The managing director of Abraham and Thakore shows his concern over the handloom industry by saying that our country needs to develop policies and strategies to conserve the vanishing traditional textiles and rare weaving skills showcased by our weavers. Almost every region in India produces its own special textiles which have led to the development of a diverse design vocabulary. A combination of rich natural resources and human ingenuity led to the development of a sophisticated array of textiles for clothing and furnishings.
Textile craftsmanship in India encompasses almost every known technique of weaving, dyeing, printing and embroidery. From complex ikats and brocades to magically reversible block printed Ajrakh; from intricate embroidery to diaphanous handwoven muslins the range of handmade Indian textiles is unparalleled.
Over the millennia India’s craft-based textile industry became the world’s richest resource in textile artistry. Indian textiles were highly valued around the world and were exported to China, Europe and Africa from ancient times. To quote from the website of the Victoria and Albert museum, “India was at one point the greatest exporter of textiles the world has ever known, with the trade reaching its height in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
Today even as industrially produced textiles make inroads into the market for handmade textiles, India is still home to the world’s largest number of highly skilled textile artisans, many of whom are custodians of increasingly rare skills. Unfortunately, some of the finest textile techniques have been lost as inexpensive mass-produced textiles flood the market. Though this has led to a decline, the handloom sector is still one of the largest employers in India today after agriculture, despite the decreasing numbers of weavers.
The Indian fashion industry which has maintained continuity with traditional clothing constructs has created a demand for handmade textiles. There is also an awareness and pride in our textile heritage. The sari continues to be worn across the country and has found an enduring place in the contemporary Indian fashion lexicon.
At the premium end of the fashion industry we see an increasing engagement between the textile craftsperson and the designer resulting in the production of garments with extremely high levels of workmanship. This interrelationship has led to new dialogues in design as traditional design vocabularies and techniques are adapted and contemporised in the search for new creative applications. The handloom and craft sector provides an unrivalled advantage. Designers seeking exclusivity have access to not just the high levels of hand craftsmanship that this sector offers but the advantage of limited production runs which allow exclusive and specialised fabrics to be woven, printed and embroidered to the designer’s specifications.
It is essential that we develop policies to protect the future of this sector. We may extol the value of our craft heritage but unless measures are taken to support it our heritage of handmade textiles could be endangered. From the perspective of sustainable practices, we must also focus on sustaining the traditional ecosystem of the craftsperson. The environmental footprint of the craftsperson is tiny, yet their importance as custodians of important aspects of our material culture is enormous.
source: https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/independence-day-2020-fashion-designer-david-abraham-on-the-textile-heritage-of-india/#s-cust0
