Guntta Maggam Chiralu - PitLoom Cotton Saris of Andhra Pradesh

POST GRADUATION PROJECT

Guntta Magga Chiralu From Andhra Pradesh Collection of Pit loom Cotton Saris Part 1 of 2

Sponsor: Dastkar Andhra STUDENT: IMON KHANDAKAR PROGRAMME: MASTER OF DESIGN GUIDE: V SAKTHIVEL

2015 TEXTILE, APPAREL & LIFESTYLE ACCESSORY DESIGN I TEXTILE DESIGN

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The Evaluation Jury recommends IMON KHANDAKAR for the

Graduation of the National Institute of Design IN TEXTILE, APPAREL & LIFESTYLE ACCESSORY DESIGN (TEXTILE DESIGN)

Herewith, for the project titled "Guntta Magga Chiralu" on fulfilling the further requirements by *

Chairman Members :

*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements:

Registrar (Academics)

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Copyright © 2012 - 2013 Student document publication, meant for private circulation only. All rights reserved.

Post Graduate Diploma Program in Design, Textile Design, 2012 – 2014, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying ,xeroxography and videography recording without the written permission from the publisher Rahul and the National Institute of Design.

All illustrations and photographs in this document are copyright © 2012 - 2013 by respective people / organizations.

Edited and designed by: Name: Imon Khandakar E-mail: ikhandkar@yahoo.com imon_k@nid.edu Processed at: National Institute of Design (NID) Paldi, Ahmedabad – 380007 Gujrat, India http://www.nid.edu

Printed digitally at Ahmedabad ,India August, 2015

Guntta Magga Chiralu From Andhra Pradesh

Collection of Pitloom Cotton Saris

Faculty Guide: V Sakthivel Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M. Des 2012 National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. 2015

ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this graduation project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgement.

I further declare that the intellectual content of this Graduation project is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. This graduation project (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course.

Student Name in Full : Imon Khandakar Signature: Date:

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my graduation project in whole or in part in the Institute’s Knowledge Management Centre in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material.

Student Name in Full: Imon Khandakar Signature: Date:

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Guntta Maggam

Chirelu

I weave your name on the loom of my mind, To make my garment when you come to me.

My loom has ten thousand threads To make my garment when you come to me.

The sun and moon watch while I weave your name; The sun and moon hear while I count your name.

These are the wages I get by day and night To deposit in the lotus bank of my heart.

I weave your name on the loom of my mind To clean and soften ten thousand threads And to comb the twists and knots of my thoughts.

No more shall I weave a garment of pain.

For you have come to me, drawn by my weaving, Ceaselessly weaving your name on the loom of my mind.

by Kabir

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Ingradients for making Upindi Upma, Pappulu & Pachadi in occation of Ugadi to celebrate

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Acknowledgement I am grateful to all the people who have helped me in the course of this project:

Jagada Rajappa Garu, for guiding me with her wonderful insights, valuable inputs on construction & aesthetics of making saris.

Dastkar Andhra for giving me the opportunity to work on the project, Latha Tummuru, NID alumnus, for being cooperative throughout the design process, work culture at Dastkar Andhra, letting me explore every aspect of working in this sector holistically and tactically.

V. Sakthivel, for his immense guidance throughout the project and developing critical thinking for design process.

Srirangam Garu, by profession expert chemical dyer for Dastkar Andhra, without his constant supports on field through communication with weavers, cooperatives and get things done according to plan.

Also Shyama Mam for explaining conducting interaction on field and valuable subtle inputs during different stages of understanding handloom sector through project work.

To my dear weavers from Rajovolu, Subaiya Rao & Koteshwar Rao Garu along with their family for making me feels at home. I’m grateful to them for actualize the ideas and how to deal with a loom technically along with indigenous knowledge of pre & post loom process.

Ravindra, in the production Department for introducing me with the producer of the field visits and ground research & production channel.

Sri Ramamurthy Garu, who helped me with the technical calculation, along with his expert experience of dyeing and material.

Ramesh Garu, for helping me with getting things done in office and keeping track of in-house communication in different departments.

I thank them all for being supportive throughout my project.

Moreover he gave me a taste of Andhra by our conversations throughout three months of constant professional attachment.

All an Institutional support from NID and my fellow classmate, who always inspired me to work in a holistic environment.

Most importantly to my family, my mother, who has given her entire life for my betterment, my father for his support, patience and for building confidence in me.

National Institute of Design

Dastkar Andhra, Hyderabad

Mr. Pradyumana Vyas

Latha Thummuru

Director, NID

Design Head, Board Member

Ms. Aarti Srivastava

Dr. B. Shyama Sundari

Coordinator, Textile Design

President, Board Member

Mr. V Shaktivel

Mr. Ravindra

Studio Coordinator, Dyeing & Printing Studio

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

Production incharge

Special Thanks My Family Saradwati dutta Iti Jhalani Aaditya Gangwar B Aurna Shree Anamika Singh Palak Khare Pratheek Irvathur All my colleagues & friends

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Handloom, or fabric woven by hand, makes up just over a tenth of India’s total fabric production. A spectacular range is created by weavers across the country

Table of Contents

About NID About Textile Design

i. Introduction

Synopsis

Project Brief

Project Scope Methodology Project Time-line

Structure of Andhra Handloom Industry Work Flow Model Sponsor Profile: Dastkar Andhra Understanding Work Cycles in DA Design at DA Cooperative Associated With Dastkar Andhra

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3 4 7 9 10 15 17 21 23 24 27

ii. Contextual Study Sari Culture Study of Dastkar Andhra’s Collection Analysis of Sari Collection Colour & Pattern Iconography in Sari Analysis of Sari Layouts Drapability: Yarn Properties and Constructions Drape of a Sari Dyeing Workshop in VWSC Loom Study - Lattice Pit Loom Setting up a Dobby Loom Technical Expertise on Loom & Weaving Innovative Marketing Market Survey Table Design Approach

30 42 45 46 48 50 53 54 58 64 66 68 70 72 73

Field Visits Understandings • Ponduru & Singupuram,Srikakulam District • Pasalapudi to Hasanabada, East Godavari District • Rajavolu & Ilavaram, Guntur District Question Raised Raw Materials & Production

