TECHNIQUES

"Each of our garments pass through many hands before it reaches the one who wears it.

At Umber & Ochre, we believe in promoting the wellbeing of this unseen community while doing our part to preserve the natural world."

— Kunal Desai, Founder 

Yak Wool Origins

Yak Wool Origins

We are committed to sourcing the highest quality materials and yak is one of the most precious types of wool in the world. We traveled to the source to meet the nomadic herdsmen to learn for oursel...

Wood Block Printing

Wood Block Printing

Wood block printing is a traditional printing method using hard-carved wood blocks that are dipped into ink and pressed onto cloth. We work with different block printing workshops depending upon t...

Traditional Handloom Pedal Weaving

Handloom Pedal Weaving

In a small village in Gujarat, Western India, we partner with family-run weavers. There are about 50-60 village weavers and they handloom our cotton textiles that are used for our shirting and dres...

Natural Dyeing with Indigo and Other Natural Elements

Natural Dyeing

In a small vibrant village full of markets, storefronts and colorful buildings, we partner with a small family-run natural dyeing facility. Located on the first level of the owner's home, the works...

KharadChakra Rug: Spiral 1.0

Chakra Rug: Spiral 1.0

In collaboration with artist, Llane Alexis, we created a Kharad, a Sindhi word for carpet and a limited series of small objects. Llane Alexis, a multidisciplinary artist, uses recycled textiles...

Chikankari Embroidery

Chikankari Embroidery

An ancient special art form called Chikankari Embroidery creates intricate hand embroidered designs. Believed to be more than four centuries old, the technique was created during an empiric period...

Printing with Leaves

Printing with Leaves

To celebrate autumn, we explored a unique type of printing with leaves. The multi-layered pattern that resulted is created using four different leaves. They are: Blue leaf (Adhatoda Vasica), R...

PotaiThe Art of Potai

The Art of Potai

We used a process called Potai, a technique of dyeing in which the dye is painted directly onto the fabric with visible brushstrokes. The black color is from Natural Kasim mixtures of Behada,...

Traditional Handloom Pedal Weaving

Himalayan Wool Weaving

In a Himalayan mountainside village in Northern India where weaving has been practiced for over 5,000 years, we collaborated with a unique handloom weaving cooperative that was established in 1...

Ancient Craft of Ikat

Ancient Craft of Ikat

Ikat is a traditional ancient dyeing and weaving technique used to create patterned textiles. Images thought to represent ikat can be seen in Indian cave paintings created in the 7th century. The ...