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KARTHIKA AUDINET IS THE ACADEMIC COORDINATOR OF THE COTSEN TEXTILE TRACES STUDY CENTER.
A TEXTILE DESIGNER WITH 25 YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH A BACKGROUND IN DESIGNING LUXURY FURNISHINGS. HER DESIGN PHILOSOPHY WAS FOCUSED ON COMBINING INNOVATIVE DESIGN WITH A PROFOUND APPRECIATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TRADITIONS TO CREATE FINE TEXTILES AND HIGH-END CRAFTS.
BACKGROUND
Karthika is a designer with French/ Indian / American experience and sensibilities; a doer and a scholar. A consultant and a teacher.
Karthika trained in textile design at the National Institute of Design in India, followed by a second master's degree at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, France. Karthika began working with artisans in remote villages in India soon after she began college. As director and principal designer setting up the textile department of the now iconic retail store Good Earth, India, she united her innovative design skills with collaborations with some of the best master craftsmen in India, blending handmade techniques with new technology to create commercially successful fabrics and textile products.
Passionate and dedicated, Karthika has a robust experience combining quality, creativity and social enterprise. Through Designers and Artisans, a consultancy and fair-trade company that she launched in 2008 to champion the craft of hand weaving and crafting, she has supported various nonprofit organizations including the World Bank. Karthika's designs have been sold the world over. In addition to her work as a designer, Karthika regularly conducts classes and publishes her research.
CLASSES
Based in Washington, DC, USA, Karthika is an inspiring pedagogue and speaker. She has conceived and taught graduate level classes on textiles, designed educational modules and workshops for museums, and delivered numerous lectures in the USA and India for 10 years. Some examples:
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Continuing Education program, Washington, DC
Corcoran College of Art + Design and The George Washington University, Interior Design degree program, Washington DC
Montgomery College, Interior Design degree program, Maryland
Smithsonian - George Mason, Master of History of Decorative Arts degree program, Washington, DC
National Institute of Design, Master of Arts in Industrial Design degree program, Ahmedabad, India
Lecture: "Fine Cotton Khadi & Hand Painted Chintz" Mingei International Museum, San Diego, 22 July 2016.
RESEARCH
Karthika is a published researcher. Some examples:
Audinet, K., 2023. "Tasar or Muga? The Dilemma in Identifying Golden Yellow Silks in Textiles from Bengal" The Textile Museum Journal. November 2023, forthcoming.
Audinet, K., 2022. "Important Woven
Textile Specimens in World Museums" Handbook on Conservation of Museum Textiles,
Part I: Ancient Museum Textiles: Woven Treasures of the Past. Wiley-Scrivener
Publishing.
Audinet, K., 2022. "Indian, but Naga shawl or Navajo kilt?" Textiles Asia Journal. January 2022, Volume 13, Issue 3. 16-26.
Audinet, K., 2019. "Untold - Conversations through Laurie Baker houses" Costford & Laurie Baker Center. 90-91.
Audinet, K., 2019. Technical Analysis of 9 Fragments in Catalogue of the Textiles in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection, Harvard University. https://www.doaks.org/resources/textiles/catalogue
Audinet, K., 2019. "Fustat Fragments: Indian Textiles in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection" Textiles Asia Journal. January 2019, Volume 10, Issue 3. 21-29.
Audinet, K., 2017. "The Last Vestiges of Fine Handspun Cotton in Ponduru, a Remote Village in South India" Textiles Asia Journal. January 2017, Volume 8, Issue 3. 10-16.
Her current topic of research is textile design in India and preservation of cultural heritage.
CLIENTS
Karthika has created Jacquard, Dobby and printed furnishing fabrics for internationally reputed top end clients in Europe, US and Asia. World renowned clients such as Brunschwig & Fils, Duralee, Etamine, Kravet, Lee Jofa, Mulberry Home, Romo, SAT, Scalamandre, Schumacher, Zimmer & Rohde and Zoffany carried successful original designs in colorways ranging from 4 to 16 in their showrooms till 2016.
A creative leader, today she designs, develops and executes textile and craft based projects with a social mission. Some examples:
Coletta Collections, an innovative social enterprise based on design and fine craft produced by adults with disabilities. www.colettacollections.com.
Product design for Grassroots Business Initiative, Cambodia International Finance Corporation - World Bank Group.
Furnishing fabrics and textile products for Good Earth, India.