BENGALURU: The painstaking work that goes into handwoven fabrics is soon going to be history, believes Maheshwar Rao, commissioner of Industrial Development, especially with the employment generated by the declining craft being only second to that of farming.
According to Rao, over 30,000 families depend on weaving for their livelihood in Karnataka alone. In an effort to celebrate and promote the 500 different types of handlooms in the country, August 7 was declared National Handloom Day by the Prime Minister in 2015.
Celebrating the fifth National Handloom Day, several officials from the Department of Handloom and Textiles, weavers from across the state, and design students gathered at Kassia hall in Vijayanagar. In a discussion about design interventions for traditional weaves, M R Ravi, director of Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Karnataka, said, “Our markets have now shifted to cities, we must understand and adapt to this. Even the use of different colour schemes can generate demand globally. It is just a matter of branding ourselves.”
While kings and queens of yesteryear donned indigenous, handwoven, fabric, if we desire to continue the practice of wearing these textiles, our approach to making them must shift, he said. “In fact, in the National Institute of Design, the Weavers Service Centre have set up a Smart Handloom Innovation Centre, where students can conduct research on the design and durability of indigenous fabrics,” said Ravi.
G P Srinivas Murthy, MD, Karnataka State Textile Infrastructure Development Cooperation, who was also present at the event emphasised the need to go back to basics. “We are slowly returning to our roots, look at the demand in cities for produce from organic farms,” he said.