The future of ajrakh
I heard about Khalid Amin Khatri from my friend, Shilpa Sharma. She told me that he was attempting things with Ajrakh that were different and unusual.
When I texted him, he immediately invited me to lunch at his house. Khatri lives in Ajrakhpur with his mother and sister. He has a tidy home and the studio that is walking distance. After training at Somaiya Kala Vidyalaya, run by textile expert, Judy Frater, Khalid Khatri began to put together a collection–which incidentally, won him awards.
Today, he combines the traditional Ajrakh prints and techniques along with a free-form drawing of things that he’s drawn to from nature: clouds, mountains, the ocean and other flora and fauna. He sells his stoles and shawls at exhibitions. Will his free-form Ajrakh be the future?
