Bandhani Workshop with Adil Mustak Khatri

Adilbhai is a graduate of a design program founded by Judy Frater.  His dyeing skills are excellent.  He creates exquisite traditional classics, as well as exciting innovations. His imaginative and skilled work has earned him many awards and brought him opportunities to work with designers, scholars, and customers worldwide.

In this workshop you will learn traditional Kutch bandhani (tie dye), using techniques that combine bandhani (tiny dots), shibori (stitched resist), and clamp dye. Once you have the concepts, you can design your own motifs and use them to embellish your work.Bandhani ability: Beginner and above. If you know any shibori or dyeing it's a plus!

Schedule: The workshop runs from 9:30 am - 4 pm and Lunch is provided!

Size: The group will be limited to twelve people.

Supplies you will bring: 

*your own fabric- protein fiber; no synthetics, please.

Suggested: silk scarves, light weight.  Wool is also ok, but light weight

*Gloves- and wear old clothes

Supplies provided:

*Acid dyes 

*Citric acid

*thread etc. for tying

*stencil paper

*Plastic for protecting areas from dye

*Buckets

*needle and thread for shibori

*binder clips for clamp dye

*Plastic bags to carry wet scarves home in.

Instructor Information:

Adil Mustak Khatri

Adil revived his family tradition. After twelfth grade, he learned bandhani, then took the KRV design course to learn more. He pushed as many boundaries as he could, creating airy resort wear highly textured with bandhani and shibori. “I lost mental limitations,” he said. “Now I think I can do anything in bandhani.”

Winning awards for Best Collection, Best Presentation, and Best Student, Adil signed up for the pilot SKV graduate course in Business and Management. He created Nilak, envisioning it as a global brand. “The course taught me that ethics is as important as good quality work,” he recalls.

Adil married his classmate Zakiya, and they started a joint business, beginning an ever-evolving collection inspired by Islamic architecture. Adil learned natural dyeing and continues to experiment with natural fabrics.  Though Kutch has hundreds of bandhani artists, and bandhani is ever-present in markets, Adil and Zakiya’s work is memorable.

Adil won the 2015 Gujarat State Award for Excellence in craft, and in 2018 the Crafts Council of India created the Kamala Award for Young Artisans in his honor. He received the World Crafts Council seal of excellence, and in 2020 and 2022 was juried into the highly competitive International Folk Art Market| Santa Fe. In 2021, Adil won the first AIACA NextGen Entrepreneur award. In 2022 he traveled to Oaxaca to conduct workshops through the Museo Textil de Oaxaca.  In 2023, he participated in an artisan exchange with Denmark and traveled to Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

An avid photographer, Adil adeptly translates concepts to contemporary designs.  But he cares deeply about his tradition.  Outraged at screen printed copies of bandhani and dubious about mass production, he says artisans must do what machines can’t: quick innovation, with excellent skill.