Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (2025)

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (1)

The tiny Parsi community in India has carved a special place for itself. Well entrenched in the local milieu, yet with their own unique style of dressing and cuisine. The multi-talented Tinaz Nooshian spotlighted this uniqueness in her latest project, ‘PARSI ARTSTRY SALON’, KHAMBHAT TO CANTON, Celebrating the Maritime Trade Influence on Parsi Textiles and Gastronomy’, presented at the Asiatic Society of Mumbai last month. The well-researched interactive presentation with appropriate displays for reference was an enriching showcase. As a career journalist Tinaz Nooshian has been editor of leading dailies. Another leading journalist of India, Meher Castelino, interviewed Ms Nooshian exclusively for The Luxury Chronicle.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (2)

Tinaz Nooshian

Meher Castelino – What made you leave journalism and move to research on textiles?

Tinaz Nooshian – Let’s say, “have lovingly set it aside”. The seeds of wanting to work around rural entrepreneurs/artisans were sown during my education at Rishi Valley (RV) in Andhra Pradesh. Cultural activist Pupil Jayakar was omnipresent at RV due to her association with its founder Jiddu Krishnamurti. Her legacy of setting up Weavers’ Service Centres that trained generations of artisans and revivalists was alive in the stories that circulated on campus.

As a culture writer, on a trip to Thanjavur I met a weaver outside the Airavateshwarar temple at Darasuram. And watched his wife at work on a loom making the GI tagged Thirubhuvanam saree. We spoke about the crushing 5% GST on handlooms and the scrapping of the handlooms and handicrafts boards. The family hadn’t made a sale in a month, and their 18-year-old daughter preferred to train as a software engineer. I was disillusioned but came away with two sarees.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (3)

A vintage sali gaaj Garo from Sam Maneckshaw’s colleciton displayed at Durbar Hall, The Asiatic Society of Mumbai on December 7 2024

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (4)

Kor Pallav No Garo from late 19th Century from shazneen Engineer’s colleciton with smaller paisleys broad Chinese style paisleys and 5 petal lotuses

During the pandemic, as creative consultant on the founding team of Aazol, a brand that brings the indigenous foods of Maharashtra to urban consumers, I researched and discovered the traditions of a state I live in. This prompted a personal documentation project around the handmade weaves and crafts indigenous to Maharashtra. The pandemic had made handmade wares a crowded market online, with poor curation and scant attempts to work on provenance and documentation. Documenting and storytelling come easily to me, thanks to my training in history and career in media. Material on culture and textiles are giving me the chance to work at the intersection of art, heritage and social enterprise.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (5)

Dana ni Toran work saree kor

Meher Castelino – With reference to the topic of the event, what is ‘Parsi Artistry Salon’ about?

Tinaz Nooshian – My ‘Parsi Artistry Salon’ is an academic soiree that celebrates the artisanship and trading acumen of the Zoroastrians of India, the Parsis. Their knack for innovation and entrepreneurship saw them evolve from refugees to agriculturists and carpenters, then shipping pioneers and merchants, and eventually nation builders but also expert embroiderers, cabinet makers and weavers.

I have fashioned the Salon as a knowledge session minus the dense dullness of a lecture; it’s interactive and informal, uses archival photographs and paintings, allowing the guests a chance to view exquisite heirloom silk and jari embroidery, bead needlecraft and accessories dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, up close, while I tell stories of their making. I have been invited to host so far across Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda, focusing on 18th-19th century China trade in raw cotton, opium and cotton yarn, which the Parsi merchants were at the Centre of, and ended up influencing their textiles in a significant way.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (6)

A cheena Cheeni satin stitch Kor Ni Saree from Khurshid Joshi Bhamgara’s collectin. featuring wooden fences, China man and peonies

What is your aim in doing this research and promoting the textiles of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Zoroastrian culture?

It is about preserving cultural legacies and the need for data. For an ancient religion like Zoroastrianism that survived over millennia through oral traditions and saw the destruction of community records with multiples invasions — Greek, Mongol and Arab — every tiny effort towards documenting is precious and warranted.

