Nimble Fingers

>> And that’s it. India – ticked. As we speak I’m awaiting my flight to New York as I leave India with some solid highs. Ones that I’ll be revealing closer to the time of the Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition The Fabric of India in October. For now though, I can wet the appetite? And yes I know it’s lousy to do bogus Instagram-reposting after two days of not posting but I promise you that WIFI and 3G have been suffice to say, a challenge in India. The three videos below do say a lot though – perhaps far more than my countless still photos and paragraphs of text. It’s hands moving – working at wooden block printing, fine fine chikankari embroidery and lavish gold thread embroidery fit for a wedding ensemble. They’re moving in effortless fashion with years of training and skill embedded into their fingers. I’ve been watching these fingers move so swiftly that sometimes that you can’t quite figure out what is going on – for example how the needle and thread are being stitched through with such minute spacing and how the wooden block has been applied with such precision and exacting pressure. Interestingly enough, these fingers are by and large all male. In India’s patriarchal society, the men go out to work in ateliers, workshops and factories and the women remain at home, practising their handcrafts. These were the hands that moved so elegantly over cloth, ink and thread and simultaneously moved us all. India has most certainly be ticked. I’ll be moving on swiftly to all things NYFW on the blog which will seem like a juxtaposing jump. I promise though that there will be more action to be seen from these nimble fingers.

A video posted by Susie Lau (@susiebubble) on Feb 12, 2015 at 6:07am PST

A video posted by Susie Lau (@susiebubble) on Feb 11, 2015 at 7:27am PST

A video posted by Susie Lau (@susiebubble) on Feb 11, 2015 at 11:55pm PST