Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Kalamkari enters fashion market

Staff Reporter

`Kalam Creations' inaugurated in Tiruchanur

MATCHLESS SKILL: A Kalamkari artist at work at `Kalam Creations' in Tirupati on Wednesday. — Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

TIRUPATI: Though Srikalahasti is the birthplace of the famous `Kalamkari' paintings, there have not been concreted efforts to preserve, promote and pass on the art form to posterity, with its values intact. Nor has there been any sincere step to let the artisans and weavers eke out a decent living.

`Kalam Creations', the first showroom of Kalamkari art and craft products inaugurated in Tiruchanur here on Wednesday, hopes to fill this gap. The prime objective of opening an outlet exclusively for Kalamkari is to shed the temple art look and take it closer to the elite echelons of the society as an "ethnic designerware", so that it gets the desired patronage from the contemporary fashion industry.

The products, made of vegetable dyes of vivid hues, are a connoisseur's delight. Mythological themes, tree of life, floral concepts, foliage and other captivating designs are there on traditional hand-crafted cotton/silk sarees and dupattas.

Mamata Reddy, owner of the showroom, explains that her sojourn in the field of art and fashion started some fifteen years ago when she saw the pathetic life of Kalamkari artists of Srikalahasti, who had by then started deserting the field owing to lack of patronage. The idea of gathering all the scattered Kalamkari workers under one roof struck her then that provided the much-needed bridge between the artisans and the elite market in Hyderabad and beyond.

"Today, Kalam Creations supports over 50 families of dedicated artisans and weavers, enjoys a large and devoted clientele and its creations are much sought after in foreign markets," say sa brimming Mamata.

Thanks to its proximity to Shilparamam (Urban Haat), residents and pilgrims can visit this spot too and see for themselves the artisans at work, the dyes and bamboo pens employed in hand painting and simply to say, the strenuous process behind deriving the aesthetically-supreme finished product called `Kalamkari'.

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