The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : An expression of the history of weaving

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 22, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

An expression of the history of weaving

Staff Reporter

Co-optex organises six-day exhibition on the occasion of `Chennai Sangamam'

COLOURS OF A TRADITION: State Handloom and Textiles secretary Vishvanath Shegaonkar looks at a textile artisan at work at the Co-optex Vaanavil showroom in Chennai on Wednesday. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: There is a story between the weft and warp of every fabric. There is a rich past associated with the shuttle and treadle pushing strands of threads of silk or cotton that pass through the bamboo or metal reeds. Each strand that emerges from the spindle speaks of the traditional roots of Tamil Nadu's hand-woven fabric.

It is this history that The Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Co-operative Society wishes to express at the six-day exhibition organised by Co-optex at the Vanavil showroom celebrating `Chennai Sangamam,' along with the rest of city.

M.P. Nirmala, Special Officer and Managing Director, Co-optex, said the exhibition, which is offering a special discount of 30 per cent up to March 15, will exhibit different varieties of hand-woven textiles, clothing and home furnishing.

These materials are reputed for their purity as they bear the silk and handloom marks of the Central Government.

On Friday, there will be an exhibition of Parambariya Pattu, silk saris that are over a century old, bought for the purpose of exhibition from collectors.

Around 410 saris will be displayed and public who wish to buy saris on those designs may place orders with Co-optex, she said.

Vishwanath Shegaonkar, Secretary Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, said the offer to bring their century-old silk saris was still open to the public. They would be returned after the exhibition.

Readymade shirts, between a price range of Rs.260 and Rs.400, salwar kameez sets, saris, stoles, scarves, table cloths and floor mats, baby sets, including cradle bedding, and a wide range of textiles are on display.

Special project

Kalyani Pramod, lead designer of Izhai, of the Swarna Jayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana, a partnership programme of the State and Central Governments, said it was a special project that began to promote the skills of weavers. "A whole lot of weavers go in for unskilled labour such as masonry as they are not able to earn a living with their profession," she said, pointing out that through the project, they gave weavers ideas to fashion clothes and fabrics to suit the modern youth.

For example, if a customer bought a stole for Rs.115, the weaver, who was earlier getting Rs.30 for the stole, would now get Rs.115, she said.

A. Nagarajan and N. Sreenivasan from Chennimalai in Erode demonstrated the process of weaving a bedsheet while V. Malar and N. Subramanian showed how the weaving of a Kancheepuram silk sari was done.

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