78 84 90 95 96

iii. Functioning Systems

iv. Guntta Maggam Chirelu

Re-briefing of Project Concept Development

Design Development Methodology

101 102 108

• Inspiration | Muggu | Figure & Motifs • Design Directions

• Mood & Colour Board

• Understanding motif size according to reed

• Figure Explorations

• Layout Explorations

108 109 111 112 113 113

• Inspiration 2 | Orchha | Colour & Figure • Design Directions • Mood Board

• Colour Palette • Figure Explorations • Stripes Exploration for Border • Border Compositions • Warp Exploration • Selected Warps

• Inspiration 3 | Urban Potua | Colour & Composition • Synthesis • Mood Board • Colour Palette • Kuppadam Temple Explorations • Sampling in Singupuram, Srikakulam District 1. Line 2. Solid 3. Multi colour Weft 4. Size & Space

116 118 119 122 124 129 135 140 148 160 160 161 163 164 172 172 174 176 178

Observation 182 Suggestions 184 Intension & Impact of Working with Rajavolu Weavers 186 Saris of Collection One in part 2 Saris of Collection Two in part 2 Bibliography 188 Glossary 189

Eames Plaza In the heart of NID, Ahmedabad campus

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About National Institute of Design National Institute of Design (NID) is a premier institute located in the heart of the beautiful cultural city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It is globally acclaimed as one of the best multidisciplinary institute in the field of design learning and research. The foundation of NID has a long history to say which takes us back to the early 50’s.

In 1955, Pupul Jayaker, founder of the Indian Hand-looms and Handicrafts Export Council (HHEC) met the renowned American designer Charles Eames at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the same time the Government of India was considering establishing an institute of design, under the advice of Pupul Jayaker and other likeminded people. In 1958, Charles Eames was invited to our country where he presented the ‘India Report’ to the Government of India.

Based on the India Report, the Government with the assistance of Ford Foundation and Sarabhai family established the National Institute of Design as an autonomous all-India body in September 1961 at Ahmedabad.

The institute aims to provide multi- disciplinary approach to design using, “Hands on, Minds on”, experience leading the design scenario of India to newer heights. It aims to work towards a congregated system of design education, design training and design practice for the young minds. NID trains students at both, Undergraduate level and Post Graduate level. Equipped with studio and state-of-the art machinery, NID believes in learning by doing.

The knowledge management centre (KMC) is one of the most equipped libraries across the world, comprising the best collection of books, magazines, documents and journals. Inauguration of the Design Vision Centre placed at the NID lab facility on the world map, cuts down the time line between the conceptualizing and the end product.

Numerous exchange programmes between various prestigious Institutes from all over the world and NID has helped broaden the perspective of not only the students but also the rest of the community. NID’s research and development team is building towards a brighter design scenario in India. Working with the Indian craft person and tapping the abundant potential in India itself is an innovation done in NID for the Indian government and otherwise have proven its mettle everywhere. NID’s graduates have made a mark in key sectors of commerce, industry and social development by taking role of catalysts and through thought leadership.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

Degree Project for M.Des The end of the students’ academic tenure at the National Institute of Design is marked by the culmination of a substantial investigation in the field of design on a topic closely allied to their discipline of study. It is through the degree project and subsequent documentation of the same that this investigation takes place. This is the final academic project for the student. It is an opportunity for the student to exhibit his/her skills as a design professional in the industry with regular but limited guidance from the institute.

This exposure allows the students to develop one’s confidence and utilize all that has been taught in terms of practical application, understanding, client briefs, cost considerations, market trends and buyers psychology amongst other things. A jury comprising faculty members evaluates the students’ performance in the diploma project, after which, students are awarded NID’s professional education programme.

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Textile Printing Studio at National Institute of Design

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About Textile Design Textiles are one of human beings’ oldest creations, and today have a varied range of functions and applications. Clothing and textiles have been important in human history and reflects the materials available to a civilization as well as the technologies that it has mastery over.

The social significance of the finished product lies in the fact that it reflects their culture. Textiles, defined as ‘felt or spun fibres made into yarn and subsequently netted, looped, knit or woven to make fabrics’, appeared in the Middle East during the late stone age. Since the ancient times to the present day, designs and methods of textile production have continuously evolved, and the myriad choices of textiles available have influenced how people carried themselves, their possessions and embellished their surroundings.

Textile design is an understanding and creation of textiles to solve design problems. It involves keen observation and assimilation of traditional techniques as well as modern mass production methods.

The Textile Design programme at NID takes inspiration from both art as well as craft traditions and it equally appreciates technology and lays emphasis on the production potential of these materials. The curriculum at NID offers a wide range of courses such as, elementary

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

ergonomics, textile fibres, colour, composition and basic textile design for printing and weaving. Along-with these, the dyeing techniques, printing methods, sewing techniques, construction of fabrics and surface design are some of the other discipline-specific modules.

Moreover, design projects assigned to and scheduled for the students during all the semesters, bring in them a critical understanding of user perception, socio-cultural context and market reality, so as to enable them establish themselves as esteemed designers in future.

Throughout their course, the students are furnished with field exposure to craft and industrial production so that they become familiar with the conventional as well as latest techniques and trends of design and production. The culmination of the design course is through a Diploma Project undertaken by the nascent designers to have a firsthand experience under the able guidance to further enhance their skills as per the market trend too. And then, the “Young Designers” begin their occupational life by being employed in multinational corporations, design studios, export houses, textile manufacturing, craft centres or alternatively set up their own entrepreneurial ventures and enable the world patronize their skills and talent.

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Warp of sari is getting organized in patterned order for further process of sizing

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i.Introduction For the last 1,500 years or so, most cultures around the world have made clothing by creatively cutting fabric into pieces and laboriously sewing them back together in functional, sometimes form-fitting, aesthetically garments. However, in India, many garments including the sari, mundu-veshti, dhoti, sari-pants, and turbans are held together by gathering, rolling, tucking, pleating, wrapping and folding; the various techniques of draping.

