ABOUT BLOCK PRINTING

 The team at ISHANI Designs pride themselves in creating beautiful hand crafted clothing that is unique and unlike anything else on the market. 

What makes ISHANI clothing so special starts with the fabrics used to make them. Close to 100% of all printed fabrics are printed by hand using a method call 'hand block printing'. Hand block printing is an ancient textile art from Rajasthan, India. It is a highly skilled craft that is passed down from generation to generation. The slow and labour intensive process of block printing begins by carving motifs into blocks of wood. Each colour in the print requires it's own wood block. The blocks then are dipped into the dye and stamped one by one, colour by colour, layer by layer. This process takes a substantial amount of time and skill. Unlike machine or screen prints that can be printed of runs of hundreds of meters, block print can only be printed in runs of 10 meters at a time making it impossible to mass produce. Once the printing is complete, each 10 meter run of fabric is washed by hand and dried in the sun. 

In the age of 'fast fashion' and extreme waste, the owners of ISHANI Designs push against the demand for low quality, mass produced clothing and continue to support Indian artisans to create their beautiful textile art. By placing large orders and paying a premium price to their printers, Alicia and Ajay encourage the block printing team and hopefully help in the fight to keep this ancient (but fading) art alive.