Weaving a comeback

Turning crisis into opportunities is what he believes in. Post the August 2018 floods that destroyed the handloom sector in Kerala, Save the Loom stepped in as the saviour.
Online campaign featuring celebs
Online campaign featuring celebs

The future is handloom, believes Ramesh Menon, who has been working tirelessly for the last 20 months in Ernakulam, Kerala, to revive the ailing sectors of handloom and khadi in Chendamangalam, a small town of weavers in the Paravur belt.

This consultant with the Fashion Design Council of India founded the initiative, Save the Loom, and has also associated with architect Vinu Daniel to design a modern weaving centre in Chendamangalam, as the first-ever live handloom museum-cum-working space. The successful revival programme in Kerala has pushed Ramesh to identify a weaving cluster in Kalna, East Bardhman district, West Bengal, destroyed in the wake of Cyclone Amphan.

Elaborating on his journey, he says, “Kerala has lost around 5,00,000 weaving industry professionals in the past 20 years. In 2017, the state government introduced a school uniform project to stop the weavers from sudden decline. While the scheme seemed brilliant, it reduced the highly skilled weavers to solely produce plain uniforms.”

The impulse to bring pride to Kerala in the weaving sector drove him to initiate his project. He wants handloom to boast a modern design, appealing to a larger audience while simultaneously preserving its traditional core. “Our philosophy is, ‘build back better’,” he says.

Turning crisis into opportunities is what he believes in. Post the August 2018 floods that destroyed the handloom sector in Kerala, Save the Loom stepped in as the saviour. “There were 800 weavers in the entire district, of which 483 were affected. In 70 percent cases, the looms were completely damaged,” he says. This prompted the setting up of a website, SaveTheLoom.org.

The aim was to provide factual information and create sensitivity. “From Botswana to Singapore, we received thousands of inquiries. Presence of celebrities and designers helped,” Ramesh says. The organisation went on to win an award from the Ernakulam district administration for 100 percent revival of the craft cluster in record time. Associating with the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018 and the International Advertising Association’s World Conference in 2019 proved to be a bonus. 

Amid the pandemic, too, the organisation commenced a mask-making project. This was done with the help of Gandhi Smarak Seva Kendram in North Paravur, Ernakulam. Save the Loom also supplemented the income of the women who were out of jobs owing to the lockdown. “Technology aides people but only craft can create human connect,” Ramesh says simply.

The successful revival in Kerala has pushed Ramesh to identify a weaving cluster in East Bardhman, West Bengal

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