Celebrating the ethnicity of India
Ethnic fabric lovers in the city had a variety of options — from saris to dupattas — to pick up from at the heritage textile exhibition held at Aga Khan Hall. The exhibition “Weave Vriksha” by Utsav showcased contemporary textures, designs and patterns from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal.
Utsav is a 25-year-old initiative by designer Shashiv Chandran, a textile connoisseur who works directly with weavers from almost all the southern and northern states.
Talking about Shashiv’s passion for the nine yard wonder, spokesperson for Utsav, Rajiv Chandran says, “From a very young age Shashiv has been transfixed by the sari. His mother wore exquisite handlooms. And that set him off on a life-time passion for the saree.”
Utsav aims to identify the unique and often extant textile fragments, colours and designs that have gone out of weaver’s memory. Chandran says, “Some saris take three to four days on the loom, others two weeks. But an intricate Kanjivaram could be on the loom for upto 12 weeks.”
Talking about the weavers Chandran works with, he says, “The weavers reinvent the designs they had learnt from their forefathers on new fabric; sometimes, they even mix two separate fabrics or patterns from two different states.”
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