https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Nelly_SethnaNelly Sethna - Revision history2026-10-25T10:55:30ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nelly_Sethna&diff=521625&oldid=prevMyronMullet1862: adding basic stub nd citations2025-07-18T09:21:25Z<p>adding basic stub nd citations</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian weaver (1932–1992)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}}<br />
{{Infobox artist<br />
| spouse = Homi Darab Sethna<br />
| birth_date = 1 November 1932<br />
| death_date = 1992<br />
| alma_mater = [[University of Westminster|Regent Street Polytechnic]] <br />[[Cranbrook Academy of Art]]<br />
| birth_place = [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[Bombay Presidency]]<br />
| awards = [[Padma Shri]] (1985)<br />
| known_for = [[Textile design]]<br />
| birth_name = Nelly Mehta<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Nelly Homi Sethna''' ([[née]] Mehta; 1 November 1932 – 1992) was an Indian weaver, textile designer, researcher, writer and a crafts activist.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Unpaved, Crusty, Earthy Road {{!}} Nelly Sethna: A Retrospective, curated by Nancy Adajania | publisher=Chatterjee & Lal |url=http://chatterjeeandlal.com/shows/the-unpaved-crusty-earthy-road-nelly-sethna-a-retrospective/ |access-date=2022-06-06}}</ref> She worked on the crossroads of [[Scandinavian design|Scandinavian modernism]] and [[Crafts of India|Indian crafts]] tradition, which shaped her guiding philosophy.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2021-09-08 |title=Tapestries of time: A portrait of Nelly Sethna |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/tapestries-of-time-a-portrait-of-fibre-artist-nelly-sethna/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Architectural Digest India |language=en-IN}}</ref> Her close association with [[Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay]] played an important role in the revival and promotion of traditional Indian crafts.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-26 |title=10 Textile Artists You Should Know |url=https://indiaartfair.in/10-textile-artists-you-should-know |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=India Art Fair}}</ref><br />
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== Early life and education ==<br />
Born on 1 November 1932 in [[Mumbai|Bombay]], Nelly was the daughter of Pestonji and Goolbanoo Mehta.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://archive.org/details/IndianWhosWho198081/page/n141/mode/1up |title=Indian Who's Who 1980-81 |date= |publisher=INFA Publications |location=New Delhi |pages=99 |language=English}}</ref><br />
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Nelly had joined the commercial arts department at [[Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art|Sir J. J. School of Art]] in Bombay. However, she had defied the head of the department and was demoted as a result. Following this event, she moved to London in 1954 so as to study textile design and printing at the Regent Street Polytechnic (now, the [[University of Westminster]]). During this time, she obtained a pass in 1955 for the hand embroidery course at the [[City and Guilds of London Institute]]. In the summer term competition of the School of Art, she won a prize for textile design in 1955 and for fabric design & printing in 1956. She completed her diploma in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sethna, Nelly Homi (1932-1992), textile designer and alumna - University of Westminster › Records and Archives |url=https://westminster-atom.arkivum.net/sethna-nelly-homi-1932-1992-textile-designer |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=westminster-atom.arkivum.net |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309095318/https://westminster-atom.arkivum.net/sethna-nelly-homi-1932-1992-textile-designer |url-status=dead }}</ref> After working for a year at a graphic studio in [[Stuttgart]], [[Germany]], Nelly returned home in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Untitled - Nelly Sethna {{!}} The Surya Collection: Property from Mrs. Ute Rettberg |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/the-surya-collection-property-from-mrs-ute-rettberg/untitled-21 |access-date=21 June 2022 |website=[[Sotheby's]]}}</ref><br />
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She first met [[Marianne Strengell]], Artist-in-Residence and Head of Weaving at [[Cranbrook Academy of Art]], at a hotel in Mumbai. According to Strengell, Sethna had arranged a meeting with a sample of her work. With Strengell's support, Nelly received the Ellen Booth Scripps Award to study weaving at Cranbrook in 1958–59.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Blauvelt |first=Andrew |title=With eyes opened : Cranbrook Academy of Art since 1932 |date=2020 |others=Gregory Wittkopp, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum |isbn=978-1-7333824-1-0 |edition= |location=Bloomfield Hills, MI |oclc=1241256068}}</ref> Under the apprenticeship of Strengell, Nelly learned to create ‘self-made’ products which were based on the principles of the Nordic [[sloyd]] system. Her training involved experimentation with several techniques and put an emphasis on problem solving.<ref name=":0" /> Sethna continued to correspond with Strengell in the subsequent years, during which she expressed her gratitude about the opportunity to study at the academy.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Khandelwal |first=Vishal |date=2021-09-02 |title=Nelly Sethna and the Reception of Textiles between the United States and India |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17496772.2021.2000708 |journal=The Journal of Modern Craft |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=229–251 |doi=10.1080/17496772.2021.2000708 |s2cid=244948284 |issn=1749-6772|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Strengell had, thus, become her lifelong mentor.<ref name=":1" /><br />
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== Career and influences ==<br />
After Sethna's arrival in India in 1957, [[Neville Wadia]] invited her to join the first textile design studio at [[Bombay Dyeing]].<ref name=":0" /> She had then moved to Cranbrook in 1958. During her time at the academy, she taught art to children and gave speeches at community events.<ref name=":3" /> Upon returning to India, Sethna was promoted to head of the design studio at Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, she served as the chief textile designer for Bombay Dyeing from 1957 to 1958 and then from 1960 to 1968.<ref name=":3" /><br />