The draping of sari in India is the earliest form of draping, even before the Greek and the Roman draped their togas. It is misleading to say that people in India can’t stitch since they always had additional stitched garments, but the sari, which is passed down from centuries to nowadays, holds the charm, beauty and extraordinariness of wear that could be worn by the youngest of girls to the eldest among woman. Even though the concept of a piece of fabric creating dresses may seem simple but the range of its flexibility reveals profound complexities of the beauty, adaptability, personality of the Indian culture and society that much inspires me.

Draping is a fundamental technique that is most commonly used by fashion designers but one that is gradually replaced by flat pattern making in today’s fast paced fashion industry. It is needless to say that draping is indeed closely linked with fashion and the different techniques of draping are crucial to understand the way a particular style is form.

The intent of the proposed study aimed to explore the possibility of sari draping in a modern silhouette and to derive a sari inspired collection. Starting by studying the basics of the sari then to appreciate and comprehend the different ways drapes can be

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

produced and to develop new forms and shape inspired by the various sari draping style and techniques. To a larger extent, the outcome aim to serve as a basis of knowledge, which may be used to inspire anyone for his or her own pursuits of creative and artistic expression in reference to the draping of a sari.

Saris are practical and versatile, especially when the beauty, form, silhouette can be easily manipulated through effective draping. As pointed out by Amanda Wakeley, “women wear their saris with such creative ease; the soft silhouette; the flowing fabric; the layering of textures and flashes of embellishment.” (Knox, 2011) Sari is undoubtedly the most important cultural symbol of India.

This garment has been in existence for millennium, with evidence of its presence going back to the very beginning of the Indian civilization. It’s a journey of this unstitched garment from royals to modern India. It dwells into the unparalleled skills of master weavers and craftsmen and the unmatched beauty of various saris across the length & breath of the country.

In the realm of textiles that connect all of us reading this, “pehchaan” is the direct encounter with the fabric, its count, weight, structure and feel. It’s the telling details, the restraint and understatement, the abandonment in modulations of colours, luster, and sheen. It indicates an understanding of when and how the fabric surpasses its kind; where exactly it falls short and why. It signifies a sense of context, proportion & purpose. It implies the ability to visualize the fabric lavished, draped, accented, as its most subtle to foresee the grace with which it will yield itself like a women to the softening & maturing of the aging process.

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Silk warp is getting prepared for Chirala pettu chire

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Synopsis The post-graduation project is the final project undertaken at the end of the professional educational program at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. The project duration is of six months. It’s a period during which student works within a professional set up for a specific client. This helps the student experience the realities of professional life, helping him or her understand the working of the organization, its constraints and limitations. It also helps the student realize his or her own strength, weakness and interest.

In the process of finding solutions within these constraints, one learns to step out from the threshold of being student to becoming thorough professional.

Project was sponsored by with Dastkar Andhra, a non-profit trust that works within Andhra Pradesh & Telangana to promote the interested of the producer communities in the field of hand woven cotton textile. The project aimed at fabric development and innovation in order to result in an increased range of products. In the course of the project, Four groups of handloom cooperative societies associated with Dastkar Andhra were chosen to work with.

In the hand-loom sector for a weaver, marketing the products is the biggest problem. DA entered the cotton hand-loom industry through the marketing channel. The strategy revolved around getting low returns on high volumes, keeping the middle class market in mind, which can afford to buy hand-loom fabrics. Now Dastkar developed new marketing mechanisms to sustain truly large scale cotton textile production. From working with a few weavers’ societies, it has channelized handloom weaving into a state –wide industry. Being inspired by that designing is just not about creating more and more products but offering creative solutions to problems on a variety of issues.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

So the initial concept was aimed at enhancing weavers understanding of colours and dyes and thereby enhancing their colour palette, which would give the weavers confidence of being able to follow any colour forecast as dictated or indicated by the market.

Ultimately the project was an attempt to find out new ways to create product ranges with different look that would be feasible in the market within the constraints of existing setup by introducing new techniques or by making changes in the loom and infrastructure. The fabric developed or innovated would need to be based on the strength derived from the techniques that the weaver practice and better understanding of market needs. The intention was to allow the weaver not put much effort, shorten the chain of value addition but still earn better income for it.

The first step was to understand the weavers, their cultural backgrounds, socio-economic conditions, skills, available resources and the markets where their products can fit into. Starting with what they already knew we exchanged ideas and re-examined the process.

This led to an influx of appropriate changes, improvisation and innovation. Regular market feedback is taken to test the effectiveness and overall performance of new products, which helped in design up gradation and innovation.

Altogether it has been a good learning experience to work in multiple locations spread throughout the state, each being very different from the other in terms of techniques, materials, process, look and most importantly people. This produced a in depth understanding of the cotton hand-loom sector of Andhar Pradesh & Telangana.

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Project Brief

1. To design range of saris (6-8 nos.) In 60’s and 80’s count for, i. Saris for Domestic / National market, age group: 30-40 women ii. Saris for Domestic / National market, working women iii. For young generation, age group: 20+ - 30 The approach to make collection could be based on initial brain storming and analysis. For e.g.

Chemical dyes, Dobby border, contrasting border, weave structure, warp density, relief pattern, and dye pattern in East Godavari and Krishna districts.

2. To design range of saris (6-8 nos.) in 2/60’s x 32’s count for, i. Saris for Domestic / National market, age group: 30-40 women ii. Saris for Domestic / National market, working women iii. For young generation, age group: 20+ - 30 The approach to make collection could be based on initial brain storming and analysis. For e.g.

Natural dye, multi treadle weave variations to repositioning traditional saris in modern context.

3. To design range of kalamkari prints for startup new fabric development (6-8 nos.). i. Domestic market ii. National market The approach to derive at collection could be based on Understanding of Kalamkari print, look of the collection, repositioning of printed sari in contemporary aesthetics.

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

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The Jamdani Master weaver

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Project Scope

1. Design innovations within the traditional Handloom skill keeping identity of the region.

2. Working with groups of handloom cooperative society associated with Dastkar Andhra.

3. Understanding weavers, there cultural background, socio economical condition, skills, available resources in modern context & market to fit products.

