More recently, the school participated in India Art Fair 2026 with The Sky Below, a series of monumental embroidered textile panels. Woven on saori looms and structured through herringbone, basket weave and chevron, it combined cotton, silk, recycled seed and glass beads to reimagine the sky through tactile surfaces. Swali and Chanakya School of Craft’s debut solo exhibition Trace opened at Experimenter, Kolkata, this year as well. A series of two- and three dimensional interdisciplinary representations, it repositioned thread as both an ancient craft and a contemporary medium.
Indigo, The Sky Below, an artwork with handwoven cotton cords on metal, presented at Mobilier National, Paris, 2025.
Courtesy of Mobilier National
Detail from Form V by Chanakya School of Craft, a hand-sculpted black stone with cotton threadwork, presented during Trace, a solo exhibition at Experimenter, Kolkata, in 2026.
Ryan Martis
An archival jacket from Southeast Asia in the Chanakya Research Room.
Hashim Badani
Over the decades, Chanakya International has assembled an archive of over 10,000 historical references and 1,00,000 artistic explorations. Its practice is guided by an ethos of revival and sustainability, where inherited techniques are reimagined through contemporary material research. For example, the artisans turned date palm raffia into couture textile. Traditionally associated with basketry and agricultural weaving, its coarse structure and architectural integrity offered the possibility of a new textile language. This technique was used for the Dior Spring/Summer 2023 collection. The atelier has also revived flattened Coca-Cola cans, radio parts, DVDs, silicone and fabrication offcuts into embroidered surfaces. Forty years on, as Chanakya continues to redefine craft, its artistic practice will be presented through exhibitions at Experimenter and Bihar Museum.
En Route runs at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum from 8 September to 20 October, Garden of Gestures at the Chanakya Ateliers from 9 to 30 September and Belong at Experimenter Colaba from 10 September to 17 October.
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