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=== Establishing the Textile Department at NID ===<br />
In 1966, Sethna was invited to [[Ahmedabad]] by [[Gira Sarabhai]], the co-founder of the [[National Institute of Design]] (NID).<ref name=":0" /> The latter acted as a consultant to establish a textile design program which "combined design training in weaving and printing, in crafts as well as mass production technologies."<ref name=":2" /> With her friend from Cranbrook, the Finnish textile designer [[Helena Perheentupa]], Sethna had laid the foundation of what is now known as the Textile Design Department at NID.<ref name=":1" /><br />
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=== Commercial works ===<br />
[[File:Nelly Sethna Mural at Express Towers, Closeup.JPG|alt=Closeup of the mural by Sethna at Express Towers, Mumbai|thumb|Closeup of a mural by Sethna at [[Express Towers]] in Mumbai]]<br />
During her lifetime, Sethna had received design commissions from the Indian Pavilion at the [[Expo '70]] World's Fair, Indian government, and [[Air India]]’s headquarters in Mumbai.<ref name=":2" /> Her other commercial works include a three-storey tall wall-hanging in the stairwell of the [[Ford Foundation]] in [[Delhi]], tapestries at Godrej Bhavan in Mumbai, and ceramic murals for the lobby of [[Express Towers]] in Mumbai, a building designed by [[Joseph Allen Stein]].<ref name=":1" /><br />
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=== Revival of Kalamkari ===<br />
Sometime around in 1970, Sethna had visited [[Masulipatnam]] to view the [[Kalamkari]] textiles being produced there. She found that the present works lacked the exquisite quality of the pieces produced in the ancient tradition. With the support of the Homi Bhabha Fellowship, Sethna set out to rejuvenate the industry. Between 1972 and 1974, she conducted extensive research about the dwindling art of Kalamkari at [[Srikalahasti]] and Masulipatnam.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Dalmia |first=Yashodhara |date=September 1978 |title=Note: Kalamkari: Transformation by Nelly Sethna |url=https://marg-art.org/product/UHJvZHVjdDozNDE1 |journal=Marg - Homage to Kalamkari |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=81–88}}</ref><br />
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Sethna played an instrumental role in the revival of this craft by creating new design layouts that appealed to the contemporary audience. She also unearthed beautiful hand-carved traditional kalamkari blocks that had fallen into disuse.<ref name=":4" /> Further, she helped the craftspeople exhibit widely and wrote about their practices in her book ''Kalamkari: Painted & Printed Fabrics from Andhra Pradesh'' (1985).<ref name=":2" /><br />
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== Exhibitions ==<br />
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* 2013 ''- No Parsi is An island'', [[National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai]]; Curated by Pheroza Godrej, Firoza Mistree, [[Ranjit Hoskote]] and [[Nancy Adajania]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=No Parsi Is an Island {{!}} JNAF |url=https://jnaf.org/event/no-parsi-is-an-island/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=jnaf.org}}</ref><br />
* 2021 - ''The Unpaved, Crusty, Earthy Road'' | Nelly Sethna: A Retrospective, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai; Curated by [[Nancy Adajania]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nelly Sethna at Chatterjee & Lal |url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/nelly-sethna-86791 |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=www.artforum.com |date=29 September 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref><br />
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== Awards ==<br />
In 1985, Sethna was awarded the [[Padma Shri]] by the Indian government for her contributions to trade and industry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Directorate of Printing |first=Government of India |url=http://archive.org/details/in.gazette.e.1985.78 |title=Extraordinary Gazette of India, 1985, No. 78 |date=1985-03-16 |location=New Delhi |pages=4}}</ref><br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
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* Sethna, N. H. (1973). Shāl: Weaves and Embroideries of Kashmir. India: Wiley Eastern.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sethna |first=Nelly H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWdQAAAAMAAJ |title=Shāl: Weaves and Embroideries of Kashmir |date=1973 |publisher=Wiley Eastern |isbn=978-0-85226-809-4 |language=en}}</ref><br />
* Sethna, N. H. (1985). Kalamkari: Painted & Printed Fabrics from Andhra Pradesh. United States: Mapin International.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sethna |first=Nelly H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0hY5zQEACAAJ |title=Kalamkari: Painted & Printed Fabrics from Andhra Pradesh |date=1985 |publisher=Mapin |isbn=9780295962504 |language=en}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
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{{reflist}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
{{Commons category|Nelly Sethna}}<br />
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adr-S2WFUVI Retrieving the Lost Art of Nelly Sethna] on [[YouTube]]<br />
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUg03Q8jwzU Modernism, Textile Design in India, and the Cranbrook Connection] on YouTube<br />
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{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Trade & Industry}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sethna, Nelly}}<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in trade and industry]]<br />
[[Category:Artists from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Women artists from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:1992 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:1932 births]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]<br />
[[Category:Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people]]<br />
[[Category:Indian textile artists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century women textile artists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century textile artists]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of National Institute of Design]]<br />
[[Category:Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic]]</div>MyronMullet1862