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Crafts / Jute Craft

Jute Craft

State
West Bengal
Material
Jute fibre · Twine
Rarity
Popular

The golden fibre of Bengal, turned into things you can use

About

Bags, baskets, mats and decor made from jute, the golden fibre that West Bengal grows.

Jute is a long, soft, shiny fibre that comes from the stem of the jute plant, and it is known as the golden fibre. India is the world's largest producer, and production is concentrated mostly in West Bengal. Jute craft is the making of useful and decorative objects from the fibre, its yarn and its twine.

In West Bengal, craftspeople use jute to make home decor, furnishings, garments, hanging lamps, baskets, flower vases, purses, table mats, footwear and toys. The craft uses weaving, and also techniques such as tie-and-dye, embroidery and block printing on jute cloth. Jute jewellery is another modern branch.

Jute twine and rope can also be coiled into baskets and bowls or knotted in macramé style into bags and hangers. Macramé itself is a knotting technique used all over the world, and does not belong to jute or to India alone; it is used by jute craftspeople in India today for bags and plant hangers.

How it’s made

Jute craft begins with the plant. The plant is cut when it flowers, bundled and steeped in water, in a process called retting. The retting loosens the fibre from the stem, and the fibre is then stripped by hand, washed and dried in the sun. The golden-brown fibre is then spun into yarn or twisted into twine and rope.

For woven goods, jute yarn is woven on a loom into cloth, which is cut and stitched into bags, mats, furnishings and garments. The cloth can be dyed, block printed or embroidered. For basketry, jute rope or twine is coiled round and round, with each coil stitched to the one below to build bowls, trays and baskets. For macramé-style work, lengths of jute cord are cut and knotted in patterns such as square knots and spirals to make bags, wall hangings and plant hangers.

Jute is rough, so finished pieces are often trimmed of loose fibre, and may be sealed or coated for strength, or lined with cotton cloth for bags. Because jute is strong and biodegradable, but can weaken when wet, finished goods are kept dry. The tools needed are simple: scissors, needles, glue and, for coiling, a thick needle.

Key features

  • Natural golden fibre from the jute plant, mostly grown in West Bengal
  • Woven cloth, coiled baskets, knotted cord work and twine
  • Bags, mats, lamps, vases, footwear, toys and jewellery
  • Techniques include weaving, tie-dye, embroidery and block printing
  • Strong, biodegradable and plastic-free
  • A craft revived by the interest in eco-friendly goods

History

Jute has been grown and used on the Indian subcontinent for a long time. The Ain-i-Akbari, a chronicle of 1590, records that poor villagers in rural India wore clothes made from jute. Jute grows well in the river-fed climate of Bengal, and the region has been known as a major producer since the early 1800s.

Under the British, the East India Company started growing jute commercially and used jute bags to ship grain around the world, and jute mills grew up in Bengal, with the trade growing to a large scale. In the 1970s the industry went into decline when polythene and nylon replaced jute packaging. In recent decades, as interest in eco-friendly products has grown, jute has returned to demand.

Today jute accounts for the income of lakhs of families in cultivation and in mills, and many more in handicrafts and cottage industries. Craft organisations and designers have turned the fibre into fashion bags, home decor and gifts, and it is used as a plastic-free alternative to packaging.

Facts

  • Golden fibre A long, shiny natural fibre. Jute is a long, soft and shiny plant fibre and is known as the golden fibre.
  • Ain-i-Akbari Worn by villagers in 1590. The Ain-i-Akbari records that poor villagers in India once wore clothes made of jute.
  • Retting Steeped to free the fibre. Cut jute stems are steeped in water, called retting, so the fibre can be stripped from the stem.
  • A rain-fed crop Low input to grow. Jute is a rain-fed crop that needs little fertiliser or pesticide compared to cotton.

Market

Eco-friendly bags and home decor

Jute products are sold as tote and shopping bags, mats, baskets, lamp shades, wall hangings, footwear and gifts in craft emporia, fairs and online, at low to moderate prices. Many jute bags are machine-stitched from mill-woven cloth; hand-woven, hand-coiled or hand-knotted pieces take more time and cost more.

Sustainability

A plant fibre that is renewable and biodegradable

Jute is a renewable fibre that grows in a few months with little fertiliser and is biodegradable. It is a good replacement for plastic bags. It does need water for retting, so the choice of well-managed retting matters.

Products

  • Jute bags: Tote bags, macramé bags and potli bags
  • Coiled baskets and bowls: Jute rope coiled and stitched
  • Mats, rugs and furnishings: Woven jute for the home
  • Hanging lamps and plant hangers: Knotted and woven decor
  • Footwear, toys and jewellery: Smaller crafts in jute

Words to know

  • Jute: The golden fibre from the stem of the jute plant.
  • Retting: Steeping stems in water so that the fibre separates from the stem.
  • Twine: String made by twisting fibre.
  • Coiling: Spiralling rope round and round and stitching each turn to the last to make a basket.
  • Macramé: Decorative knotting of cord, used to make bags and hangers.
  • Hessian / burlap: The plain woven jute cloth used for sacks and crafts.

Try it yourself

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