A personal tribute to Gira Sarabhai

A fountainhead of a woman, Gira Sarabhai set the path and proved inspirational to an entire generation. Sarabhai passed away earlier this week [caption id="attachment_197973" align="aligncenter" width="499"] “All of us in the design space in contemporary India owe Gira Sarabhai a huge debt of gratitude for her selfless, perfectionist, single-minded work,” writes Tyabji Photo courtesy: Sarabhai Foundation[/caption]    There is a pathos and irony in the timing. The day AD released its Craftsmanship Issue, in which they featured me and my contemporaries, and kindly called us “The Grande Dames of Craft”, also marked the passing at 98 of a real Grande Dame who inspired us all, giving us the vital information and tools to work in our chosen sector—collecting, documenting and conserving Indian textiles and their wealth of embroidered, printed, painted, patterned, and tie dye-resist skills and motif traditions. All of us in the design space in contemporary India owe Gira Sarabhai a huge debt of gratitude for her selfless, perfectionist, single-minded work. There are two iconic gateways in modern Ahmedabad, the National Institute of Design (NID) gate and the Calico Museum of Textiles one, and Giraben was instrumental in creating both—institutions that became entry points to knowledge, inspiration, and instruction for generations of young designers, researchers, craftspeople far ahead of their time. Girabe...