4. Working on weave variations, weave structure and construction etc.

5. Diversity on specificity of handloom products, specially draped garment.

6. A close look on sari tradition in Andhra Pradesh as age old importance.

7. Understanding aesthetics of Kalamkari & block development, process followed in modern trend to develop collection.

8. Archival and Process Documentation of natural dyeing and Handloom product.

9. Product development for natural dyed and hand spun yarn (development of specialty products).

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

10. Collections will be targeted majorly at Handloom Dobby & Multi treadles weaving technique and also toward necessary natural dyeing involved.

11. Adapting existing post loom technologies for shrinking, washing, available in other industries, to suit the decentralized mode of handloom, in a cost effective fashion.

12. Understanding the market (both local & national) targeted will help in understanding the simplicity of designs handloom / hand crafted products.

13. Merchandising or translation of market information into design and dissemination of this process by building capabilities of the designer- weaver to read the market.

14. Field learning directly translating to into the work.

The overall idea of the project is not to make the designs look clumsy rather breathable and scope for further permutation and combination for future use. Also it is not to just creating more and more products, about offering creative solutions to problems on a variety of issues.

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Concept development on kolam for to weaving motifs

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Project Methodology ABSORPTION

• Accepting company objective & facilities • Visiting & collecting information about weaving & dyeing involvement

ASSIMILATION

• Understanding the sector • Research on loom, technique, material • Learning about the system & cultural taste • Understanding market • Experiencing problems • Accepting the customer need

SYNTHESIS

• Analyzing existing fabrics • Classifying available material and style • Structuring combinations of existing woven • Sari understanding - contextual

RE-DEFINE

IDEATION

• Re framing the brief according to the gathered information & learning • Design approach • Identifying need • Marketability • Production ability • The design process

• Sharing information to artisans • Final design development & sampling

EVALUATION Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

• Observation • Suggestion • Learning

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Project Timeline

Phase wise Project Timeline

ANALYSIS, INSIGHTS & REDEFINING BRIEF

IDEATION & CONCEPTUALIZATION

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

2

3

4

PROJECT PLANNING

PRIMARY & SECONDARY STUDY

1 weeks

1

• Understanding the Brief • Preparing Time-line • Detailed study of the fabric developed by Dastkar Andhra.

• Understanding inhouse System design

• Domain Understanding

• Insight generation

• Concept Explorations

• Trend and Styles

• Building Persona’s

• Contextual Study

• Opportunity Mapping

• Selecting appropriate concept for execution

• Market Study

• Redefining the Project Brief and Scope of work

• Cultural Taste • Technical Study • Exhibition Participation

• Initial Sketches & peg construction

• Exploring different scenarios in the context of different person’s • Visualization of ideas, explorations, concept, • Paper concept validation

• Field Visits * Total duration of the Post Graduation Project was 24 weeks (six months). But the Documentation phase took some more time than the actual time-line.

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Artisan Training

EXECUTION and PROTOTYPING

VALIDATION

IMPLEMENTATION

DOCUMENTATION

2 weeks

8 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

4 weeks

5

6

7

8

9

• Selection of weavers’ cooperative based on capability requirements • Interacting with weaver, dyer, cooperative persons

• Production planning • Dyeing & Pre Loom process • Exploration in the field • Final design development & sampling • Making Visual language

• Preparing detail spec sheets of each design for future references • Sorting issues and feedbacks for design refinements • Content Writing

• Design Refinements • Design for Colourways • Quality Improvement • Experts Views • Actual samples selection for production

• Extensive Physical and virtual Documentation of the applications, process and learning.

• Participating on workshop

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As a designer, one is taught; one learns and follows a process in every design project. The process comprises five distinct stages altogether it may vary for particular projects. To understand and accept the processes involved one has to be sensitive through every stage of the process.

The process requires an inspiration, concept, explorations, analysis, visualization and development. It requires all of this within a well defined space. Learning about process selection, which is the development of the process necessary to produce a concept, design development process, selection and decisions are typically made together. The design and process selection affects quality, cost, and customer satisfaction. If the design does not follow a process it does not remain true to the design concept or idea. Thus suffers the quality of design.

This project presented a much larger scenario than any other classroom project. The prerequisite of the project was to be able to experience, learn, get involved, observe and involved working with grassroots level weavers. It also involved traveling to different weavers cooperatives to see different techniques, meeting dyers, interacting with local shop keepers, communicating designs, concepts, resourcing materials and accepting the work culture which was challenges in itself. Working with craftspersons and intervening into their livelihood becomes a huge responsibility, intense. The work pattern of the system was slowly being understood. The existing experience, knowledge, objective and intention seemed very trivial in front of the enormity of the handbook sector thus the need of a design process but indispensable at this stage.

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The realization did not occur on the first day of the project. It was after a few weeks into the project and after collecting the information when the first encounter came across. Connections were vital to shape in order to understand processes.

The prerequisite of an effective process was becoming rich with the extent of confusions, chaos, and multi directional streams of thoughts that barged through the head at the onset of the project. One needed to balance deliverable to the weavers and priorities actions within a time frame.

How should one begin and what should one emphasis on?

The hole project was time bound; it demanded a process to fit the project in the given time frame with fruitful results. One needed to identify and define the ngo’s motive and ideology, the socio economic condition of the weaver, their skills, requirements, strengths, the market, the users, the production process and one to absorb the inputs, select the essentials and implement it on the design concept and solutions.

This journey of identifying, questioning, adding knowledge, exploring and creating an outcome was the design process. It helped to prioritize the steps and organize more meaningfully. It also helped to reflect upon the journey and identify areas for improvement.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

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Developing Dobby border along with three shuttle Pallu ornamentation Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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The Sali, Padmasali, Pattusali, and Devanga communities are involved in hand spinning and weaving in the area.

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Structure of Andhra Hand-loom Industry

The handloom sector in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana employs more than 1, 50,000 weavers currently to sustain this craft practice & tradition as economic outlook. The handloom industry, mainly confined to the cottage and cloth manufacture, was a family occupation. Spinning, ginning, weaving and other processes were done only by hand. More than half of the weavers work under master weavers (traders) and the rest are organized through the primary weaving co-operatives. There is also a small percentage of independent weavers. There are 1066 registered handloom weaving co-operatives in Andhra Pradesh. 40% of weavers have access to co-operative structure credit provided by state, apex marketing body performing badly, design support by independent state bodies.

