Devalben was born in Khara Pasvadia, in Anjar Taluka. Her family farmed as well as herded sheep and goats, and she did not
migrate except in drought years. Rabaris did not attend school then, but she learned embroidery from her elder sister at the age of
11. When the Dhebaria elders banned traditional work in 1995, Devalben embroidered commercially for traders in Anjar, and in
1998 began to work with Kala Raksha. She has attended design workshops with Nita Thakore, Krishna Patel, Laurence, and Le
Fils Createur.
A good artisan has a clean smooth hand, and creates a variety of designs with colour and pattern that stand out, Devalben says.
Of the future of their now banished work, she says that they will never forget their traditional work. Even a decade after they were
forbidden, artisans can still create the old designs. However, even though their daughters embroider to earn, they have not acquired
this deep rooted tradition.
Devalben has served as a
mentor at Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya and was a design intern at Kala Raksha in 2010,
funded by COMO Foundation. |