Faculty of Design

Graphic Design

Arshdeep Kang

Jugaad Principle 02: (Semi) Permanent Phulkari

Jugaad Principle 2: giving an item a new value/form after its expected lifespan.The idea for this sewed piece of fabric was to use shopping bags that had no use and turn them into a designed artifact that encompassed not one, but many ideas I’m passionate about. The art of phulkari is slowly dying as the fashion industry and mass production have taken over the creative process of this once-beloved craftsmanship. Phulkari in Punjabi translates to “flower work”, a type of geometric embroidery technique made up of flower motifs. Originally done on khaddar (cotton) with embroidery floss, I decided to create my own phulkari-designed fabric using typography found on shopping bags. I found it appropriate to use the shopping bags one would find from South Asian fabric stores, ones that sell mass-produced phulkari, creating a dialogue between the shopping bags and the hand-made artifact. Not only does this work of phulkari encompass the idea of bringing back a tradition that is seemingly lost, but the narrative is tied together with the concept of jugaad. This piece of phulkari is created by shopping bags, where the shopping bags have been given a new value/form after their expected lifespan. When looking at the phulkari with the broken text, your eye forces you to look for a pattern or meaning behind the words that are printed. But instead, for the most part, you find yourself looking at the forms of the type, and that’s when you pay close attention to the design created by non-designers.