The entire handloom industry comes under the umbrella of Ministry of Textiles, National Handloom Development Corporation Limited at the central level, Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles Development Corporation, The Andhra Pradesh & Telengana State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society Limited at state level and Primary Weavers’ Cooperative Societies at village level. Co-operatives are government bodies registered under the 1964 Co-operative Act. The oldest co-operatives in the State can be dated back to the pre independence period. Co-operatives carry out the twin agendas of welfare and business in order to create stable livelihoods for the weavers.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

• Various mode of Operation in Industry: 1. Weavers Co-operative societies 2. Master weavers (shavukaru) (weaving themselves and work providing to other weavers) 3. Kooly weavers (wage payment based) 4. Independent weavers 5. Shed weavers (wage payment based) In 1976, three institutions – the Hyderabad handloom weavers’ Central Cooperative Association, the Andhra Handloom Weavers’ cooperative Society in Vijayawada, and the Rayalseema Apex Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society in Kurnool – were amalgamated into the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society Limited, called APCO.

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Dyehouse

Local Yarn Market

ay ya d& rn ya bleac rn he d

dye

ac hed

loth nc ove dw

ble

she

d& n

Job workers (sizing, winding, Beaming)

Market (national & international, exhibition) Institutional Support Existing value chain/ process flow controlled by Master weaver Key points:

•Process flow is not integrated •Too much material handling due to decentralization of the system •Individual process leaves scope of application of better/appropriate level of technology which is cost effective

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Preparatory Weaving (bobbin winding, sizing, pren winding)

yar

Fini

dye

woven cloth

dyed yarn

Weaver

Gray yarn

Support Institute

(govt & NGO, Institute, CAD centre, textile committee)

scoured, bleached, dyed yarn

Master Wever

Local Cloth Marchent

• Local Market • NHDC •Dastkar Andhra

Scouring, Bleaching, Dyeing

Gr

d& dye rn / rn y ya d ya Gra leache b

Designer (Designing, Card Punching)

(scouring, bleaching, dyeing)

gray yarn, dyes & chemicals, other accessoraries SOCIETY

weaver’s beam & weft yarn

Designer

(Designing, Card Punching) Punch card

Key points: •Process flow is to some extent integrated •Better organizational infrastructure/ setups •Individual process leaves scope of application of better/ appropriate, cost-effective technology •Lack of direct participation of share holders (mainly weavers) in the administration

Weaving woven cloth

Emporium, National Exhibitions, Fab India, Exporters, Designers, Local outlets in every states Existing value chain/ process flow controlled by Co operatives

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Dastkar Andhra Work Flow Model • Training • Systemazing pre-loom • Setting up dye house

• Training • Dye House

• Product Development • Sampling • Training

Natural Dye Technology Design

Dastkar Andhra

Policy

• Research Advocacy

Co-operatives DAMA Dastkar Andhra Marketing Assocition Production • Loom support • Qua;ity check • Dyeing trining

Marketing

Stock Room • Aggregation & Dispatch • Quality check

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

• Pre order • Small retails • Exhibition

Design

• Product development • Sample loom

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Cotton:

Yarn:

Spinning:

Dyeing:

Winding:

• Cotton was traditionally the single largest natural fiber used in clothing. Today India occupies the second position in cotton production in the world. Many varieties of cotton were produced in our country, the majority being the short staple variety which is ideal for hand spinning.

We have moved away from growing short staple varieties but still produce good amounts of cotton both for domestic use and for export.

Heavy use of pesticide has led to many problems and now there is a shift to organic Farming.

Over 500 indigenous varieties of cotton were grown in India in the past.

Today, we grow less than 20 varieties.

• Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers.

Staple length of cotton determines the thickness of yarn spun and this is referred to as “yarn count”. Standard measure for a length of cotton yarn is termed “hank”.

A hank measures 840 yards.

Hank yarn is used typically in hand-loom production as opposed to cone yarn which is used in mill production.

Yarn is available from a coarse 2’s count to a fine 120’s count based on the length of fiber.

• The process of converting cotton fibers to yarn. The process of converting cotton fiber to yarn is complex and the strength and fineness of yarn is dependent on the staple length of the fiber and the skill of the spinner.

Yarn can be hand spun in two ways – cotton fiber to yarn by hand, by mechanical process which is then spun by hand in various thicknesses. Mill Spinning Mechanical spinning of yarn in the West began with the Industrial revolution in the 17th century. The British introduced mill spinning in our country. Large spinning mills were initially located in Mumbai & later the activity shifted to Tamilnadu and a few pockets in AP.

• Textiles can be dyed in the yarn form or at the fabric and garment stages. Hank yarn dyeing is a predominant practice in South India unlike in the North where fabric is dyed for developing prints in the craft sector. The dyeing process involves “scouring” to remove natural oils and dirt present in cotton after which natural or chemical dyes are used for colouring. Dyeing for hand-loom is done in and around weaving villages by local experts.

In the past, saris had very little colour in them. Colour was used mainly in the borders and pallu.

• Yarn in the hank form is wound on to bobbins in this process. This is the first step in transforming the yarn from the hank form to a linear form. Dyed hank yarn is wound on to bobbins with the help of charkhas.

This process enables the laying out of yarn lengths for weaving. Bobbin winding is done by women in the weaver households. Typically 19 to 20 bobbins are required for a five sari “warp” length of 34 meters.

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Warping:

Street Sizing:

Warp Attaching onto Loom:

Weft Winding:

Weaving:

. • The warp is a set of threads attached to the loom lengthwise before weaving begins. Warping is the process of creating the base yarn that runs along the length of fabric through which the “weft” yarns are filled in to make the fabric.

For a 46-inch wide fabric, over 3,200 individual yarns run along the warp of the fabric. Typically, 1,96,550 yards of yarn are aligned by wrapping them around the circular warping drum.

Traditionally warp lengths and widths varied according to the draping styles of the sarees of a particular region.

. • The warps are stretched out onto two beams and natural rice starch is applied to add strength to the yarn and lubricate it to withstand the rigors of weaving. In most hand-loom centers, rice starch / gruel is mixed with coconut / groundnut oil and applied as “size” material.

Sizing is carried out by weavers or specialists in the village. Since this activity is done on the street, it is called “street sizing”.

