A treat is in the offing for patrons of handlooms and handmade jewellery. Crafts Council of Karnataka presents Vastrabharana from March 5 to 9 at the New Gallery Spaces, which consists of seven large, “socially distanced halls at Chitrakala Parishat,” says Padmaja Sakhamuri, the convenor-Vastrabharana Committee.
She adds that because of the pandemic, “we have cut down on the number of stalls. There will be just 42 weavers and three jewellery designers. We will also be following strict COVID-19 protocols and the weavers have been asked to go through tests.”
According to Padmaja, the reason for them to organise the exhibition at this time is, “to showcase the works of the weavers as they have been hit real hard by this lull in the market due to the pandemic. We had already postponed the dates twice this year for this show, but finally decided that we had to create a platform for them to bounce back.”
The exhibition will be inaugurated by Aditi Ranjan - a textile expert and designer and former Senior Faculty, NID, Ahmedabad at 10 a.m. on March 5.
This year, there will be jewel-toned Patan Patola by hereditary weaver, Nirmal Salvi (from the heritage town of Patan in Gujarat, tribal textiles from the interiors of India, Manibandha and Gopalpur Collective and Vani Vrtti Design Studio from Odisha; and Tangaliyas by Rathod Babubhai from West Bengal.
From Karnataka, there be North Karnataka weaves like Pattade Anchu and Gome Teni from Punarjeevana Trust, Ilkal saris by Kala Nele and Guledgadd Khan Choli weaves, that have recently been awarded with the Geographical Indicator (GI) tag.
The jewellery section will feature handcrafted silver jewellery with traditional and contemporary designs by Umiamma and Tiyasha. Charkhi from Kaldera will be presenting temple and fusion jewellery.
How will you manage the crowd? And she replies, “The crowd will have to be allowed in batches. We are trying our best to contain everything. Face shields and hand sanitizers will all be made mandatory. It is compulsory to wear a mask and maintain social distancing at the exhibition venue.”
Why not a virtual exhibition? “We have done a few virtual exhibitions, but we do not have an active e-commerce site in action yet. We did promote those weavers who were active virtually. But, that way we were not able to reach out at the grass-root level and could not help those who were not tech-savy. Today, we know that the majority is into buying online, yet, we personally believe that handlooms have to be felt by hands and the riot of colours seen in reality to admire the beauty of these hand made creations.”
The exhibition is open between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., and entry is free.
For details call 23347299 or log on to craftscouncilofkarnataka@yahoo.co.in
