Nelly Sethna

Nelly Homi Sethna (née Mehta; 1 November 1932 – 1992) was an Indian weaver, textile designer, researcher, writer and a crafts activist. She worked on the crossroads of Scandinavian modernism and Indian crafts tradition, which shaped her guiding philosophy. Her close association with Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay played an important role in the revival and promotion of traditional Indian crafts.

Early life and education Born on 1 November 1932 in Bombay, Nelly was the daughter of Pestonji and Goolbanoo Mehta.

Nelly had joined the commercial arts department at 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. After working for a year at a graphic studio in Stuttgart, Germany, Nelly returned home in 1957.

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. 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. Strengell had, thus, become her lifelong mentor.

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. 2021 - The Unpaved, Crusty, Earthy Road | Nelly Sethna: A Retrospective, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai; Curated by Nancy Adajania.

Awards In 1985, Sethna was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government for her contributions to trade and industry.