India's textile heritage takes center stage at CCI Textile Show in Chennai

Incredible warp and weft stories have been handspun and hand-woven by India’s weavers from 3000 BCE to today. During this period, rare weaves, colours, motifs and designs emerged, which are still with us today in the wonder of a textile heritage in continuum. The stories of the “Fine flowered muslin of India” as Megasthenes put it, the ‘Vetri renti’ of Roman records and of many other textiles and saris continue in the looms of today’s weavers, in the embellishments of artisans, and the brilliant concepts of designers told in contemporary language and flavours....

The Crafts Council of India (CCI) Textile Show, opening in August, is an ongoing celebration of the country’s glorious handloom tradition. Forty eminent and emerging designs from across diverse textile traditions from different regions of the country present their saris, dupattas, fabrics, stoles and made-up collections melding ancient weaves and motifs of Benarasi, Patola, Venkatagiri, Muslin, Khadi, and Handloom cottons with design sensibilities and formats of today, fuse ancient colour palettes and traditional motifs with folk art and embroideries and present brilliant innovations in weave, textures and processes to put handloom in the contemporary frame.

Each collection also reflects the unwavering commitment of designers, artisans and weaver to environmental protection.

Listen to the many unforgettable textile and sari stories unfolding at the Textile Show. Vishal Bhand’s eco-printing brings fresh flowers on to the saris by imprinting floral motifs on the sari through an ingenious process in which fresh flowers are tied in bunches on the sari and slowly dipped in warm water, releasing the pigments of the flowers on the sari surface. The imprinted motifs are reminiscent of an impressionist painter’s work of art.

On view at the Textile Show are Yalis, white handlooms woven with golden checks and stripes, Radha Krishna Handloom’s compelling single and double ikats, and Tarini’s Odisha hand woven sari traditions. Heritage jamdani saris and dupattas mesmerise in ssahaworks, lyrical muslin Jamdanis, and the revival of 600-year-old Shantipur saris, Ramkumar Halder’s jamdanis and Biren Basak’s legendary revival jamdanis.

The story continues in Farah Khan’s beautiful kantha florals on Bishnupur silk saris and on Ponduru Khadi. Mura collective’s shibori saris, chikankari saris and dupattas from woven traditions and kalamkari hand-woven saris. The Ajrakh story captivates in variegated collections while Patola’s and Saudamini’s cotton and silk Paithanis are on view to light up the festive season. A host of smart on-trend made-ups and salwar kurta ensembles in jamdani, khadi, handloom silks and cottons add allure to the Textile Show.

Join handloom’s iconic 3,000-year-old journey to make it an intrinsic part of everyday, every occasion and every season.

10 am to 7 pm, August 9 and 10, 2024. MRC Centre, Santhome High Road, Raja Annamalai Puram.

— Pushpa Chari