December 2025

Judy Frater

The Artist:

Fulbright and Ford Foundation fellowship alumnus and Ashoka Fellow, Judy Frater lived in Kutch, India for 30 years, where she researched traditional textiles and founded Kala Raksha Trust, the Kala Raksha Museum, and Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the first design school for artisans. She later reinvented the school as Somaiya Kala Vidya. During almost 15 years as director of the program, she was honored with the Sir Misha Black Medal for Design Education, the Crafts Council of India Kamla award, and the Designers of India Design Guru Award. She was recognized by Conde Nast Traveller India as one of 50 champions of sustainable travel and by Architectural Digest India as one of nine “Grande Dames of Craft.”

Frater has her master’s degrees in South Asian Languages from the University of Minnesota and in Museum Studies from the University of Washington. Previously Associate Curator at The Textile Museum in Washington DC. She is the author of Artisans by Design: An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisan in India (2024), The Art of the Dyer in Kutch (2021), and the award-winning Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris (1995).
She currently resides in Santa Fe and teaches the values of hand craft through lecturing and writing. In 2022, she was Artist in Residence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and she has led annual artisan tours in Kutch since 2022.

Guild Meeting/Program: Artisans by Design: An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisans in India

Judy Frater will present an illustrated talk on her new book Artisans by Design: An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisans in India with a book signing, and trunk show of textiles designed and created by artisans featured in the book. The book was published with Schiffer Publishing LTD on October 28, 2024.

Artisans by Design chronicles the journey of developing the first design school for artisans in India and fifteen years of artisans learning design. Spanning 50 years, the story is told in vignettes of artisans who were part of the journey, intertwined with the author’s story. Through this dialogue, the reader experiences what happened, how and why, and what its impact has been on traditional artisans in the contemporary world.
A rare, intimate portrayal of artisans, the book offers personal connections to people usually glimpsed from a distance and insights into tradition, craft, and the creativity of traditional artisans. It provides textile aficionados an authentic, fresh approach to development, illuminates sustainability as cultural heritage, and presents development as human centered.

Date/Time: December 13, 2025 10:30 AM (following Guild meeting)

Location: St. James Episcopal Church, 11815 Seven Locks Rd, Potomac, MD 20854