In the case of joining the dots between maritime trade, the role of Bombay’s risk-taking merchants and how capital raised through the sale of opium and cotton changed the status of the Parsis and their lifestyle, we would have been floundering without the records of Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, who maintained detailed diaries of his trips to China. It’s one of only two sources of vital information on Canton-Bombay trade. China trade — whether involving the export of raw cotton, opium, or later cotton yarn from India — was fueled by Europe’s unending appetite for Chinese tea.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (7)

Peking knot stitch Cheena Cheeni Kor

I am motivated to research and document the handmade traditions of Maharashtra, because it is home. It was one of the first states to embrace mechanization. The Yeola Paithani is better known than the Tussar silk, Karvath Kati, woven by the Koshtis of Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. Solapur’s pancha towels and ghongadi shawl, Achalpur’s chindi dhurries, Hupri’s silver trinkets, Nagpur and Thane’s Patwa kaam… these must survive and thrive. A power-loom Paithani takes four days to make, the design fed into a computer. The handwoven version takes four days to just prep on the loom. Documentation and storytelling backed by credible research spur awareness which is critical to fostering responsibility towards sustainable buying practices.

What is the significance of Khambat and Canton with reference to the lifestyle of the Parsi community?

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (8)

Akho Garo Birds, lilies and pomegranates in satin stitch from Sam Maneckshaw’s colleciotn

The title of my current edition of the ‘Parsi Artistry Salon, – Khambhat to Canton’ alludes to the significant role that both, Gujarat’s ports and China’s trading centers on the Pearl River, played in influencing the lifestyle and destiny of the Parsis of Bombay.

Gujarat was blessed with bustling ports like Surat, Bharuch and Khambhat. It’s through these entrepôts that the Parsis had access to export markets as far as Yemen, Egypt, China, Europe and East Africa. Khambhat and Surat’s own ancient weaving tradition only strengthened the Parsi connection with textiles and embroidery. Surat and Ahmedabad were centers for the production of the luxurious Kinkhab, which was traded from Khambhat. Khambhat produced a local cotton textile named after its place of production – Khambhati.

Interestingly, Canton, one of only two ports from where foreign merchants including the Parsis were allowed to trade, also had a robust embroidery tradition. Canton embroidery was one of the “Four Great Styles of Embroidery” in China.In the mid-1800s, there was a craze in England for all things Oriental. Chinoiserie or the style of art, furniture and architecture characterized using Chinese motifs, was trending in the West, which rubbed off on the Parsis too. Richly embroidered textiles, Chinese silks, blue and white porcelain, lacquer work boxes and fragrant camphor chests, were the rage. Some of the Bombay mansions of the wealthy Parsi merchants began to house oriental-style gardens.

What are the textiles specific to Parsis that have become popular because of this geographical connection?

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (9)

Petit Point stitch saree Kores borders is a style of embroidery in India from Christian missionaires that became popular with Parsi women

The silk embroidery on heirloom Gara sarees is the most iconic and popular result of this connection. What started off with commissioning Chinese artisans to embroider yardage using a variety of satin and knot stitches during the three-month-long trading season; turned into a full-fledged industry that eventually tailored itself to embroider the saree, with decorative borders and pallav to suit Parsi taste.When the tip of the sarees began to be left free of embroidery to allow the wearer to easily tuck it into her petticoat, the customisation was complete.

The Tanchoi was another Sino-Parsi textile. It was a variant of damask and brocade, native to China and brought to India thanks to China trader-philanthropist Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy, who financed the training of local weavers in the art by sending them to China. It was expensive to produce, and once an essential part of every Parsi bride’s trousseau.

Jari kaam or Surat’s famed Zari wire surface ornamentation was also commonly employed on ceremonial clothes, sarees, and head gear of the Parsis. Chinese silks, including Sali Gaaj and jacquard silks, imported from Canton, became popular base fabrics.

What was the popular Parsi attire before the maritime trade to China and what changed subsequently?

