Preserving heritage crafts of India

A country with a rich weaving traditions, some of our ancient weaving techniques had almost vanished. The initiative and efforts taken by some revivalists, educationists and NGOs has saved some of the languishing weaving tradition and heritage. We present to you some of them who have attempted to save the vanishing art and document it for future references.

These weavers who were highly skilled were lacking market linkages,attempt to bring back from oblivion the lost techniques and product development to these community of weaversweavers. “Both our projects aims to revive the lost talent and signature weaving techniques of these two clusters and make them realise that weaving can be a profitable venture,” she says.

Hemalatha Jain was was she close to ancient weaving tradition, region, in North Karnataka,This village the hub ofeven duringPatteda Anchu is named after the pattern (border and checks) of the saree. colourof the Gajendragarh village.

who knew how to weave it.A graduate in textile and fashion design from the NIFT did not have sufficient funds to single handedly revive Patteda Anchu. When I met, I shared my ideas and prototype of Patteda Anchu. She came forward to Punarjeevana, a self-help group for the weavers of Gajendragarh, came into existence in 2015. Punarjeevana has 25 staff of which 16 are weavers and the rest are dyers and helpers.or selling oiland they are back to weaving today,’ says Jain. “Initially, they considered me an outsider and were reluctant to come forward to share knowledge and techniques of Patteda Anchu, and I had to constantly strive to make them understand that reviving languishing art is the aim, ” she adds. Today, she has brought about a meaningful change in the lives of these weavers and has saved this heritage craft.

involved in a successful family run Bharathi,masters in business management abundance ofand fulfilment

overseas.of weavers Bharathi., in a studio like ambienceChennimalai weavers were always prosperous, as the bedsheets were most popular — especially between the period 1998 and 2007, when IKEA placed was placing orders for their home furnishing section. But since 2008, after IKEA shifted to powerloom from handloom, the livelihood of the weavers was worst hit. The weavers are paid a monthly salary and trained to develop exquisite products and also cater to international customer requirements and specifications.Bharathi by Chaitanya Bharathi

As the project lead for a project by Microsoft, is on a mission to save the unique textile traditions of Telangana. and was roped in to lead ReWeave. most the is the focus

says she thereby increasing weavers’ confidence and making them take pride in their work. and preserve their traditional knowledge,”entirerefer to it and ReWeave, is supported by Microsoft under its CSR initiative to revive the dying art forms and textiles of Telangana.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/handloom-revival-in-india-handloom-textiles/article19450171.ece