Renowned designer Gaurang Shah takes us through the laborious process of creating exclusive handwoven saris

In an era of sustainable and responsible fashion, the demand for all things handmade is growing by the day and almost turning into something elementary for any sartorial label of renown that wants to stand out. But for designer Gaurang Shah, this is something that he has been practising for decades. For anyone looking for authentic luxe designs in jamdani saris, Gaurang, his eponymous label, needs no introduction. For over two decades, he has been meticulously creating nine yards of handwoven art that takes anywhere between two and six years to make.

A recent media trip to Srikakulam, to mark the National Handloom Day, one of his several weaving clusters spread across the country, was an enriching experience of how the rich woven wonders that decorate our shelves are painstakingly created over years of meticulous weaving process. The beauty of Gaurang’s saris lies in the novelty of their jamdani weaves apart from the gorgeous designs. The clusters across the country produce masterpiece jamdani weaves using various techniques and fabrics, underscoring the mastery of the regional craftsmen.

“We use a variety of jamdani weaving techniques and fabrics to create the saris. For our Srikakulam centre, for example, our in-house artists lay out the designs conceived by us in 48-inch broad gateway papers, be it floral, Mughal architecture, or natureinspired. The colours and shapes are replicated by the weavers here on warp and weft in exact manner,” says Gaurang, who takes us through the process during the rounds in the looms.

Similarly, in Srinagar, kani weaves are created through talim script in fabrics like Pashmina. Uppada, Paithan and Kota use the painting technique in khadi, silk and Kota fabrics respectively, while Dhaka centre uses graph techniques to weave jamdanis. “Apart from using the region-specific fabrics and yarns, we experiment with different textures too. In Paithan, besides silk tissue, we use cotton and organza tissue too. In Srinagar, we are weaving jamdani on khadi to make them more tropical weather-friendly,” says the designer

Owning such bespoke creations, of course, comes at a price, and Gaurang’s customer, mostly comprising the creme of the society, do not mind paying for the same. “When someone comes to me, she knows she is buying a piece of art. It’s unique and for keeps. Our weavers work all round the year only for us and even the simplest saris take at least 20 to 24 months to be made by two weavers. We pay them Rs 20,000 each per month for the same, and that’s what makes the jamdanis so exclusive,” adds Gaurang.

During the pre-Covid era, Gaurang had 7,000 weavers working in looms across 15 states in the country, including Srikakulam, Uppada, Paithan, Srinagar, Benaras, Patan, Kota, and even in Dhaka, among others.

But restrictions on gatherings during the pandemic coupled with drastic fall in demand for all things sartorial, led Gaurang to close a few weaving centres in Uppada, Srikakulam, Paithan, and Benaras, where the production took a massive hit. In the cluster weaving centres and sheds, people sit together and weave, which came to a halt and for about 4 to 6 months, weavers were not doing any work. Also, a few old master weavers lost their lives to Covid-19 and other health related issues.

“After the pandemic, when things started settling down, we had to start from the scratch and had to train new assistant weavers in jamdani techniques. It’s extremely laborious and intricate to weave a jamdani sari and we had to start by teaching the simple weaving techniques. Now, after two years, we are currently back to our pre-Covid level and we expect our fresh batch of exquisite Paithanis to arrive by early next year latest,” says Gaurang.

Ready with his new set of festive jamdanis, Gaurang shares a few looks of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s daughter and dancer Radhe Jaggi in his exquisite saris exclusively with Indulge. Here are excerpts from the chat with the renowned designer.

The second hurdle is to convince the customers why what we charge is justifiable. My designs are different and a little expensive because they are time-consuming and intricately laborious. For example, in our Odisha looms, the weavers specialise both in Paithani jamdani and Odisha ikat techniques. So, the saris I create there have jamdani pallu and borders and single ikat weaves in the body that have very intricate and minute designs. They take almost six years to make. I never make to order and finding and reviving old and dying techniques stir me.

I have recently also revived mojri embroidery — the famous Gujarati cobbler weaves from the Kutch region —and the saris take almost two and a half years to be finished with four to five people working on it. I love Parsi ghara embroidery, aari stitches from Dehradun that look like a painting, and the delicate petite point borders from Kochi that are hand embroidered on fine net.

They are not only comfortable but are also timeless and woven painstakingly by at least two people, who have put their emotions into it. Hence, each sari has a story of its own to be cherished and worn forever. And if you are not a sari person, then at least have handwoven dupattas to style your ethnic looks.