3/5 Miten K. 6 months ago on Google • 189 reviews
The
museum
was
inspired
by Ananda
Coomaraswamy,
who,
in
conversations
with
Gautam
Sarabhai
during
the
1940s,
suggested
the
founding
of
a
textile
institute
in
the
city
of
Ahmedabad,
a
major
trading
centre
of
the
textile
industry
of
the
sub-continent
since
the
fifteenth
century.
In
1949
Gautam
and
Gira
Sarabhai
and
the
great
industrial
house
of
Calico
acted
founded
the
Calico
Museum
of
Textiles
in
Ahmedabad,
as
the
specialist
museum
in
India
concerned
with
both
the
historical
and
technical
study
of
Indian
handicraft
and
industrial
textiles.
Gira
established
and
curated
the
Calico
Museum
of
Textiles
which
houses
a
historic
collection
of
Indian
Fabrics.
It
is
also
the
centre
for
design
knowledge,
resources,
research
and
publication.
In
addition
to
this,
Gira
also
designed
the
building.
It
was
built
around
a
courtyard
to
facilitate
contemporary
gatherings
and
functions.
It
was
populated
with
traditional
facades
and
other
carved
wood
elements
dismantled
from
old
residential
Gujrati
Houses.
By
the
early
fifties
the
museum
discovered
its
original
intent,
encompassed
too
large
an
area
and
concentrated
its
energies
on
the
vast
and
vital
field
of
handicraft
textiles,
devoting
less
and
less
time
to
industrial
fabrics.
By
the
second
decade
of
its
existence
the
museum
launched
an
ambitious
publications
programme.
The
programme
worked
on
two
series,
namely
Historical
Textiles
Of
India
under
the
editorship
of
John
Irwin,
then
keeper
of
the
Indian
Section
of
the
Victoria
and
Albert
Museum;
and
the
second,
under
the
editorial
direction
of
Dr
Alfred
Bühler,
fümer
Director
of
the
Museum
Für
Volkerkunde
Und
Schweizerisches
Museum
Für
Volkskunde,
Basel,
who
conducted
a
Contemporary
Textile
Craft
Survey
of
India
Inaugurating
the
museum
in
1949, Jawaharlal
Nehru stated,
"The
early
beginnings
of
civilization
are
tied
up
with
the
manufacture
of
textiles,
and
history
might
well
be
written
with
this
as
the
leading
motif."
And
indeed,
so
well
had
the
Calico
Museum
of
Textiles
fulfilled
this
brief
that
by
1971
the
House
of
Calico
decided
that
the
excellence
of
the
fabric
collection
and
the
invaluable
research
conducted
by
the
publications
department
were
such
that
the
museum
should
be
an
independent
society.
The
museum's
publications,
which
have
now
taken
two
distinct
directions,
give
some
indication
of
where
the
next
surge
of
activity
will
take
place.
While
the
number
of
publications
concerned
with
historical
studies
continues
and
increases,
the
second
direction
has
resulted
in
research
and
publication
of
studies
preoccupied
with
the
technical
and
scientific
examinations
of
textile
processes
such
as
looms,
dyeing,
printing
techniques,
etc
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