Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 7
Manjit Kaur, 40, had been weaving durries all her life, learning the art from her mother. Little did she know that she could earn a living by making these colorful, beautiful traditional dosuti looms that have been a part of Punjab’s textile heritage.
‘Need to save the inherent craftsmanship’
- FICCI FLO in collaboration with the Cocoon Foundation held a live event Karigari to support the local weavers. The event saw actor Lara Dutta along with designers Rahil Mishra and Monika Shah, who talked about the need to save the inherent craftsmanship of the country through coordinated efforts
- Monika Shah is the founder of fashion label Jade is one of the contemporary designer and fashion promoters to support Indian weaves. Rahul Mishra is among the top fashion designers in the world and a regular at Paris Fashion Week. Mishra made his fashion week debut with famous mundu weave from Kerela and has been known to use benarasi, zardozi and Chanderi weaves in his collections. He is the only recipient of the Woolmark Prize at Milan Fashion Week, the only Indian designer to do so
“I used to make traditional khes and durries during weddings in the village and make a few for my family. But six years ago, I joined the training workshop programme of Cocoon Foundation, through which I started earning for myself by making durries,” she shared. Just like Manjit, Sarbjit Kaur along with other women in her village in Sangrur, joined the initiative by Cocoon Foundation to revive and rehabilitate the weavers and traditional handloom artisans. The foundation has been running several empowerment initiatives for local artisans and weavers across the country to enable them to make a livelihood.
Khes is traditional loom made in geometrical pattern, using colourful thread on a pit loom. From the famous majnu khes popular in the pre-Partition era to the modern weaves, the khes has been part of bridal trousseau for generations. Similarly, durries or woven rugs have been part of every rural household in Punjab. Earlier, every household in the village used to have a panja loom to weave durries.
Resurgence of these handlooms ensure that the village economy stays afloat. Manjit and many women in her village have made the journey towards self-reliance through selling these traditional weaves. She said she used to earn enough to give good education and manage household before the outbreak of the pandemic two years ago, which wreaked havoc on their livelihood.
“I used to get orders of 10 durries, sometimes, even more. They sell at Rs 300 per piece to even Rs 10,000 for intricate and elaborate designs that take a month to weave. The demand was good and income consistent before the arrival of Covid-19. With no orders coming in and work still on at a very slow pace, it will take a lot of time to pick up the business like before,” she said. Her husband is a daily wager.
Harsharan Singh, a weaver for the past 45 years, from Chherherta, too said the pandemic hit on the livelihood of weavers and the handloom industry hard. “There has always been huge demand for traditional Punjabi handlooms, especially in overseas market. I run my own loom, where I train women and youth in traditional crafts like durries, phulkari, etc. There is dearth of orders and we used to export 60 per cent of our products. But with the pandemic, 50 per cent of business has been affected.”
Hailing from a family of weavers, Harsharan said he had trained around 350-400 women and village youth in traditional weaves. “I also upgraded by looms from manually-operated to power looms. We have been working in association with different government agencies to market our products. We hope that international demand picks up soon,” he said.
Amritsar: Weavers of durries, khes wait for biz to pick up
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