Welcome to Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya

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Harkhuben Bhojraj Rabari l Kachhi Rabari Embroidery l Attended Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya in year 2007

Harkhuben Bhojraj Rabari

Traditional Art: Kachhi Rabari Embroidery

Born: 1947
No Formal Education
Address: Tunda Vandh
Ta. Mundra, Kutch 370435
Phone: 99981 88941 (PP)

Harkhuben says
“All these years embroidering and we never thought of cloth and colour! Now, by the 4th class we know about colour matching, product design, market orientation. We learned to be inspired by themes and to mix our own style with new ideas.”

Harkhuben grew up in a family of camel herders in Sanosara. She learned embroidery from her mother at the age of 15 when it was time to start working on her dowry. Before joining Kala Raksha, Harkhuben earned by embroidering for other Rabaris in Vandh, and then for Gurjari for four years. Through Kala Raksha, she has attended an Entrepreneurial Development program and a design workshop.

Harkhuben is skilled at mud relief work, beadwork and appliqué as well as embroidery. Her arts have taken her to Delhi four times, Mumbai three times, Ahmedabad and Bhopal. A good artisan, she says, can innovate as well as execute skillfully. Creative and radical, Harkhuben says that if the community elders ban their ever escalating traditional embroidery it will relieve them from social obligation. Then they will be free to earn from their work.

Harkhuben has served as a mentor at Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya and was a design intern at Kala Raksha in 2010, funded by COMO Foundation. In 2010 she participated in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, and taught workshops on Rabari embroidery in 6 venues across the USA.