As part of a residency exchange programme, hosted by the Heriot-Watt University’s School of Textiles and Design in Scotland, four designers were recently awarded with educational opportunities to share and learn about both Indian and Scottish textile design skills and crafts.
Funded by Creative Scotland and Scottish Borders Council, the exchange programme reSIde, which involved two designers from India and two from Scotland, was initiated by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, in September 2012.
As part of the programme, Indian textile designers Swati Unakar (Bangalore, Karnataka) and Murji Vankar (Kutch, Gujarat) were given the chance to learn about Scotland’s rich textile heritage at the Edinburgh-based institution’s Scottish Borders campus in Galashiels.
The exchange programme’s Scottish counterparts, designers Lindsay Roberts and Jeni Allison, also engaged with various craft related projects at the two famous Indian NGOs Khamir and Kala Raksha.
Additionally, the Scottish students also visited craft project communities in the Kutch region of Gujarat where they got the opportunity to compare the heavily embroidered and vibrantly coloured Indian textile heritage with the more sombre looking Scottish textiles.
