Colourful showcase for textile art at Chennai’s first quilt festival

For the first time in India, a Quilt Festival will be held in namma ooru. By quilt, it doesn’t mean just blankets but stunning pieces of art threaded together with the skilled hands across generations of quilting craftsmanship. The festival is organised by three friends and quilting enthusiasts from the city, Varsha Sundararajan, Deepa Vasudevan and  Tina Katwal.

“Quilt festivals are a big concept in places like Tokyo, Birmingham and Houston. Despite having a long tradition in quilting, we haven’t seen any similar festivals in our country. This inspired us to come up with India Quilt Festival that’s starting today. The India Quilt Festival brings together local groups and tribes from across the country to showcase their art of quilting,” says Varsha, one of the organisers.

There are various categories for the festival including an international quilt show, workshops and lectures from expert quilters and researchers, textile tours, curated special exhibits from across the world, artisans from various parts of India and lots of shopping opportunities for lovers of textile art.

“Around 350 quilts from 11 countries will be exhibited at the festival. One of the interesting events is Quilts Across Time and Nations (QATAN) — a curated collection of quilts from across the world. There will be quilts from the US, Scotland, Germany, Egypt, Guatemala, and South Korea and vintage and contemporary works from India. Through this people would get to see how quilting has evolved in India and other countries,” she adds.

Tina Katwal, the first person to establish a quilt studio in the country called Square Inch, is excited about the festival. “There is a large number of quilt enthusiasts in Chennai and am sure this festival will give them an opportunity to meet expert quilters. There is a Facebook page called Desi Quilters that have members from various parts of the country and it is great to see their enthusiasm in this textile art,” says Tina.

When we say quilt, the first thing that comes to our mind is a scarf to cover ourselves during winter. But Varsha says that Chennaiites can expect more. “Each artist uses the quilt for different purposes. The quilt could be an object of utility, decor or a way to convey a message. We hope this festival will feature in Chennai’s cultural calendar. The theme for the festival is ‘dance of the peacock’ and the quilts submitted for the competition speak about the artistry, technique and the way in which artists have interpreted their thoughts,” sums up Varsha.