and each roll prints one colour. This print was made of two rolls. The navy roll was had only the top half of the roll etched. This meant that the ink would pass through the top half of the roll. So when printing the fabric the top half of the fabric would be printed in navy but the bottom would remain white.

In the NCR region the maximum rolls per print is 12 rolls (12 colours) So for a print to be printable on rotary it should contain a maximum of 12 colours.

Video to follow..

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Almost one year ago this photograph was taken... My first photo in Gurgaon, one that will stay with me forever. I will never forget the way I felt getting ready for my first day at the office here. All of the emotions from the sleepless first night slowly disappeared as I watched the early morning sun trying to shine through the rise hazy Gurgaon smog..