The Future of Handwoven Textiles
Its national handloom day! Many articles will be written today on glorification of handloom textiles, numerous events would be inaugurated reflecting “All izz well”, many declarations would be made for revival of handlooms, some would lament about the sad state of affairs of weavers, all in good spirit.
But the larger question that reminds one of the lines by “Gabbar’ from movie ‘Sholay” (in a different context) about numbers still remains unanswered- “Kitne addmi the”?- how many weavers were there? 1995 census says 6.5 millon weavers and associated artisans which reduced to 4.3 million by 2009 census. Even if one ignores “Kitne aadmi the”, the burgeoning concern “kitna kamata hai” — how much does a weaver earn still remains.
Are weavers able to eke out a dignified livelihood? Has it remained as a profession which next generation will cherish to pursue as primary livelihood? Perhaps 2009 census has captured this dropping heart rate and we all know where the sector is heading towards-let’s admit it honestly.
Next two-three decades are going to be extremely critical for the handloom sector. If we, together as a society, are able to address the core issues there is a strong possibility that ‘point of inflection’ may become visible soon.
From our limited perspective, let’s try to look at the issues causing downward spiral
Craft Dilution: For known-unknown reasons, there is an assumed competition with machines. There is a perceived push and pull to achieve higher ‘productivity’ and making it ‘cheap’. This rat race with machines is ‘unwinnable” and does nothing but degrades the worth of the handmade. Low grade yarns, napthol dyes, artificial fibers, poor fabric weaving, over simplification of designs et al speak out loud about the scar on the beauty of handmade.
Someone has to intervene and tell weavers ‘hey stop’ and think where your strength lies? Can machines do ‘sampling’ and ‘experiment’ better than you? Can machines produce unique pieces in their fast pace production? Will handspun and naturally dyed yarn make good fit for bulk production of machines? Will machines prefer finer count natural fibers over artificial fibers in the higher rpm? You would find that natural fibers, preferably hand spun and naturally dyed, woven in shorter runs with unique pieces rooted in traditional design sensibility makes the winning case for handwoven textiles.
Market Evolution: Business practices have seen a sea change in last one century. 200 years back, markets were at artisans door step, they knew taste and preference of their customers and they produced which met the requirement. Terms like cash flow, inventory and working capital were not in vogue for artisans. Now business happens over touch of a finger, money exchanges hands digitally, English has become the business language, whatsapp is the electronic “kabootar”, Instagram is the new display gallery, colors have codes, engineered garment is the trend and so on and so forth.
Business Education: While staying ‘traditional’ in craft form is important, modern business skills, design knowledge and communication practices are equally important. Will our educational institutions will open doors for artisans to bring them to the speed in the changing environment? Will their selection criteria be accommodative enough to absorb artisans who are not from scholarly background but are creative? Will education happen in vernacular language? Will rest of the cohort and artisans feel at ease in the same batch in these institutions? Will these institutions empathize with the earning and learning needs of the artisans?
Someone has to intervene and say ‘hey we will do it”. Come forward and say that we are ready to educate the artisans in the vernacular language, at their door step, as per their convenience and mind you this education has to be very hands-on. Someone has to say that we will put in best people for this education because poor teachers would not create best in class graduates. Make sure that this education also leads to direct business connect of artisans with buyers so that learning increases earning. Ensure that artisans truly become independent and interdependent.
Ecosystem: Weaving is never done by one person, there are set of people who are involved in pre-loom and post-loom processes. With decreasing number of weavers, pre-loom and post-loom service providers have also drifted away. An attempt at reviving the weaving tradition would remain incomplete without bridging this void. Someone has to intervene on this front as well while working on the first two downward spirals. Someone has to look at reviving sizing, hand spinning, strengthening dyeing units to do natural dyeing/eco-friendly dyeing, post loom processes lead to sustainability.
It’s a long journey, but we are hopeful to see the ‘point of inflection’ in the 6 clusters where we have begun the work.
Future of handlooms is not just bright but very colorful!
Sharda Gautam
Head Crafts, Tata Trusts
