This conference cum workshop has been a very fruitful experience. The best part was that there was participation from archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians, fashion and dress historians, designers and the industry people. All these people had a common thread – textiles. Thus there was a varied and well-rounded panel for discussion always and everyone got to learn from each other, at least I learnt a lot. Another wonderful aspect was that there was a balance of presentations with tactile and visual experience in the form of museum visits, site visits and sharing of spinning, weaving and felting experiences of the experts. This workshop has given me enough food for thought and has germinated new ideas that can be taken further in the form of combined research initiatives. At the moment my research is based on fashion influences and changes in fashion, but I can foresee carrying the same concept with archaeological textiles with the expertise from CTR. This is an unexplored field in India and there is a strong possibility of combined research in Europe and India which can throw light on trade and manufacture of textiles in the ancient civilizations of Europe and India.
Toolika G.