Everyone Should Know About Nuapatna
I started this company in 2003 after more than a dozen years as a journalist. It was on a story that I discovered the immense richness of handmade cloth. My first encounter with ‘handloom was in Nuapatna, a tiny village near the eastern coast of India in the state of Orissa.
The villagers of Nuapatna have been weaving handloom cloth – mostly saris – continuously for generations. One family can count back six generations and more than 300 years of weaving. I was struck by the skill with which the cloth was made – the designs were dyed before weaving using a resist method called tie-and-dye in India, also known in the world as ‘ikat.’
The ability to dye the design properly was key and involved multiple skills: precision, mathetamatical calculations and artistry. Almost 80% of the population works on handloom – as a weaver, dyer, designer or spinner. Peek into any mud hut and a gleaming silk sari is usually on a loom.
The lady to the right is from the home of a master weaver where weaving has been done for at least the past 200 years. I took this picture of her while she was making the mid-day meal in an old cotton ikat sari.
I’ve always loved textiles and fashion. While I was a journalist, I did a number of stories in India and other parts of the subcontinent. After each story was filed, I would reward myself with a trip to the local textile shops. I researched textiles in every corner of the world my stories took me.
I had seen a lot, but Nuapatna blew me away. I was also struck by how the artisans, who made this amazing handloom cloth, lived in such poor conditions. The world knows and celebrates ikat from such diverse places: Thailand, Yemen and Peru. In fact, at one point in history the entire world wove ikat and lusted after the finest ikats from India.
But Nuaputna had fallen off the map. It is well know by textile historians and museum curators and the saris produced are sold in the local cities. Otherwise, is was not flourishing in that way it should considering the level of skill and artistry….mostly because the world did not know about it.
I recently took a trip back to Nuapatna. Even though it was 110 degrees when I took this video, it didn't stop these children from enjoying themselves.
So a few years later, I decided to take a hiatus from journalism and plunge into the world of textiles. I had no contacts and in the beginning, not even a clear idea of how I would do it, but I felt the world should know about Nuapatna and thousands of villages just like it.
I started this company in 2003 after more than a dozen years as a journalist. It was on a story that I discovered the immense richness of handmade cloth. My first encounter with ‘handloom was in Nuapatna, a tiny village near the eastern coast of India in the state of Orissa.
The villagers of Nuapatna have been weaving handloom cloth – mostly saris – continuously for generations. One family can count back six generations and more than 300 years of weaving. I was struck by the skill with which the cloth was made – the designs were dyed before weaving using a resist method called tie-and-dye in India, also known in the world as ‘ikat.’
The ability to dye the design properly was key and involved multiple skills: precision, mathetamatical calculations and artistry. Almost 80% of the population works on handloom – as a weaver, dyer, designer or spinner. Peek into any mud hut and a gleaming silk sari is usually on a loom.
The lady to the right is from the home of a master weaver where weaving has been done for at least the past 200 years. I took this picture of her while she was making the mid-day meal in an old cotton ikat sari.
I’ve always loved textiles and fashion. While I was a journalist, I did a number of stories in India and other parts of the subcontinent. After each story was filed, I would reward myself with a trip to the local textile shops. I researched textiles in every corner of the world my stories took me.
I had seen a lot, but Nuapatna blew me away. I was also struck by how the artisans, who made this amazing handloom cloth, lived in such poor conditions. The world knows and celebrates ikat from such diverse places: Thailand, Yemen and Peru. In fact, at one point in history the entire world wove ikat and lusted after the finest ikats from India.
But Nuaputna had fallen off the map. It is well know by textile historians and museum curators and the saris produced are sold in the local cities. Otherwise, is was not flourishing in that way it should considering the level of skill and artistry….mostly because the world did not know about it.
I recently took a trip back to Nuapatna. Even though it was 110 degrees when I took this video, it didn't stop these children from enjoying themselves.
So a few years later, I decided to take a hiatus from journalism and plunge into the world of textiles. I had no contacts and in the beginning, not even a clear idea of how I would do it, but I felt the world should know about Nuapatna and thousands of villages just like it.
1 comment:
Hi..Smita
It's nice to see your blog regarding Nuapatna and it's famous Ikat designs and weaving, as I think you have already gathered few important info regarding this village and it's weaver, I would like to know if these weavers are equipped to work on the export market as per as fabrics and scarves are concerned, as being a designer I always have a special place for hand weave from across India, specially from Bengal and Orissa as being my neighboring state,
If I do get some info it will be a great help for me, Thanks
Post a Comment