The Resurging Value of Civil Society for Indian Crafts
“Jhini jhini bini chadariya; Kaahe ka tana,kaahe ki bharan; Kaun taar se bini chadariya?” In these lines, Kabir says , “I have run mere cotton threads for the warp and weft. But how did God, the Master Weaver, make this finely woven fabric we call skin that we wear all our lives? What is the warp? What is the weft? What fine thread does he use?” With this thought, Antarang, a handloom fashion show, was commenced on February 25, 2017, in Faridabad to showcase designs from five handloom clusters where DEF works.
Digital Cluster Development Programme (DCDP) is an initiative by DEF in partnership with various government bodies and CSR groups in order to safeguard the interest of weavers using decentralised use of ICT in critical handloom clusters. We believe that the knowledge and skills that lie in the weaver communities are uniquely their own, passed on from generations, and can hardly be taught in a formal school. Through DCDP, DEF is trying to amplify art, skills and practices of weavers and artisans in the grassroots.
People have often seen fashion shows by celebrity designers, but at Antarang showcased a carefully curated collection by the weavers from five clusters that DEF directly engages with. These clusters are Saidanpur, Musiri, Barpali, Nuapatna and Chanderi.
Saidanpur was primarily known for its handwoven viscose gamchhas and Arabi rumaal for men. Today, the centre is moving more and more away from chinese viscose and towards cotton; and also adopting digital technology under an Ericsson-supported project called Baank-e-Loom. The cluster has also expanded its range of products to include beautiful ladies stoles.
Musiri is handloom cluster in the state of Tamil Nadu. Weavers in this cluster make sarees, dupattas and veshti in cotton. Following various initiatives in the cluster, including digital interventions supported by our partners Mphasis, the cluster has begun its march towards organic cotton.
Barpali and Nuapatna are handloom clusters in Odisha that are known for their fine ikat work. While Barapali weavers speacialise in single ikat-weaving on primarlily cotton sarees, Nuapatna weavers are known for one of the finest double-ikat work. Both Barpali and Nupatna are supported under project Digikala, an initiative of Microsoft and DEF.
Chanderi is a silk-and-cotton based handloom cluster in Madhya Pradesh. The cluster makes one of the finest silk sarees. It is, in fact, the first handloom cluster, where DEF introduced digital interventions back in 2009 with support from the then Ministry of IT.
Our showstopper for the day was DEF Co-Founder Shaifali Chikermani. Shaifali was dressed in Chanderi silk designed and woven by Arshad Ansari, our weaver from Chanderi.
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