The Ajrakh Birdsong Collection: A Celebration of Craft, Collaboration,

The Ajrakh Birdsong Collection: A Celebration of Craft, Collaboration, and Cultural Legacy

At The ANJELMS Project, every collection is a conversation — between maker and wearer, tradition and innovation, hand and heart. Our Ajrakh Birdsong Collection, created in collaboration with master craftsman Sufiyan Khatri in Ajrakhpur, Kutch, is one of these rare conversations that continues to echo long after the cloth is finished.

This collection honours a lineage of artisans who have preserved one of India’s oldest and most complex textile traditions. It also invites our community into a deeper appreciation of what handmade truly means: a slow, intentional, many-stepped journey from cotton to cloth, from natural earth to color, from block to story.

Where Heritage Takes Flight: Inspiration Behind the Birdsong Collection

The Birdsong Collection emerged from the desire to explore motifs rooted in nature — symbols of movement, freedom, rhythm and song — interpreted through the sophisticated geometry and symmetry that define Ajrakh.

Bird motifs, sun patterns, abstract foliage and rhythmic repeats bring a sense of liveliness to the textiles, while the colourways range from the bold (turmeric, madder, indigo-inspired contrasts) to the quietly elegant (black-and-white variations created with contemporary appeal).

The silhouettes — wrap dresses, boxy shirts, bell tops, kimono jackets, panel skirts — are designed to let the textiles breathe and move. Nothing competes with the print; instead, each piece is shaped to honour the story held within the cloth.

Crafted by a Master: Working With Sufiyan Khatri

Our ongoing collaboration with Sufiyan Khatri is grounded in shared values: authenticity, respect for tradition, and a commitment to ethical production. Sufiyan comes from a long line of Ajrakh artisans, and his family is widely credited with revitalising the craft and bringing it to global recognition. Working with him means working with someone who understands Ajrakh not as a technique — but as a living heritage.

His team in Ajrakhpur meticulously hand block-prints every panel of fabric used in this collection. Each block is carved by hand, each layer aligned with perfect precision, and each print allows the artisan’s touch to remain intentionally visible — a reminder that no two pieces are ever identical.

A 16-Step Journey of Hand and Earth

The Ajrakh Process

The beauty of Ajrakh lies not only in the final cloth but in the extraordinary process behind it — a meditative sequence of dyeing, printing, washing, resisting, and drying.

While techniques vary depending on the design and dyes used, the traditional process includes:

1. Pre-washing & Preparing the Cloth

The cotton or silk is washed repeatedly to remove starch and oils, allowing dyes to penetrate deeply.

2. Saaj – Applying Natural Mordants

A mixture of castor oil, soda ash, and camel dung is used to soften fibers and prepare them for printing.

3. Block-Printing Begins

Using hand-carved wooden blocks, artisans apply the first resist print. Ajrakh blocks are carved with extraordinary precision, often in repeating geometric or floral patterns.

4. Dyeing in Layers

The fabric is dyed, washed, and dried — again and again. Depending on the design, this may include the following: indigo vat dyeing, madder red extraction, iron black development, turmeric or pomegranate yellow hues, resist techniques to protect certain areas from colour.

5. Repeating the Cycle

Every motif in Ajrakh requires perfect symmetry. Blocks must align exactly at each stage — a skill that takes years to master.

Some pieces in this collection use contemporary colour stories, such as black-and-white combinations, while others stay close to the earthy heritage palette. But all follow the same slow, intentional principles of Ajrakh, where time is considered a material just as essential as dye or cloth.

We continue working With Ajrakh because Ajrakh printing is more than a technique.

It is a cultural identity, a historical archive, a relationship with land, water, and time, a practice of patience and a living legacy.

With each collection, we aim to contribute to a future where traditional crafts are not merely preserved, but uplifted — recognized as essential, valued, and celebrated. The Birdsong Collection is one chapter in this ongoing journey.

Photographic Storytelling

Capturing Craft in Motion

This collection was photographed by Melanie Hinds and Annette Wiguna, whose imagery captures the interplay of light, texture, and pattern. Their portraits of Emani, Cynthia, Kishani, and Marryvonne bring to life the spirit of the garments — modern, warm, rooted, and expressive.

Photographs shot both in nature and around the home of founders Nick and Gaelle offer a visual bridge between heritage textiles and contemporary living.

Designing With Respect & Intention

At The ANJELMS Project, design always starts with listening — to the artisans, to the craft, to the land that inspires it. We create silhouettes that allow the textile to take centre stage.

The pieces in the Ajrakh Birdsong Collection are designed to be wearable across seasons, layerable and adaptable, comfortable in body and spirit, as well as timeless rather than trend-driven.