The Art of Textiles: Interview with Shradha Kochhar
Shradha Kochhar in studio
Shradha Kochhar (b. Delhi, India) is an artist, educator and designer based in Brooklyn, NY. Best known for her home spun and hand knitted ‘khadi’ sculptures using ‘kala cotton’ - an inherently organic cotton strain indigenous to India, her work is at an intersection of material memory, sustainability and intergenerational dialogue.
As the founder and creative director of Imli Dana - an independent textile studio, she leads operations in regenerative textile systems and craft-centered design. With roles for brands like ASHISH, Collina Strada, Marshall Columbia, Coachtopia and Tory Burch among others, and teaching positions at Polimoda, Italy (MFA Farm to Fabric to Fashion), Parsons School of Design, New York and Glasgow Caledonian New York College (MS Sustainable Fashion), Shradha's influence spans across both industry and academia.
Kochhar received her MFA in Textiles from Parsons School of Design, New York. She is the recipient of the 2024 Artist Fellowship at the Museum of Arts & Design and was awarded the John L. Tishman Environment and Design Award for Excellence in 2021. She is the finalist of the 2022 Dorothy Waxman Textile Excellence Prize and the 2023 Van Lier Fellowship. Her work has been shown at the Melbourne Museum and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft among others. Her work is featured in PAPER magazine, New York Times, Times of India, British Vogue, Architectural Digest, Vogue, Crafts Magazine, Harper's Bazaar and others.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be an artist?
I always considered myself a maker. Although no one in my family was formally an artist but I saw so many examples of makers growing up - Both my grandmothers were especially gifted when it came to knitting, cooking, building - they spent hours and days perfecting everything they ever picked up, my father loved textiles - he would spend hours in textile mills, farms, learning new printing techniques. My upbringing in a middle class household in India really informs a lot of my values and shaped how I came to be an artist. I make to share, a principle deeply rooted in the example set by my family.
What initially attracted you to textiles and, more specifically to ‘kala cotton’ as your material of choice?
Textiles hold SO much context beyond what you see. Textiles embody history, wisdom and memory across generations.
I grew up in a house where textiles were synonymous with being self reliant and self sufficient. I grew up around textiles and it’s very painstaking labour, the manufacturing process from seed to fabric to textiles to finished product - watching TV while my grandmother knit and following my father around to cotton farms, spinning mills, screen printing vendors made up for my childhood and I believe it got me extremely involved in textiles passively.
I love working with textiles because it's one medium that is so nuanced and I was always so interested in talking about Macro and Micro histories and legacies that it was the only medium for me that could do both.
Do you have a particular routine or rituals that you incorporate into your spinning and knitting that help better immerse you in your process?
I love rituals and rituals offer a lot of discipline for me which in return helps me stay calm, moving and inspired. I have a morning ritual which involves making a cup of chai and spinning almost everyday for an 15-20 minutes followed by some movement.
You are also the founder and creative director of the textile studio, Imli Dana. How does this role and your experiences in fashion help expound on and intersect with your artistic practice?
Imli Dana serves as a playground of experimentation and exploration for me. In my art practice, I spin my own yarn which makes the process extremely slow and sometimes inaccessible to my friends and people I love. Imli Dana helps me execute ideas, play without barriers! It makes me happy that something I made will live on in peoples wardrobes -- maybe even passed on across generations!
Are there any upcoming projects or exhibitions you are excited to highlight?
I'm excited about a group show I'm a apart of at Megan Mulrooney Gallery in LA that opens on 14 September - Curated by Jon Pylypchuk. It has one of my earlier works from 2018. I'm excited for it to be in dialogue with some really brilliant makers and thinkers who are part of the show. I will also be spending the next 6 months at the Museum of Art and Design here in New York as a fellow so I'm excited to see how these resources help shape my new body of work.
Shradha Kochhar artist talk at Aicon Gallery