NATURAL FIBERS AND HANDWORKED DESIGNS DEFINED AND THEIR IMPORTANCE TO TIGER AND THE MONKEY
While designing our inaugural line, it was important to me that creations reflect the adventure, exoticism and easy elegance (the Tiger) of my defining moment in the Sahara Desert, as well as have hints of intelligent playfulness (the Monkey). The challenge was to fuse luxury and elegance with playfulness and joy. Step one of that was taking the time to source and choose exquisite fabrics made by exceptional people. It took two years to find these partners– I am very particular. The Tiger would tolerate nothing less and the Monkey believes it is a given.
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT WHETHER THE FABRIC YOU ARE WEARING IS HANDLOOMED ?
A large proportion of Tiger and the Monkey creations are crafted in our UNESCO award-winning collectives from either organic handloomed cottons or silks that feel like butter and in my opinon are far superior to machine made cotton because the manual process allows more air penetration and therefore breathes better, is cooler, softer, and more absorbent. Our handloomed organic cotton/silk blends are so special they literally just glide on the skin. Not only do they look and feel great but they are more ecologically friendly, so there is a win-win here. Our partners also create 100% silk that is handloomed into one piece with three different types of silk fiber which results in a unique and luxurious texture you will not find anywhere else.
Handloomed means exactly what the word says. Skilled artisans use raw silk and cotton fibers to hand weave them on a wooden loom into our beautiful fabrics. I will expand later on the initiatives that the cooperatives we work with to create these amazing fabrics are undertaking to support women and families, rural communities and the preservation of ancient crafts on a future blog. They deserve more air time than this correspondence can accommodate. Much more.
HANDWORKED SHIBORI
By now, you know that Tiger and the Monkey is all-in with handworked fabrics and our Shibori designs are no exception. Shibori is an ancient art mainly associated with Japan but was adopted in India in the early 20th century. Our partners specialize in this art. Shibori comes from the verb root shiboru, "to wring, squeeze, press”. A “resist dying process” the end product is achieved by thread stitching, clamping, folding, pleating, pinching, wrapping, tying (pick a technique – that’s alot!) !) the base fabric which “resists” the dye in which it is placed. This means the piece that is manipulated will maintain its original color and the fabric around it will take the dye. After the dye, the threads or other “contraptions” are released and the design fully reveals itself. Each design will have a slightly different outcome each time rendering every piece slightly different with its own personality. Tigers (and particularly Monkeys) love this and you should too. Why would you want to look like anyone else but yourself?
Hopefully, this informs you as to the time and artistry required to produce the luxurious garments we offer. The hand process results in a uniquely elegant, truly one-of-a-kind garment. The artisans that create it deserve to be compensated fairly for the luxury they are providing and in our world they are. The price you pay for our garments reflect their value. There, I said it.