Photo: Jamadani weavers, Bangladesh. Nurun Nahar Nargis Muslin Trust.
Missing Threads: the continuing history of muslin
I have learned much since the since the publication of Muslin by the V&A in 2012. Little information was available at the time and the book had its limitations. In this talk I would like to address some lingering questions and discuss the issues facing weavers in Bangladesh and West Bengal today, showing how fine examples of jamdani weaving in particular are now being produced despite the precarious status of the profession throughout the subcontinent.
Dr Sonia Ashmore is a design historian with a particular interest in Indian textiles. As a research fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum she investigated the formation of the museum’s South Asian textile collections, contributed material on Indian textiles sections to the Museum’s website and helped to catalogue a substantial part of the collection. Her book on Muslin, was published by the V&A in 2012 and she has also published work on Liberty & Co., on cultural exchanges with Japan, on 1960s fashion and 19th and 20th century shopping. She lectures regularly on V&A courses and in India and is currently Chair of the Muslin Trust.
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