The Patra Story: Journey of Food to Fabric
“All design is the process of making EXPERIENCES” -Nathan Shedroff. A design project is to learn from experiences and build in for the next one. This project is a journey starting from selection of the food to a final product.
The Patra Story: Patra is a very distinct and authentic Gujarati food dish. The leaves are stuffed with a spiced mix, and this contrast between mild and seasoned flavors is what packs the Patra punch.The visual texture of the patra and its interesting procedure is the reason behind me choosing this as an inspiration for my fabric construction. There are different ways of eating a patra, like opening the leaves that form the patra is what keeps the consumer engaged. The process of the leaves being placed in opposite directions and on top of each other is a great example of layering and overlapping. The surface of the cut patra is very similar to that of a labyrinth in a spiral. There is a certain size contrast of the thickness of the leaf and the paste. The visual also leads to a state of confusion in the viewer’s mind.
Keywords and Metaphors
Spiral Layering Size Contrast Centrifugal Confusion Engaging Glaze Rolled Overlap Maze Marking Labyrinth Metallic Cross section Lustre Mysterious Plastering
Paper Explorations
Most of the initial paper explorations were based on the visual texture of the leaf before and after cooking, the texture of the gram flour paste.
Texture
Spirals
Unwinding and Contours
Textile Explorations
Joineries
Concept and Mood Board
Dyeing Explortions
Product Brief: To create a product that diffuses the amount of light.
Solution: Curtain.
Layout
The strips are joined together by embroidery, which is laborious work, and is repetitive, hence this is going to be one unit of the whole curtain and will be repeated twice in order to fit into the ideal size of a curtain. This is a unit of five strips,where in one strip is dyed according to the previous exploration and the other four are dyed plain.
Patrojhal
Patra: the dish
Ojhal: curtain