The brush that is used in the sizing process is made locally using available natural material like Palmyra fiber.

• Individual warp threads are drawn through heddles taken through a set of reeds and tied onto beams located on both ends of the loom.

The heddles separate the warp into two sections which allows the weft threads to pass between them easily. For motifs, looms are equipped with “dobbies” or “jacquard” cards which help in lifting segments of warp yarn into the weft.

Heddles are made out of rods or cords, each with an eye through which the warp thread is drawn.

Reed is a comb like frame that pushes the weft yarn firmly against the finished cloth after each insertion.

• Hank yarn for weft is wound onto a pirns. The weft yarn is then inserted into a shuttle. Weft reparation is done on the charka, using the finger tips to give the correct tension to the yarn. This operation is normally done by women.

Pirns is a small bobbin.

Shuttle is a device used in weaving to carry the weft thread back and forth between the warp threads.

Changing colors in the weft allows for the creation of “shot” coluors which make the fabric lustrous and vibrant.

The process of weaving is the interlacing of two sets of yarn – the warp and the weft. The equipment that facilitates this interlacement is the loom. A “hand-loom” is a loom that is used to weave fabrics without the use of electricity. The manipulation of the foot pedals to lift the warp has to be in sync with the throwing of the shuttle which carries the weft yarn.

A perfect weave demands coordination between mind and body. The weaver achieves a harmony of motion and rhythm to create a unique product.

Depending on the complexity of design, a weaver weaves between half a meter and five meters of fabric a day.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Sponsor Profile

Dastkar Andhra initiated its activities in 1989, as an off shoot of Dastkar, Delhi. In December 1995 Dastkar Andhra was incorporated as a public charitable trust, with the objectives of promoting the handloom industry in Andhra Pradesh suited to ownership by the primary producers. Dastkar Andhra plays a supportive role, investing in research and development for the hand-loom industry and imparting technical inputs and design expertise to the weavers and hand-loom co-operatives. It provides policy and advocacy support to the hand-loom industry to promote it as a viable rural livelihood. The nature of decentralized production and issues in linking to mainstream distant markets, they believe can be effectively addressed through the institution of co-operatives. These institutions being member-based organizations have the capacity to represent the weaver.

There is a strong board with eminent people from different walks of life, which governs the activities of the Trust. The core management team consisting of three members has the final responsibility for taking up new projects.

Design input into the new co-operative has helped the design studio team to increase product range. The design process is led by following aspects: • Each co-operatives existing range • Geographical/ traditional identity • Response of the cooperative • Motivation of weavers • Capacity of the co-operative management Sample looms are operated for design development in the co-operatives of Pasalapudi, Rajavolu, and Ponduru. Design studio also facilitate on value addition of hand block printing & tailoring for DAMA fabrics.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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13. Chandrasekhara IWG, Mallavolu, Krishna District 14. Battiprolu HWCS Ltd., Battiprolu, Guntur District 15. Arumbaka HWCS Ltd., Cheurkupalli, Guntur District 16. Rajavolu HWCS Ltd., Rajavolu, Guntur District 17. IIavaram HWCS Ltd., Ilavaram, Guntur District 18. Railpet HWCS Ltd., Railpet, Guntur District 19. The Progressive HWCS Ltd., M V Palem, Khammam District 20. Chennur Chenetha Kala Sangam IWG, Chennur, Adilabad District 21. Kothapally HWCS Ltd., Kothapally, Karimnagar District 22. Adarsha HWCS Ltd., Adarshanagar, Medak District 23. Project Siddipet HWCS Ltd., Siddipet, Medak District 24. Bhavani Cheneta Centre, Chennakothapally, Anantapur District

Our Producer Partner Cooperatives 1. Sri Hatakeshwara HWCS Ltd., Singupuram, Srikakulam District 2. Sri Sai Baba HWCS Ltd., Ponduru, Srikakulam District 3. Pandalapaka HWCS Ltd., Pandalapaka, East Godavari District 4. Gollaprolu HWCS Ltd., Gollaprolu, East Godavari District 5. Sri Jayasankara HWCS Ltd., Rayavaram, East Godavari District 6. Veeravaram HWCS Ltd., Veeravaram, East Godavari District 7. Pasalapudi HWCS Ltd., Pasalapudi, East Godavari District 8. Muramanda HWCS Ltd., Muramanda, East Godavari District 9. Hasanbada HWCS Ltd., Hasanbada, East Godavari District 10. Pulugurtha HWCS Ltd., Pulugurtha, East Godavari District 11. Sri Umashankara HWCS Ltd., Idugullapalli, Krishna District 12. Sri Bala Saraswathi HWCS Ltd., Chinnapuram, Krishna District

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Understanding Work Cycles in DA

The team is there to evaluate quality at DA organization level to show an interesting mix of production, marketing, and technical people. Design team is often called to advise when choices become tricky. Coming to the different processes through which quality parameters slowly get defined, the design department has to develop a new colour palette for environment friendly dyes and to create designs in new colour schemes.

Normally in Andhra, warping is done by entrepreneurs either independently or through cooperatives. The process of sizing, depending on the region, is done by the weaver or by the entrepreneur sizing group. Except in some pockets, pre-loom like sizing are becoming hard to access. Many cooperatives and weavers are depending on sourcing ready warps from places like Chirala and Pedana. There is a direct impact on quality when weaver gives up control on pre-loom processes.

Rajavolu HWCS is one of the co-operative which took up sizing training as part of supporting pre-loom activity. Training women in sizing is undertaken.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Design at DA

DA in-house had 3 pit looms to develop new samples with continuous input from the designer and feedback from weavers, to try out designs and patterns.

Sari shoot for Dastkar web sale

If we observe the hand-loom markets today, there is an unstated demand for a certain kind of aesthetic coupled with no clear identification of the product. Product such as Gadwal, Uppada with specific identities fare slightly better but again in this identification there is no cognitive link to the specific product and hand-loom process. The product of a frame looms different from the pit loom and a different kind of challenge.

