The increased discourse on handlooms in Telangana began a few months ago, first with KT Rama Rao urging well known personalities to wear handlooms often, and then roping in actors Pawan Kalyan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu to do their bit.
Clusters in Telangana
Away from public eye, work has been on to identify and revamp certain handloom clusters. Among the handlooms in Telangana, Pochampalli ikat tops popularity followed by the silks and cottons from Gadwal and Narayanpet. The state has a host of other clusters — handlooms from Kothakota in Mahbubnagar, white tussars from Mahadevpur in Bhupalpally district and Gollabhama saris from Siddipet.
Design interventions have helped ikat weavers reorient themselves to changing market needs. It didn’t happen overnight. Those who work closely with weavers feel a sustained, long-term approach will help other clusters too.
Sudha Rani of Abhihaara observes that both celebrity push and social media campaigns like the #100SareePact have helped increase awareness towards handlooms: “Thanks to the pact, many women have become acquainted with handlooms across the country and want to own at least one sari from each cluster.”
A few weeks ago, training and resource centre ReWeave was launched at Pochampally. Sudha has seen the excitement among weavers using the facilities. Mooted by Microsoft as part of its corporate social responsibility, the centre teaches weavers e-marketing, helps them digitise their designs and conducts workshops in looming and dyeing. “Partnering with the NGO Chaitanya Bharati, Microsoft also helped in setting up looms. Two of these looms specialise in Gollabhama saris and these will be showcased by Shravan Kumar at Woven 2017 this weekend,” she says.
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Traditional Gollabhama saris bear motifs of women carrying milk pots. This will be tweaked for a Dasara collection to have motifs of women carrying Bathukamma.
One for the Gram
Meanwhile, Narayanpet saris, earlier considered a staple in the wardrobes of older women, have also been featured on several Instragram posts by younger women. Worn with halter or sleeveless blouses and teamed with terracotta accessories, these bright saris don’t go unnoticed. However, this sector will benefit if a design intervention facilitates weavers to explore a newer colour palette.
A newer, more global colour palette will also benefit weavers in Karimnagar who specialise in fine quality cotton bedspreads, feels textile faculty and designer Sharmila Nagaraj Nandula. Having researched on the emotional benefits of wearing handlooms, she observes that scientific studies reveal that wearing hand-woven natural fabrics can be mood enhancers.
The task of reviving handlooms involves making it lucrative enough for younger generation of artisans to stay with the craft. Sharmila recalls meeting teenagers in Angara, Andhra Pradesh, learning looming techniques and a family in Uppada where twin boys aged 19 worked together to create an intricate Uppada sari. But these instances are rare, she notes. “In many clusters, most of the artisans are above 40 and don’t want the younger ones in the family to continue this line of work,” she says.
The other pressing concern is that of quality. If the fabric bleeds after many washes, blame it on the dyeing and processing methods. “Many ikat weavers don’t subject the yarn or fabric to boiling and use substandard colours. Also, many handloom weavers have turned to powerloom for quicker production, which dilutes the quality. Powerloom was meant to ease out production for generic items like towels and dhotis, not alter artistic practices like ikat. Going back to traditional techniques will help quality control,” she emphasises.
As for individual initiatives, she suggests buying handlooms for gifts or sponsoring a weaver. At a larger level, design interventions come into play. How about hand-woven stoles and scarves with Gollabhama motifs?
Woven 2017: The event, curated by Samantha Ruth Prabhu, will showcase collections by Preetham Jukalker, Shravan Kumar Ramaswamy, Shilpa Reddy, Sailesh Singhania, and Archana and Puneeth, and will be held on August 7 in Hyderabad to mark National Handloom Day.
