BENGALURU: Would you like a pink flamingo on your Benarasi sari? What about little cows? Younger women who like to try traditional weaves, but stay faithful to their quirky side, can head to WeaveinIndia’s exhibition of their Paheli collection. It is open today and tomorrow at Raintree, between 10.30 am and 7 pm.
Mandira Bansal started WeaveinIndia more than a year ago after she read how demonetisation had hit weavers. “I have always been passionate about handlooms, textiles and my mother’s sarees. I read how weavers were losing their livelihoods post demonetisation,” says this young designer, who graduated from London School of Fashion.
She spent time in Benares with the weavers and realised that maintaining tradition was the best way forward. She travelled across India and learnt about its rich and varied weaves, and then decided to do trunk shows – exclusive pop-up shows – to promote work of these craftsmen. Bengaluru exhibition is one such and at this show, the designer in her has collaborated with the weavers. “With the choice of colours, then we unclutter the weaves and give it a more contemporary look,” she says.
The one weave that is dying out is Jhamdani, particularly the one done on muslin. “This weave is from Bengal. The work on one saree takes about six months, and an old man needs to be helped by a younger child to complete this… we will be bringing Khadi Jhamdani to this exhibition,” she says. There will be other exclusive pieces too, like the Neelambari saree which has zari work done in pure silver. The collection is priced between `16,800 and `3 lakhs.