A unique community project bringing fresh perspectives and methodologies on heritage learning and promotion.It has been a labour of love, where nearly two dozen volunteer community participants from London and Dundee spent the last two years trying to unearth and bring to the fore knowledge of an almost lost and very little known, but significant and vital, heritage that, for more than a hundred years, has left very few places in the world untouched. We invite you to join us, learn what we have unearthed, see the beautiful jute crafts created by our community participants and receive a free nearly four hundred page book.

Exhibition

2 - 6 September 2025, 10 am to 6 pm

Book Launch

Short drama performances

Presentations

Wed, 3 September 2025, 6.30-8.30 pm.

Beeding/braiding workshop

Thursday, 4 September 2025, 2-3 pm

The writing of the 'A Jute Lascar's Story

M Ahmedullah

Saturday, 6 September 2025, 2-3.30 pm

From jute heritage to jute future

A round table dicussion

3.30-5.30 pm

Art Pavilion Mile End, London, UK

JUTE, THE GOLDEN FIBRE OF BENGAL AND A BRITISH EMPIRE MONOPOLY

How the sweat of Bengali cultivators facilitated the expansion of the trade of the British Empire (1830-1940)

A project by the Stepney Community Trust (SCT)

Jute, also known as the golden fibre of Bengal, holds a special place in the hearts and memories of the Bengali people as a unique gift from Bengal to the world, produced through a combination of its ecology, climate and the ingenuity and hard work of the delta’s farmers. We have also recently learnt something about the impact of jute on the city of Dundee in Scotland and its people, and how jute history has become deeply intertwined with and inseparable from their sense of identity.

For more than a hundred years, jute was a British Empire monopoly and the primary fibre for making sacks, bags, and twines that carried raw materials, food, commodities and manufactured products in ships that crisscrossed the world's oceans to major cities and ports on all the continents. For over a century, jute was the most ubiquitous carrier material associated with the global trading operations of the British Empire and British prosperity during the height of its power, resulted from a significant exploitative contribution from Bengal.

Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Beading/Braiding workshop with Joyce Jaswant Ubhi-Matharu