The lone weaver
It was quite by accident that we started working with weavers from Kerala. My husband & I were at a riverside resort when the owner told us that there was a hand loom co-operative society close by. We decided to pay a visit and however cliched this sounds, there’s been no looking back. Now, many hand loom societies & hundreds of metres of fabric later I feel a great satisfaction. I have no training in textile, weaving or design so all work is instinctive & necessarily collaborative. The loom is a work of art and weaving is magical to me . Every co-operative has a secretary, a dyeing mashu & a master weaver. All of us sit down & discuss yarn, dye, weave, warp, weft. Usually they talk and I nod wide eyed at the complexity. A thriving co-op is a joy to watch – clickety clack of the looms, a mobile grocery store for the women weavers and a delicious wood fired lunch at the canteen. But it is the less bustling co-ops I want to work with. Maybe I hope to discover a long forgotten weave or sometimes you just want to champion the underdog. They are usually
secretary & dyeing mashu
Triveni mobile grocery store
apprehensive to take on work different from their routine – a handful of weavers, many not so young, the secretary doesn’t want to ruffle too many feathers . It takes a lot of soothing, coaxing and encouragement from my side for them to take on our first order. It is the same everywhere. A couple of orders later they are excited, brimming with ideas.
There is one unit in Mookkannur, Angamaly. Out of curiosity had visited them last year… was disappointed to see the sad state of affairs there… May be they only need some good push…
i eagerly waiting for the availability men”s wear made by handloom
Interested on kaitheri project after reading ur blog, also I like the old house pic where u clicked those kurtha pic, something like nostalgic
Is there any hope to start a men’s wear ? Or any plan to open an outlet in kasaragod , ?