Zazou’s Factory of the Two Cobras

More from Zazou Owner Claudia Koch on Zazou’s tales from abroad. This installment is all about the unique manufacturing process in India and a little factory she likes to refer to as, the Home of the Two Cobras:

Long ago, when Bombay was still Bombay and not Mumbai, Zazou worked with a factory that was the Home of Two Cobras.  They were not often in view but they were there.  We knew they were there and they knew we were there.

The factory was not what one would normally call to mind by the use of that word: factory.  It was, in fact, a rudely constructed  hut with perforated doors to let in the breeze and long tables for silk screening.

Silk screening a Zazou scarf

It was hot inside.  It was hot outside.  Bombay is always more or less hot.  The men who worked at the factory silk screening our scarves were situated at either side of the tables and together pushed the screens across, as they, color by color, screened the designs onto the cloth.

It was an ancient process, little changed since it first appeared in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China.

This place was a little rural in the outskirts of Bombay.  There were trees and blades of grass.  The snakes were out there somewhere…

The fabric was screened and then washed in vats (here are the Zazou Pussywillow scarves coming out of the pot!) and then hung in the trees to dry.  I promise you this is the technique.

Zazou Pussywillows being pulled from vat

Now in China there are huge German silk screening machines, in huge factories that seem like, well, like factories.  But in Bombay the fabric is hung in the trees and the snakes live nearby.

Sometimes a cow would wander by.  There were quite a lot of milking cows in this part of town and as cows are holy to the Hindus, the cows can pretty much do what they like.  If there is someone selling vegetables by the road and the cow decides she will stop by for a snack, no problem.  The cows are holy.  They can snack at will.

The cows would wander around, no harm really – they aren’t very interested in scarves.

We went and visited the factory.  Everything was explained to me.  The “Master” who made up the color formulas, sat on the ground and worked them out in a little exercise book.  Amazingly he would match the colors to our VERY expensive color chips showing the latest trends in Europe and America and record them in his book.

I was amazed and astonished by the surroundings but I acted cool and checked out the patterns and approved the colorways.

At the factory

Later we went back to Juhu beach and sat on a terrace and drank gin and tonics.  At the next table was a famous actress from Bollywood, very beautiful and very haughty.  There were no cows and no snakes.

India is an amazing place.

Vats at Zazou's Factory of the Two Cobras

© Claudia Koch 2011