The Maheshwari fabric belongs to a tradition of weaving that is centuries old, a tradition that continues to echo the clacking looms of Maheshwar. The Rehwa Society was set up in 1978 with a small group of women keeps this tradition alive. It now has over 120 weavers.
Sunanda Dawar, head designer at the Rehwa Society says, “We do a collection every year and keeping the festive season in mind we wanted to do a show with a lot of colours with hand embroidered textiles.” The Maheshwari fabrics are hand-woven and they also silk wool shawls and linen stoles in lengths of two and a half meters for kurtas and five meters for a salwar suit.
The collection that they are showcasing at Basava Ambara is called Utsav Ke Rang – the line is inspired by foliage and includes embroidered, woven and printed saris, fabrics and dupattas, “The weaving is a laborious process and it takes about a month for the weaver to finish eight saris. The embroidery is also done by hand and takes an average three days for a sari,” says Sunanda.
An artist and designer who discovered her love for textiles only much later, she laughs and says, “I was always a weaver at heart.”
She studied design at the National Institute For Fashion Technology in Delhi and when the opportunity to work at Rehwa came to her, she took it without a second thought and has never looked back since.
She worked for some time as a designer for a firm with a more strait-jacketed approach to design, “After the corporate life working at the loom is so exciting,” Sunanda confesses.
The exhibition will start at Bangalore and then travel to Delhi and Bombay where the collection does fabulously because of their colours and the versatility of the fabric.
“Maheshwari is a fine, sheer material that is nice to be worn in Delhi and Bombay. It works in terms of the weather because it is a light material and the collection itself is very well thought out giving the customers several options. We have something that can be worn in the day, or for an evening function and then there are also saris that can be worn for weddings,” says Sunanda.
Utsav Ke Rang by Rehwa will be on exhibition at Basava Ambara, 93, Kanakapura Road, Next to New Generation School, Basavangudi till July 24 between 10.30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
For details call 26561940/65461856.
