Chelmsford 100 – Creating

The centrepiece of Chelmsford 100 is the creation and legacy of 100 hand-painted silk flags reflecting our journeys and stories.

With expert guidance from Kinetika and the talents of our local artists, Elaine and Rizwana, all 100 stories were converted into 80x80cm designs, using a mix of tracings, photographs, and sketches. These were then traced onto silk, waxed, and hand painted, in most cases by the designers themselves.

The flags are all deliberately colourful, richly layered with love and personality, and firmly aligned with what the story-teller envisioned.

The fabric of the Chelmsford 100 flags is heritage-quality, hand-woven silk from Murshidabad, a district in West Bengal.

This special cultural and artistic exchange has particular resonance within Chelmsford 100, as ten of the flags were designed by the local organisation, Sankalpo, who support and celebrate Indian families in our district.

One of the Sankalpo flags depicts the River Chelmer and the River Hooghly (upon which Murshidabad sits), with the Goddess Durga uniting the two communities.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved so far. Your joy in the project has been uplifting. We would love many more people to join us on the next stage of our journey which will see us walk 100 miles across the district, connecting communities and people throughout the Summer.