Kolkata/IBNS: Celebrated French textile artist and author Isabelle Moulin launched Impressions Indiennes, her latest book dedicated to Indo-French relations through the prism of silk at the Oxford Bookstore in Kolkata last week.
A dimension to her visit is to work on bilateral cooperation between India and France around design and textile, with a special emphasis on silk in India.
The event was presented by the Oxford Bookstore, Alliance française du Bengale, and Institut Français de New Delhi and was supported by the Crafts Council of West Bengal (CCWB).
For the past three years, Moulin has established a dialogue between the Silky Cities Network, the Lyon Metropolis, and the Bangalore Municipality to support and launch the city’s bid, and therefore India’s bid, in the Silk Cities network, the international network of cities, and the silk metropolises born in 2019 in Lyon, France.
Taking one step further Moulin is starting a reflection with the Crafts Council of West Bengal to help Murshidabad Silk and bristles from West Bengal better position themselves in the global market.
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“Silk is a living material and West Bengal has a rich silk tradition with varieties such as mulberry, tasar, eri and muga. The silk industry in West Bengal is mainly concentrated in Murshidabad and I am excited to learn more about Murshidabad Silk,” Moulin said while launching her book ‘Impressions Indiennes’ at the Oxford Bookstore in Park Street, Kolkata.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much! The collaboration between Oxford Bookstore and the French book office is a booklovers & literature success story. Collaboration is multiplication.
“Since we started this cooperation with book launches, translation and support of the Romain Rolland prize, we developed a close relationship. Our teamwork began by trust, today our collaboration continues with deep friendship,” said Dr Christine Cornet, Attaché, Book, Debate and Ideas at Institut français India, Embassy of France.
Apart from Kolkata, during her current visit to India, Moulin is covering cities like Mumbaï, Bangalore, Mysore, Jaipur, Kota, Khaitoon, Lucknow, New Delhi and is exploring several dimensions of silk including looking at Artificial Intelligence (AI) and fashion and explore how Silk is being used in AI and is giving it a separate dimension.
(Images: Avishek Mitra/IBNS)
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