How is identity of product formed? For example, if a weaving society continues to produce a design for identity as a specialty of that region / co-operative? Can we then simply conclude that identity is more of recognition in the customer’s mind? It is clear that time plays a crucial role in formation of identity. What are the tangible/ intangible cultural elements that go into crafting an identity? For instance the names of popular Telugu film heroines are given to the borders woven by Pasalapudi co-operative, and fabric woven by Pulugurtha. They are not bothered by the possibility of disconnect with identity for consumers outside the state. So inspiration is taken from local shops and product identity for each society.

Ikat tye-dye weft preparation for weaving

Mens’ collection of kurta at Daraam

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Creating digital & graph exploration of motifs and layout with help of design team

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Cooperative Associated With DA

DA has spread its roots in six district of AP. In collaboration with the co-operative societies, Dastkar has boon concentrating on product and system development Programs as well as appropriate market mechanisms which would be suitable for the nature of hand-loom textile production.

This information was collected from available resources at DA and through short visits to a few places. The analysis of the samples and by asking relevant questions, information was acquired. The data served to establish basic understanding of the system in which the weavers were working and the facilities, materials and technology provided.

Most weavers in earlier times were assisted by family members or neighbors. However, to overcome many of the large scale socio economic problems faced the community, the weavers formed co-operative societies for better economic functioning. These co-operatives delegated work and raw material to the weavers and paid him on the delivery of their finished products. Although this helped them in handling large orders and maintain a steady production stream, it hampered them to cater to the individual demand of the wide range of customers.

Pulugurtha Handloom Weavers Co-Operative Society, Pulugurtha, East Godavari

Opposite side: Cloth marchent market in Pasalapudi Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Primitive Pit loom found in Southern Indian weaving tradition

ii.Contextual Study Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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“women wear their saris with such creative ease; the soft silhouette; the flowing fabric; the layering of textures and flashes of embellishment”

- Amanda Wakeley

Sari Culture 30

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Colour and composition artwork inspried from indan draping and women involvement throughout history

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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The sari, sometimes spelled saree, is a draped dress, created from a single piece of fabric five to nine yards long, which is wrapped around a woman’s body in a variety of ways. The resulting garment can be practical working attire or an elegant ceremonial gown, depending on the type of fabric used and the style of draping. While women wear the sari, men wear a version of the wrapped garment called a dhoti. A daily garment worn by approximately 75% of the female population of India during the twenty-first century, the sari is one of the oldest known items of clothing that is still in use. Saris were mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient sacred literature of the Hindu religion, which has been dated back to 3000 b.c.e., And many people believe that saris may have been worn even earlier.

Like the Greeks and Romans who followed them, the ancient people of India mainly wore garments that were wrapped and draped, rather than sewn. This was not because they did not know the art of sewing— early Indian people were experts in fine weaving and embroidery—but because they preferred the flexibility and creativity that draped clothing allowed. Loose, flowing garments were practical in the hot climate of southern Asia, and the sari, woven of cotton or silk, was both cool and graceful. Though rich and poor alike wore the sari, the wealthy could afford to have fine silk fabric with costly decorations, while the poor might wear rough plain cotton. http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2011/06/indian-lady-demonstrating-how-to-put-on.html

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

The basic wrap of a sari usually involves winding it around the waist first then wrapping it around the upper body.

Women frequently wear underclothes of a half-slip tied around the waist and a tight blouse or breast-wrap that ends just below the bust, which provide the basis for wrapping the fabric of the sari. There are many different styles of wrapping and draping the sari, and these vary according to gender, region, social class, ethnic background, and personal style. Instead of wrapping the fabric around the chest, the ends of the sari can be simply thrown over one or both shoulders. Sometimes an end is pulled between the legs and tucked into the back of the skirt, making it into loose pants, which are practical for working. Though saris are usually wrapped to the left, people from some regions of India favor wrapping to the right. When the abundant material of the sari is wrapped around the waist, it is usually pleated to create graceful folds and drapes. The number of pleats and the direction they fold can vary and is sometimes dictated by religious belief.

Though many modern saris are massproduced, saris made of hand woven cloth are important to many people as a political symbol of Indian pride.

http://www.sareedreams.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/1850-saree-views.jpg Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Sari in ancient days Ajanta Mayadevi, Buddha’s mother with attendant in a sari

Woman Wearing Sari from a Wall Painting in Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh,14th Century A.D.

The word sari is the anglicized version of sadi which existed in Prakrit as sadai, and derives itself from the Sanskrit word Sati, meaning a strip of cloth (Tradition and Modernity and Indian Saris.Katiyar). The use of sati has been mentioned in Mahabharata, and can probably be traced back even farther. But nothing, however, is known about the garment or the way it was worn. But it’s certain that the art was highly cultivated.

There are innumerable references in ancient Indian Literature to this effect. In Buddhist literature one finds mention of pleated ends of such garment which are hastisaundaka or resembling the elephant’s trunk, matsyavalaka or fish-tail, talavrntaka or the palmette and satavallika or having innumerable folds. The sari has been a pathway through the labyrinth of India’s inherited material/textile culture. The most fluid of worn garments, the sari reflects and communicates with all that we can see and touch, feel and experience. It takes us headlong into the intangible aesthetic, philosophy and technology from which it emerges.

Yet, as this is not a historical account but one based on living memory, it is the practitioners who provide the clues, however faint, through colours and material association, names and meanings of symbolic patterns and usage of particular saris. In retrospect, the sari’s significance becomes clearer. The length of the sari varies depending on the culture and conjunction of use.

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Venkatagiri, a small town in Nellore district of AP, India, is famous for its special brand of saris, the Venkatagiri Handloom Saris. Finely woven and soft to touch they are extremely light in weight and comfortable to wear in any season.

Venkatagiri saris are acknowledged for their fine quality and workmanship and despite trying times have not lost their luster to this day. The undimmed spirit of the weavers and their families has ensured the continuation of a tradition that has contributed immensely to ethnic hand-looms.

The Venkatagiri saris are woven in silk or cotton with zari, accompanied by attractive prints, from flora, fauna and nature, elegant borders and eye-catching pallus. The motifs are very attractive with subjects of flora and fauna generally chosen. The Venkatagiri hand-loom sari, once patronized by royalty for its weaving excellence, is today sought after as an ethnic fabric of unique and long-lasting qualities. Continuing the tradition and sustaining this unique art of weaving is a sizable population of the town, who have retained the old but combined with new, trends which keep the ethnic fabric alive, even in the presentday highly competitive and changing conditions. Andhra has the bright Venkatagiri saris which are woven with the help of a fly-shuttle loom, thrown from side to side; Venkatagiri saris have pleasant colours with gold dots, coins, leaves, parrot, or simple geometric motifs.

