Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A group of talented Indian ladies living in the kingdom have banded together to join a global crochet campaign with the aim of hooking a Guinness World Record for threading the largest Amigurumi sculpture display.
Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures. The word is a portmanteau of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.
The Mother India’s Crochet Queens (MICQ) was established in 2015 by 45-year-old crochet lover Subashri Natarajan, who is based in Chennai, India. Her love for the artistic craft and desire to set a world record herself put her on the path to form MICQ chapters around the world.
She also tapped into social media to reach out to other hobbyists from overseas and the organisation then grew from strength-to-strength with more than 1,800 registered members.
There are nearly 300 members from India and chapters overseas participating in this project including Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, as well as the US, Singapore, UK and Europe.
There are a total of 23 women representing the Bahrain Chapter including two from Saudi Arabia and goodwill ambassadors Spandana Kishore and Ashwini Anil are spearheading the efforts.
The existing record for the largest display was made with 13,388 crochet sculptures by The Craft Club (UK) on August 24, 2014.
Sowmya Ramkumar, a financial consultant by day and a crocheting master by night, is thrilled to be participating in this project.
The mother of six-year-old Adhvik, who lives in Saar with her husband Ramkumar, a banking executive, said: “We are attempting to break this record and are targeting to make 15,000 pieces.
“At the same time, using crocheted sculptures, MICQ is attempting to convey the message to ‘Save Planet Earth’ with a ‘Go Green’ theme. This includes a visual depiction of how the earth and its resources have been abused by human beings over time.
“It focuses on the need for quick and serious action to make the world free of pollution and to leave a legacy of a clean and beautiful world for future generations.”
Although amigurumi has been around for many decades, it has gained popularity outside Japan in the last 15 years or so. The material used can be yarn, wool, thread or any other form through which crochet can be done.
Sowmya added: “Since our motto is Go Green, to promote recycling, our Bahrain group members have also used bottle caps, bottles, strong cardboards, old plastics boxes, soda cans and so forth for stuffing the sculptures. We have also used wires in some of the sculptures so that it retains the required shape.
“Within the scope of this overarching theme, the Bahrain group is trying to depict an aerial view of Bahrain along with several themes such as the importance of conserving water, adhering to traffic rules, protecting the environment, growing trees and more.
“It has been visualised by Ashwini and Spandana while brainstorming along with the other team members.”
Each sculpture is handmade and depending on the design and complexity of each item, has taken either several hours or several days to make every single piece. The team has been working on this project for the last five months and will be exhibiting the art work on November 10, with the venue yet to be finalised.
Afterwards, the sculptures will be dispatched to a location in Chennai to be joined with the others and the record event staged on January 21, 2018.
Sowmya said: “At an individual level, getting a Guinness award for an interesting hobby would be a personal milestone for each of the participants. For some of us, this is the second or even third consecutive award.
“As for the sculptures we are making for this project, 50 per cent of these are going to be donated or sold at a minimum price and proceeds will be used for future MICQ projects. The remaining 50 per cent would be kept as permanent display pieces in an Indian government museum.”
The first record was set by MICQ in January 2016, when the ladies successfully crocheted the largest blanket in the world measuring an astonishing 11,148.5m² (120,001 ft² 72 in²) – easily covering the football pitch on which it was laid. This feat was accomplished by 1,000 participants aged from eight to 85, from India as well as the Indian diaspora from 13 other countries who contributed by creating hundreds of 40” x 40” sections to make one enormous blanket.
Sowmya, along with Ashwini and Spandana, were part of the 36 Indian expats from Bahrain to earn this record. They contributed a total of 130 blankets. All the blankets were later dismantled and distributed to old age homes and orphanages as charity.
A second record was set for the longest crocheted scarf measuring 14.089km (46,223ft 9in) and was achieved by MICQ (India) at Chennai on May 21, 2017. The products from the attempt were sent to the Secretary General of the UN, heads of state and eminent people in public life, to promote a message of peace.
Sowmya believes this third record will bring pride to the kingdom. She said: “Since many of us have lived in Bahrain for a long time, it has a pride of place in our hearts. We wanted to show our gratitude and love for our second home and showcase the essence of Bahrain through these handmade sculptures.
“While we filled each of these sculptures with stuffing material, each of us has also stuffed a bit of our love and friendship for this lovely island nation, its people and the culture in each of these dolls.
“There is also the underlying message of the need to recycle and conserve Bahrain’s precious natural resources, to continue to keep this island nation as beautiful as ever.”
The MICQ Bahrain Chapter ladies:
1. Asha Pradeep
2. Asha Rani M.S.
3. Ashwini Anil
4. Ashwini Swami Basmatkar
5. Bhagyashree Sreevatsan
6. Darshana Rashmin Udeshi
7. Harini Mukundh
8. Lavanya Sherwan Bezawada
9. Maliakkal Bleseena George
10. Mitali Kandpal
11. Monika Ravi
12. Prajakta Khedkar
13. Priya Sethuraman
14. Raman Preet Praveen
15. Rashmi Kaul
16. Savera Mahendra
17. Shajeera Jaleel
18. Siddhi Kalash
19. Sowmya Ramkumar
20. Spandana Kishore
21. Srividhya KalyanaKrishnan
22. Swapnali Milind Divekar
23. Vasanthi Gurusami
