DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
pre-loom and post-loom
activities such as dyeing
yarn, spinning bobbins,
setting the loom up, and
starching—she has found
d
that weaving from home
helps the weaver, the
family, as well as the craft.
t.
THE IKATS
OF ODISHA
Gunjan is particularly
drawn to the beauty of
Odisha ikats that she says
ys
stand out for their fine, curvilinear motifs, which
are reflective of the superlative skills of yarn tie-
dyers and weavers. Ikat, which is resist-dyed,
is locally called bandha, which means ‘to tie’,
alluding to the tie-dye yarns with which the fabric
is woven. Gunjan primarily works with single
ikat in which the weft yarns are resist-dyed.
Drawing on the different expressions of Odisha
ikat, she collaborates with weavers to create
contemporary masterpieces that are graced with
traditional motifs.
Taking the craft to another level are her ikat
textiles woven with tussar yarn, which she says
are challenging to achieve and that they can only
be woven by highly skilled weavers. “Hand-spun
tussar yarn is notorious as it has a slubby texture,
shrinks, and expands with moisture, is uneven,
and not easy to weave ikat with,” she says.
Recently, she and a weaver collaborated to
create an ikat sari, handmade with yarns dyed
brown, with all 40 verses of the Hanuman Chalisa
woven in. The masterpiece, which Gunjan says
is a product of the devotional zeal of the weaver,
required two years of research and work to
be created, and is a tribute to the ancient tradition
of Odisha’s calligraphic ikat weaves woven
for temples.
66
I APPAREL I
December 2019
WEA
WEAVING
JALA
The second technique Gunjan
Th
works with is jala-weaving. The
w
j jala is essentially a draw loom,
which predates the jacquard
loom. The weavers weave
lo
motifs such as fish, flowers,
m
rudraksh, and birds with extra-weft
rudrak
yarns on the jala loom, which results
beautifully patterned textiles with a
in bea
slightly raised effect as a result of
supplementary yarns. “When I went
supplem
to Odisha, I realised that a lot of weavers had
moved
to weaving plain tussar
d f from j jala-weaving
l
yardage, and in the process, were losing the
skill of the former. In some cases, I saw that the
jala loom was being substituted by the jacquard
loom. Apart from losing a skill, it also meant
loss of the craft as some motifs and patterns
cannot be woven on the jacquard loom,” Gunjan
explains. That is when she decided to bring back
the jala loom with new ideas and forms, and
redevelop a design voice for Odisha’s textiles.
Gunjan says, “In the northeastern belt of the
state, in a wonderful decentralised system,
women collect silk cocoons and sell it to women
spinners, who spin and thigh-reel it to produce
very fine and high-quality tussar yarn. This yarn is
handwoven to produce beautiful fabrics.”
THE DESIGNER-WEAVER DYNAMIC
Gunjan credits her learning to handloom weavers
and artisans who have shared their knowledge
of techniques and motifs with her, thereby
enabling her to design. “I think that the cultural
relevance of design is extremely important. As a
designer, I feel that it is my responsibility to make
sure I go halfway and allow the weaver to come
halfway. We have to fuse energies and ideas. I
always encourage weavers to respond to their