ABOUT
The Maiwa School of Textiles
Maiwa taught its first workshops over thirty years ago.
In 2004 we started the Maiwa Symposium to include presentations and lectures from artisans from around the world.
In 2015 we upgraded again to become The Maiwa School of Textiles. We ran two sessions a year, each with roughly 50 workshops. We also maintained a lecture series and exhibition schedule. In 2020, hoping to reach those who could not reach us, we started to move everything online.
The depth of our commitment to teaching and sharing has never wavered.
The Maiwa School of Textiles has grown out of our desire to share ideas, techniques and culture. We believe that the need to create is universal. We seek to promote traditional techniques from around the world and to encourage local makers and craftspeople.
We also maintain SCHOOLOFTEXTILES.COM
where you can find Maiwa Podcasts.
ABOUT
Our Natural Dyes Website
Here you will find written instructions and recipes for how to dye with natural dyes. It's a great resource that includes in-depth information on each dye. We also have photos of the dyestuff and examples of the colours that each dye gives on cloth.
Our PDF - Guide to Natural Dyes is a great place to start your natural dye journey. It is also a wonderful place to inspire you to expand your practice.
ABOUT
The Maiwa Store
Maiwa supports traditional craft through an ethical business model. Working mainly with India, but also with several other areas, Maiwa is involved in the trade of embroidered, block-printed, handwoven, and naturally dyed textiles. A large portion of our success is due to our educational commitment; ensuring that the purchasing public knows how textiles are made - and who makes them.
Visit us Online at MAIWA.COM
Or at our Granville Island Store: 1663 Duranleau Street, Vancouver BC, Canada
We also carry natural dyes
and everything you need to use them.
ABOUT
Podcasts, Documentaries, & Publications
For fourteen years, between 2005 and 2019, Maiwa edited lectures from the Maiwa Symposium into a series of podcasts.
See our full PODCAST listings here.
We also produced four documentary videos:
Through the Eye of a Needle
Tana Bana: Wisdom of the Loom
Indigo: A World of Blue
In Search of Lost Colour: The Story of Natural Dyes
We have two print publications:
Through the Eye of a Needle: Stories from an Indian Desert
Textiles of the Banjara: Cloth and Culture of a Wandering Tribe
ABOUT
The Maiwa Foundation
The Maiwa Foundation was established in 1997 by Maiwa Handprints Ltd. It was registered as a private trust in 2001 to help fund practising and re-emerging artisans in the craft sector. The fund supports work that develops higher-level skills or sustains existing skills. Recent workshops include India (Nagaland, Assam, Kerala, Bengal), Morocco, and Ethiopia.
Although Maiwa Handprints Ltd. and the Maiwa Foundation share similar views, they are separate organizations. The first is a commercial enterprise while the second is a non-profit organization dedicated to education and the relief of poverty.
Though some of the highest profile work done by the foundation has aided artisans in disastrous situations (the 2001 Kutch earthquake, the 2004 tsunami and the 2020 COVID pandemic), the foundation is primarily concerned with aid to artisans on the village level and with the education and engagement of western audiences that represent their markets.
The Maiwa Foundation is a registered charity. Find out more.
Learn More About Maiwa
In 2000 Maiwa published A Quiet Manifesto for the Preservation of Craft. In 2016 we celebrated our 30th anniversary and revisited those ideas. The results are here: Revisiting A Quiet Manifesto for the Preservation of Craft. It is now in its third printing. Read it on ISSUU or download the PDF.