CHENNAI: The texture, design, look and feel of a handloom sari are not the only perks of buying the cloth — one gets to also support the weavers and craftsmen who work hard to produce a lustrous fabric. To help the weaver community, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) invited the Thirubuvanam Silk Handloom Weavers Co-op Productions and Sale Society to their premises in Taramani to display and sell the weavers’ handloom silk saris at a discount of 65 per cent.
A temple town famous for its weaves during the Chola period, Thirubuvanam is located around nine kilometre from Kumbakonam, which is where most of the weavers come from. Thirubuvanam silk is known for its unique style of weaving, where filature silk is used for both the wrap and weft, which produces a higher quality of cloth. “Most of these weavers are over 60 years old and they stick to a very traditional type of weaving pattern.
Designs here in Chennai are different — there is a need for a large zari that is not the norm in the interiors of the state. These weavers have the skill and talent, they just need the knowledge on product diversification and more promotion and marketing in their favour,” explained Gajalakshmi PV, a designer who graduated from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, and works closely with the weavers societies in Thanjavur. She explained that the NIFT students invited the weavers to their campus after a month-long cluster programme that was part of their course, in an attempt to spread awareness to the consumer on handlooms as well as the weaver on modern patterns. Twelve weavers were also invited to Chennai to participate in a programme to
familiarise themselves with the patterns trending in the city. In this vein, weavers were taken to T Nagar. “There are many government programmes that help the weavers, but this is the first time a college is inviting us to work with them. A lot of cluster programmes are held by the government that assigns designers like myself to the weaver societies in an attempt to promote trending designs and traditional handlooms,” explained Gajalakshmi. The exhibition was held on the NIFT campus grounds from October 26 to October 28.