Typecraft × Protagonist Barmer Katab Letter & Number Pendant | Gold, Silver, Bronze | Geometric floral cutwork style of Rajasthan, India

Q1 2025 preorder period is open until March 31, 2025! Production time is from April 1, 2025 to April 30, 2025, with delivery about 10-15 days afterwards!

This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!

This geometric, floral openwork letter and number pendant collection is based on the traditional Barmer Katab appliqué style of the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India. Each curve and line of this pendant is based on the original lines created in appliquéd cotton by the craftswomen of Gogaji ki Khejadi, Barmer. We carefully trace each of those handcrafted lines to create a collection of original letter and number pendants in gold, rose gold, silver, and bronze. The loop and bail of each design is a combination of angular and organic curvatures as well, to complement the craftswomen's original designs. Each letter and number can mark a special name, date, or other meaningful shorthand for you, to gift to yourself or someone you care about.

About Barmer Katab, in the words of Typecraft Initiative:
"We worked with craftswomen in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan to create two foliage rich typefaces that belie the barren desert and instead highlight the vibrancy of the people — Barmer Katab, in the form of a reverse appliqué and patchwork and Barmeri Phool-Patti is done just in reverse appliqué." 

"The art of appliqué & cutwork involves the drawing a design on thin transparent sheets and then tinching them (putting a series of dots in the sheet). A white paste (in this case made with toothpaste!) is passed through the dots onto the main fabric (made of cambric). Following this, the design is cut with a chisel and hammer and then pasted onto the base organdy (in this case white colored) cloth. After the glue (also a home-made concoction) dries up, the top fabric can be folded in and stitched and the process of appliqué can begin."

Typecraft worked with the Thar craftswomen in a series of workshops to introduce them to the design process, to exercise their creativity, and design their own letterforms. Before this workshop, these women's experience with appliqué was that another designer or customer would ask them to create a pre-designed design; this workshop formed a first time they had the latitude to design on their own for a design project, using their accumulated skills and experience in the appliqué vocabulary. All of the craftswomen were illiterate when they started. Over the time, the craftswomen became more comfortable in their own design skill, learned to read the Roman alphabet (and even spell their names) by the end of the exercise, and in addition to being paid for their work, received personal recognition for their contributions in a craft that is often nameless and faceless.

Typecraft × Protagonist:
The Typecraft Initiative is an international collaboration of Indian craftspeople practicing endangered traditional arts, with typeface designers who conduct design workshops with the craftspeople (craftswomen) to create original typefaces. The goal of the initiative is both to empower craftspeople to continue practicing their art and preserve the knowledge and skills associated with it, and to also preserve the beauty of these unique crafts and share them with the world.

Credits:
Craftspeople: Chunni, Shanti, Tibu, Pawani, Paami, Bhaami, Mangi, Khetu, Anita, Nirmala, Shanti, Jasoda, Chandi, and Kastura Ram
Designers and craft coordinators: Andreu Balius, Ishan Khosla
Type development: Andreu Balius, Ricard Garcia
Project support: Rangsutra
Local NGO: Roshni
Jewelry design and development: Sheila Maithel