Apparel September 2019 Apparel September 2019 issue | Page 74

UNIQUE INITIATIVE
COLOUR INTERVENTION WAS
ANOTHER CHALLENGE AS THE
LOCALS WERE NOT OPEN TO
THE IDEA OF USING BLACK. THEY
FOUND IT TO BE INAUSPICIOUS
AND AGAINST THEIR CULTURE.
HOW DID YOU ZERO IN ON THE GOMI
TENI, HUBLI, AND LAKKUNDI SARIS?
I had got samples of Gomi teni, Hubli, and
Lakkundi saris when I was conducting a research
on patteda anchu. When patteda anchu was
launched, it received a good response and our
team of artisans grew from one to 12. More
artisans wanted to join us but we could not
accommodate them all as this was a self-funded
project; and we could not increase the production
due to financial constraints. Moreover, patteda
anchu replicas, too, had started flooding the
market by then. I then slowly and steadily started
the production of Gomi teni, to which the market
reciprocated well. And considering how more and
more artisans wanted to join us, I also launched
the lost weaves of Hubli and Lakkundi. Today, we
work with 45 weavers.
68
I APPAREL I
September 2019
HOW CHALLENGING HAS IT BEEN TO
REVIVE EACH OF THESE FABRICS?
The challenges were many as I was perceived as
an outsider whom the artisans found difficult to
trust initially. So I established the Punarjeevana
Trust and self-help group to fuel the work of these
artisans. Also, sourcing raw material was an issue
as I did not have enough capital to procure large
amounts of cotton. Eventually, I found ways and
means of self-sustenance and expanded my
network, which led to the National Handloom
Development Corporation providing us with
raw material. Locals working with power looms
started seeing me as a threat to their products,
which made it difficult to procure material on the
basis of credit, so I worked two jobs to fund the
whole exercise. Colour intervention was another
challenge as the locals were not open to the idea
of using black. They found it to be inauspicious
and against their culture. It took some amount of
persuasion to change this mindset.
HOW DID YOU BRING WEAVERS BACK
TO THE HANDLOOM?
Getting weavers to work full-time on the loom
was a huge challenge because it was not
fetching them enough money. I promised to take
care of all the expenses for two weavers on a
day-to-day basis, which is when they decided to
work on it extensively, giving up other jobs. Soon,
we started getting enough orders, and they
even enrolled their relatives to work—this is how
the number of artisans started to increase. At
Punarjeevana, all are involved in decision-making
and the finances, too, are taken care of jointly.