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (10)

An heirloom Akho Garo

Assimilation into Gujarat’s cultural and social life meant that the Parsi women wore sarees, much like their Gujarati female compatriots. Cotton, silk and brocade were locally produced in Surat and Ahmedabad. Surti Gaji was a locally-woven Indian sateen silk — dense, calendared and strong.

It’s possible that before China trade picked up, their textiles were embellished with indigenous embroidery styles. The specimen of a jhabla (kids’ tunic) in the TAPI Collection dating back to the mid-19th century has Kutchi-style embroidery. With the Parsi traders’ brush with exquisite Chinese embroidery, the appearance of Oriental stitches and motifs on the saree, jhabla (tunic) and ijar (pantaloon) is seen,

Even in the 20th century, despite a strong European influence on fashion, Parsi women continued to wear the saree but now styled uniquely, with a long pallav held on the shoulder by a brooch, Louis Quinze shoes, lace additions to the edge of the sudreh, and Edwardian blouses with dramatic necks and sleeves. Their jewelry also reflected European taste with the heavy use of pearls and precious stones.

The men wore flat turbans. Later, we see the introduction of the Paghri (made using cardboard and cotton cloth wound in layers and lacquered for stiffness) and Pheta (flat-top, boxy felt cap with an embroidered rim). They wore white jama pichori with mojris or sapaat, with shawl on ceremonial occasions. The Daglo was a long coat worn with roomy trousers. Eventually, with the British influence, they moved entirely to suits and hats.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (11)

Tinaz discusses a kanda papeta design black silk jhablu with guests at her Parsi Artistry Salon

Will you be documenting your research eventually in a book?

Hopefully, yes.

What are the gastronomical influences from the Canton regions that were popularly adopted by Parsis?

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (12)

Parsi tea time treat Mini Dar Ni Pori Gujarat’s influence on Parsi culinary practices

None. It’s interesting how the Parsis picked up none of the culinary practices of the Chinese, despite long years of trading with Canton, Macau, and even Hong Kong. Parsi merchants travelled the risky seas, with Parsi cooks and servants. The Parsis guarded their social and religious customs zealously and dined separately. The Parsi merchants established their presence in China well enough for them to even have their own cemeteries. The oldest was in Macau, built in 1929, and still survives. By 1837, there were 11 Parsi-owned companies operating in Canton, compared to nine American and just four European.

The story was very different in Gujarat. The Parsis wholeheartedly embraced the culinary practices and coastal ingredients.


About Tinaz Nooshian

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (13)

Crafts Council of Gujarat event in Ahmedabad October 2024

Tinaz trained in History and Ancient Indian Culture with a MSc in social communications. Her father Behram Nooshian was a first-generation Iranian Zoroastrian migrant to Bombay from Yazd in 1950. He married Katie Bhurekhan a true blue Bombayite. Tinaz learnt that women in Yazd were skilled in Zarthosethi douzi (Zoroastrian needlework). Tinaz’s maternal great grandmother Jerbai Mehta was an expert embroiderer of kores (saree borders). Interestingly, textiles were at the center of this outstanding story of identity and migration, which encouraged her to research.
A seasoned journalist and editor from Mumbai Mirror, Times of India, Asian Age and Sunday Midday, Tinaz as Editor in Chief of Midday in 2015 and Gujerati edition in 2020, was the first woman editor of Midday. Tinaz’s almost decade long editorship was a spectacular journey of innovation, challenging limits and taking risks.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (14)

Lecture at Durbar Hall, The Asiatic society of Mumbai on December 7 2024

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (15)

Meher Castelino

Meher Castelino is India’s leading fashion journalist. She has been the first Femina Miss India. She has represented the country in various capacities at international forums. She is on the board of some of the leading fashion institutes in the country, consultant to key fashion weeks, examiner and jury at key fashion institutes and selection boards. She has authored several books on fashion.

Insights into Tinaz Nooshian’s project ‘PARSI ARTISTRY SALON’ from Khambat to Canton (2025)
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