BENGALURU: As it becomes cooler in the city, it’s time to bring out all the old kambli blankets and snuggle under them. These blankets of comfort have a history to them that not many are aware of. This was explored in the recent event ‘The Kambli Kathe’ at the Bangalore International Centre. It was a ‘reimagination of the handlooms of Karnataka through senior weavers’.
One of the key speakers at the event, Pavithra Muddaya, founder of Vimor, a handloom heritage brand, felt it was important to showcase and introduce people to handmade textiles like the kambli, a blanket woven with sheep wool. She was intrigued with the special Nishani technique and pursued it for the Marthand Singh Award for Shankar Ningappa Sanakki of Karagaon village in Belgaum.
Her promise to develop the design was fuelled by their enthusiasm. That is when she decided to go exploring Karagaon, known for its handcrafted kambli or shepherd’s blanket. Muddaya was blown away by the unique and long-lasting handloom techniques of those in Karagaon. The loom house at Karagaon, known as the magga mane, deviates from the normal.
“I only saw a two-by-two pit, not a loom. It was incredible to watch them set up and deconstruct the loom right in front of your eyes,’’ she recalls. A fortunate encounter with 87-year-old social activist and fellow speaker Nilakant Nagappa Kurubar, whom she refers to as Nilakant maama, at Karagaon brought up fresh perspectives on sustainable development goals and their practices of a balance between nature, animals and man. The kambli makers of the community have sustainability built into their way of life.
From traditional sheep rearing, grazing, and shearing practices to the techniques of thigh reeling and sizing the wool with ground tamarind seed paste for glue – everything about it screams sustainability. “I have been to plenty of talks on sustainability, climate change and textiles but everyone’s question was, how do we achieve sustainable development?” She adds,
“Here was a community hidden away and practising it for centuries without using the word ‘sustainable’ in a modern marketable way. They just don’t think or label sustainable development goals. They live it.” Muddaya, well-known in the handloom industry as the founder of Vimor Museum of Living Textiles and for her ventures in reviving the traditional handloom industry over the past 49 years, has woven her designs on silk, recycled silk, and cotton for a long.
But she took it a step further by blending wool and recycled silk to create new designs. “I’ve always put forth a design but it’s not so solid that it can’t be changed because ultimately, they are the hands that are weaving it,” says Muddaya, who believes that by giving weavers room, the product will become theirs.