Shani Pillai and Joji Jacob share a passion for textiles and the associated crafts of weaving, dyeing, embroidery, bead work and needlepoint, and the Friends of Te Papa were privileged to be given an in-depth tour of an amazing, colourful collection, beautifully displayed in the Thistle Hall, Cuba Street.
Overall, I thought the balance of textiles activities and other activities was excellent. When I received the itinerary that was the first thing I looked at, as needed to see more of India than just through the fabric.
In their third presentation, ‘Old is New’, in the Friends’ Indian Textiles series, Shani Pillai and Joji Jacob took us on a visual extravaganza looking at how traditional embroidery techniques, crafts and textiles are being honoured and kept alive in a globalised world.
Second of Shani Pillai and Joji Jacob Textile Talks at Te Papa, timed to coincide with the WoW festival. We were to learn the many intricacies of the renowned and centuries-old Ikat weaving that is practised in India, much of South East Asia, Japan and other countries.
Shani Pillai and Joji Jacob, after the success of their earlier ‘Threads of Tradition’ talk they returned to give us the WOW season of 3 in-depth multi media talks, the first of which, Colour Me Indigo at Te Papa.