Bengal · Bangladesh and eastern India / Undated type or practice · no individual specimen
Kantha, cloth made again
Repair carries another life
The V&A describes kantha household textiles made from worn garments, sometimes using thread drawn from their borders. Reuse preserves material while transforming its purpose. A blanket is therefore also a history of taking apart and making again, although a museum cannot recover every earlier wearer. Compare it with the arpillera as a different relationship between needlework and public interpretation. Do not assume a shared political intention or invent a family memory from a stitch. This type record keeps the maker’s skill visible while admitting that the biography of a particular quilt has not been supplied.
- Date
- Undated type or practice · no individual specimen
- Maker / designer
- Bengali textile makers; individual maker unrecorded
- Material
- Reused garments, layers and embroidery
- Context
- A comparative record of work and shared life. Inclusion does not assign a socialist identity to its makers.
Evidence: Date not established · Place recorded at country level
Historical record
- Victoria and Albert Museum · Indian embroidery · Kantha
- This is a type or practice record, not a provenance for a particular household object.