Travels with Emma - Gujarat 2026

At the beginning of January, it was my privilege to lead a small group of wonderful women from the UK & USA on a journey into the incredible delights of Gujarat hand crafted textiles.  Our tour started in Delhi, where we took a flight to Bhuj, a small city in the far west of India… a relatively remote area known for its impressive embroideries and weaving. I have been visiting this area since the 1980s, when it was just a dusty charming little town, now a bustling thriving city, attracting tourists from all over the world for its textiles and natural wildlife.  

Kachchh often spelled as Kutch, is a diverse cultural area of villages, shaped by centuries of migration from Pakistan, Rajasthan, Persia & Afghanistan.  From the Rabri, traditionally nomadic herders known for bold, nature inspired embroidery and bold Jewellery, to Ahir farmers with vibrant chain stitch and shisha mirrors embroideries, to the Jat community with geometric embroideries, and the Khatri community, dyers & printers specialising in Ajrakh block printing, Bandhani tie-dye & Rogan Art.  

In 2001 the area suffered a devastating earthquake, out of which came a huge influx of support, but the key factors to the survival of the villages was the women, who came together with dignity and grace to find a way to not only to survive such devastation but to thrive.  They offered their deep-rooted knowledge and incredible skills of embroidery to find comfort, to hold communities together, and find a way to make a living.     

Travelling to Kachchh, offers a place of endless inspiration, the extent of craftsmen’s ship of the textiles is beyond belief.  Despite the younger generations now attending school and looking towards the bigger cites to provide a better life, the heritage of embroideries is still shining through with the support of organisations such as Khamir, Kalarakhshi, Shrujan, and other smaller organisations such as The Artisans of Kutch to help lesser-known craftspeople to survive and flourish.   

Every time I visit this area of India I am drawn further into its heart-warming generosity. Bringing people with me who share my passion for textiles, we are more than tourists, wanting to spend time, engage beyond the usual quick in and out routines of passive tourism.  Listening, engaging, sharing with the local crafts people, bringing with it, pride to their work, enabling people to continue making a living with grace and minimum impact to the environment.  But it is more than that, it is a conversation with our hands, a coming together with respect, a sharing with people so generous and humble and hopefully by sharing our wealth to make life for others a little easier, hopefully.   

The Cloth Atelier collection has included organic woven cloth, block prints, beautiful shawls and some embroideries from this area for some time now.  I am delighted to let you know we have just added Manju to our supplier list. A wonderful girl with 2 beautiful daughters she is supporting all on her own, after she was discarded for not producing a son.  She makes by hand, embellishing with embroideries gorgeous clothing.  She is currently putting together a small zero waste collection of Jackets for Cloth Atelier, using natural dyes, local hand-woven cloth, lined with local Ajrakh block prints.  These jackets will be available online and at our shows. I am absolutely delighted to have met Manju, and so will you when you see her work.   

Our Mindful Textile Journeys into Kachchh, takes us to the heart of the villages, we travel to meet people, to explore for ourselves first hand, and through the amazing textile museums such as LLDC. We sit with local tribal artisans, learn their treasured traditional stiches, create beautiful applique stories… laugh and share with our hands, finding that we have so much in common.   

On these days, everything makes sense, this is the essence of Cloth Atelier. Our cloth collections bring all this goodness to you, not only to enjoy its beauty, but to support and nourish people who share our joy of the hand made, helping people to maintain integrity in the way they make a living. Making slowly, is the only way our world can survive, in a world becoming increasingly divided, mind-bendingly fast and aggressively greedy. Small acts of supporting an alternative to mainstream mass-produced goods, are huge acts of kindness to those who continue to produce traditional hand made textiles. Coming together in support of natural fibres and slow fashion, we can make a difference, we must make a difference, not only for the crafts people, but for ourselves as well.  

Travelling with me to India is not for everyone, I am not interested in providing endless details of famous tourist attractions, nodding passively and moving on. I am interested in the everyday, the small stuff, the humbleness, the allowing, the local, below the surface, being in the moment. I offer a space to be. I offer an opportunity to share with others… for just a brief couple of weeks we become a safe family unit, with openness, we flourish, things shift in our awareness, we hold each other with grace, and gentle laughter…and often outrageously belly aching laughter too.  

It is a joy.   

To those who choose to travel with me, for trusting me, for allowing me to take you gently on a journey, I so very much appreciate your willingness to open up to something unknown, something unexpected, that will continue, without doubt to impacted your life greatly. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.