A gift from the weavers of Bengal who have been creating the versatile, beautiful, and useful cloth, called a GumCha, since at least the 3rd Century BC.
We hope that American Weavers and Fabric Artists find inspiration in this archive of unique designs. Several more volumes of the GumCha Design Portfolio will soon be available providing hundreds of interesting patterns for study.
Use the button above to download Volume 1 Free with no obligation
Save the file to your hard drive.
Your interest could help us save a tradition in handweaving and design that has provided much needed support to farming communities and families in our area for millennia.
The anticipated publication date for Volume 2 is March 30, 2018.
Be sure to sign up for the publication announcement.
Drastic increases in the cost of Indian cotton during the past five years, (due to increased trade with China), have made it difficult for weavers to earn an adequate income from weaving 100% cotton GumCha. Many families have been forced to stop weaving and find other sources of income, including becoming day laborers on construction sites far away from their homes and farms. The difficulty faced by weavers could be a permanent result of the now-globalized Indian cotton market.
Please sign-up to be notified when other free volumes become available
Please visit GumCha4Health.com to learn more about the GumCha4Health Project.
Please share the GumCha story and our GumCha4Health website with your friends, family, colleagues and others in your social networks. By sharing our project with others, you will help the program and the people our project serves to grow and prosper.
A GumCha is the original: cotton scarf, towel, hat, skirt, and air conditioner and are used by millions of hard-working people every day.
Please share the GumCha story and our GumCha4Health website with your friends, family, colleagues and others in your social networks. By sharing our project with others, you will help the program and the people our project serves to grow and prosper.
In each volume of the GumCha Design Portfolio PDF you will find high-resolution photographs of GumCha with corresponding design numbers, followed by high-resolution photographs of the individual design motifs that correspond with the design numbers. These photographs can be viewed on-screen and enlarged up to 1600% so that the designs can be easily studied.
The designs collected in the Gumcha Design Portfolio come from a remote rural area and have been developed over generations in relative isolation from the outside world. GumCha are a local product, produced for a local market, and have never been seen in the USA.
A GumCha is the original: cotton scarf, towel, hat, skirt, and air conditioner and are used by millions of hard-working people every day. The GumCha collected in this portfolio are handloomed by rural farming families in West Bengal, India, from 100% Indian cotton. GumCha are about 64”-69” long and from 25”-29” wide, yet only weigh about 4 ounces. There are over 10,000 distinct patterns and color combinations, and because they are handwoven, each is unique.
The GumCha4Health Project has, for several years, collected GumCha from local weavers in preparation for exporting them to the West. During that time, the project has documented many of the various design motifs being produced. Now, we have a large collection of high resolution photographs that will be published in succeeding volumes making up the collective portfolio.
We hope that you, American weavers, fabric designers and artists, use these this portfolio to inspire your work and help us save a tradition in handweaving and design that has provided much needed support to farming communities and families in our area for millennia.
Each family of weavers has between 6 and 10 designs they produce. Each time the weaver loads her loom the design evolves a bit, and has for generations. All together there must be over 10,000 different unique patterns and designs produced in our local area.
This will result in at least hundreds, if not thousands, of designs documented for archival use and study. After downloading your first volume of the portfolio, you will be notified as each succeeding volume is published. Each volume will be provided by the GumCha4Health Project for free for noncommercial use and you can share it with others.
The GumCha4Health Project is a public health and economic development partnership of two nonprofit organizations, the Rampurhat Railpar Rural and Urban Health Training Society (RUHTS) (in West Bengal, India) and the International Federation for Family Health (IFFH) (in the USA). We work with local rural weavers to produce and bring the GumCha to the American market. The partnership has established two private businesses – GumCha 4 Health, Pvt. Ltd., in Rampurhat, India, to buy and process GumCha; and, GumCha4Health, LLC, in the United States to provide marketing, sales, order fulfillment, shipping, and customer support.
Handloomed GumCha: a tradition in handweaving and design that has provided much needed support to farming communities and families in our area for millennia. You can help save this valuable artistic resource.
“I got my GumChas today and I LOVE them!! The patterns, colors, and weight are perfect!! Please thank the weavers for me and let them know how much they are appreciated.”
– CB, Atlanta, Georgia
“I am so pleased to have received my order of GumCha scarves. I will be giving them as gifts to family and friends. I think your GumCha project is very imaginative, and a wonderful way to raise money for your program while helping to support local weavers.”
– SE, Washington DC
“Received our three gumchas today. Everyone is excited. They are so colorful and designed in such good taste. Have to be pleased. Furthermore, my purchase will go for such a good cause.”
– JL, Buffalo, New York
Sent to you from our offices in the USA
GumCha4Health LLC,
1127 River Forest Road
Pittsboro, North Carolina, USA. 27312
If you buy 2 or more GumCha from our catalog, we will send you one complementary GumCha as a gift. (We'll pick out a great design from the many we have in stock) Shipping is free (our standard shipping is through USPS and takes between 5 and 7 days), sales tax included, and your order will be much appreciated right now.
As an added bonus, each GumCha in your order will be accompanied by a card-sized 4-page brochure that introduces GumCha, the weavers, and the public health programs that the project supports. This is great for giving GumCha as a gift.
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