These Tribal Women Can Teach Modern Designers a Thing or Two

The Toda community living in the Nilgiris has been making spectacular shawls since the 18th century.

You can identify good designs by their simplicity and finesse, and this 18th century embroidery technique, Toda, easily passes these two checkpoints.

Red, black and white — a vivid combination of colours—is the dramatis personae here. The intricate geometric genius of this technique is brought to life pain-stakingly, by hand, by the women of the Toda tribe in the Nilgiri region of Tamil Nadu

The shawl adorned with Toda embroidery is called poothkuli. The beauty of this embroidery is rooted in the fundamentals of symmetry. The alternate red and black stripes look striking, and the motifs are created by counting the threads.

Patterns used in the embroidery are similar to the ones which were used as tattoos by the Toda men and women in olden days. Sample this:

#Zola Didyouknow: The toda embroidery patterns are inspired by the body tattoos of toda men and women. #Zola #zolaindia #tattoos #toda #Nilgiris #tribe #community #tradition #art #craft #history #embroidery #design #handmade #chennai #india #indian

A photo posted by Zola (@zolaindia) on Nov 16, 2015 at 12:45am PST

Famous Delhi-based fashion designer Anupama Dayal is completely charmed.

Toda embroidery is fascinating. The symbolism is fantastic. The colours are extremely modern and will sit well in any context.

Anupama Dayal

The Toda has been identified as one of the six primitive tribal groups of Tamil Nadu. Their embroidery technique received the Geographical Indication status by the Central government in 2012.

Although the numbers aren’t exact,there are approximately 1,500 members of the Toda community estimated to be living in the Nilgiris currently. With the scant numbers, and a lack of commercial know-how, Toda shawls never got the platform that other celebrated Indian embroideries have received.

Shalom, a self-help group working in the Nilgiris is working towards showcasing the traditional embroidery skills of Toda women on a global paltform.

Toda embroidery of Nilgiri! Cascading necklace made with the traditional Toda embroidery of the Nilgiris tribe with copper Dhokra and black and red crystal beads. Order your neckpiece here... #zola #zolaindia #indian #indianart #art #culture #craft #toda #tribe #nilgris #traditional #instalike #instajewelry #fashion #followme #ArjunMark #photography

A photo posted by Zola (@zolaindia) on Sep 11, 2015 at 1:09am PDT

It wants to make the Toda community’s cultural skill a symbol of its uniqueness. But founder Sheela Powell has tough challenges at hand.

Working with this community is a great challenge as they feel very threatened, even if someone wants to help them. At the same time, they are a very proud race. Proud of their craft, their culture, their uniqueness.

Sheela Powell, Founder, Shalom

What remains the most fascinating aspect of Toda embroidery though, is how these men and women, with their bare hands can create something so symmetrical — something we took years learning in geometry classes in school.

Perhaps this tribe has the best lessons to offer on the subject.