The Narayanpet Sari, though woven in silk also sports a range of exotic and appealing hand-loom cotton saris traditionally from Narayanapet, a town in Telangana, India.

Narayanapet Saris originally came through a Marathi influence; patronage of Shivaji, the Marathi ruler.

Saree worn with Kashta in a Raja Ravi Varma painting of Damayanti

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Narayanapeta saris, in cotton and silk, originated from a place with the same name and spread over cross adaptation in different parts of Andhra now. The cotton sari woven on dark earthy colours are particularly eye-catching. The Pallav in these saris is characterized by an unique pattern of alternating red and white bands. The border is usually a flat expanse of deep maroon red or chocolate red thinly separated by white or coloured lines. These saris follow the Irkal style which has its roots in a place called Irkal in the state of Karnataka.

The Narayanapet hand-loom cotton saris are known for the body colour contrasts against the pallu, the characteristic zari border and stripes, fine light colour floral block prints on dark coloured backdrops with multi colour tiranga borders, a special bandhani pattern design with woven botis on the sari and large botis bock printed on the designer pallu - all that elevate the look and appeal of the sari. It generally has a good fineness count also. Higher the count, finer the material! Employing vegetable dyes to the extent possible, the Narayanapet Sari has fast colours.

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Dharmavaram is a small town close to Anantpur, the district headquarters, in Andhra Pradesh, India. Part of a cluster well-known for its hand-loom industry, Dharmavaram is famous for its silk and cotton saris.

Dharmavaram cotton saris have simple, plain borders without much contrast. Generally these saris have broad golden borders, heavy zari works with big designs and traditional elegant pallu. The borders have butta or buttis adorning them while the pallus of the saris have special designs. Dharmavaram hand-loom cotton saris have very durable colors. Rich and lush the Dharmavaram cotton saris are preferred for their quality weaves, good use of zari embroidery and exclusive designer prints. Saris having golden zari botis along with zari border and zari weaving elegant pallu are perfectly suitable for festivals.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Gadwal Saris, Shri Sita Ram Bhoopal Bahadur, the king of Gadwal during the period (1807– 1840) was ambitious and wanted that the weavers of Gadwal to produce a valuable silk fabric, similar to Banaras. lkat weaving. With committed efforts, they learn the weaving techniques and on return to home started weaving beautiful saris with imported tools and designs. This is the beginning of the silk weaving in the Gadwal cluster. The present Gadwal sari is the result of innovations introduced by Maharani Adi Lakshmi Devi Amma.

She collected Venkatgiri saris and advised the weavers to weave saris in similar patterns. This development has led to introduction of fine count of yarns for weaving Gadwal Sari. The weavers of Gadwal and surrounding areas are highly skilled in weaving saris with high degree of variation by applying the permutation and combinations of the colours, the designs, the motifs in Pallu, in the borders, by change of fiber etc.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

While the base of the Gadwal sari is cotton, there is a loosely attached silk border and the fabric is traditionally woven in the interlocked-weft technique, called Kupadam. Most of the Gadwal saris have a rich border, a different pallu and gold or silver zari brocades.

Hand crafted designs on pure gadwal cotton have traditional colours for these saris as earth shades of brown, grey, and off-white. Of late the block printed Gadwal hand-loom cotton sari having intricate silk or golden zari border and elegant pallu, a combination of cotton and silk, is an image-booster for corporate offices, or a welcome change during festivals, traditional meetings and inaugural functions.

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Deepa Sashindran, a Kuchipudi dancer wearing Dharmavaram sari performing at Shantala Arts Festival, Bangalore

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Photograph_of_Kuchipudi_dancer_Deepa_Sashindran.jpg

Finely woven Venkatagiri sari and soft to touch they are extremely light in weight and comfortable to wear in any season & a must for exclusive occasions

Gadwal saree is a love triangle between cotton, silk and gold with a rich border, a different pallu and gold or silver zari brocades

dharmavaram pattu sari known for their excellent weaving quality, grand look and feel, broad borders and gold brocade embroidered pallus .

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Uppada Jamdani Saris, Jamdani has been derived from a Persian word “Jam” meaning Cup and ‘dani’ meaning Container. From the available literature it is given to understand that the art of Jamdani weaving at Uppada and Kothapally is 200 yrs old. Weavers of Uppada, Kothapally and Pithapuram used to weave saris exclusively for queens and were not allowed to publicize the style of weaving.

The raw material i.e. Fine Cotton of counts 150s, 120s and 100s , zari and Gold yarns, which are also used for weaving, were imported for weaving traditional Jamdani Products. With the passage of the time, the Art lost its importance due to change in consumer demand patterns. During the slag period, cotton saris with small buta were woven with the help of Lattice Dobby. The Jamdani weaving of the Uppada is cluster based and scattered in mainly five villages of Kothapalli mandal. The five villages are ‘Uppada, Kothapally, Ameenabad, Komaragiri and Ramannapalem’. Among these, Uppada and Kothapally are the most important centers and more than 60 percent of Jamdhani Weaving is practiced at these two villages and others are offshoots & migrated.

Extra warp/weft and Kuppadam (three-shuttle), A patterned border range evolves in course count with all the essential motif elements in their most elementary form: the Lahiri (twill), mochuri (dash like), rudraksh ( flower seed), bugudu ( ear ornaments), guvakunnu (diamond grid), mamidi (mango) and even the chitki (yarn-resist) as seen in tanda chire.

In khadi hand-spun saris we find not only an enhanced texture, but also pure colours, when combined with Kuppadam weaving in the borders, often with inlay patterning in the body and end piece, as seen in the khadi puvvu chire. Khadi saris often introduce tussar, mugga or zari gold in the borders and end-piece as well. It is based on the cultivation of local rain-fed cottons that are hand plucked, cleaned, carded and combed entirely by hand.

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Mangalgiri is a small village, about 12km from Vijayawada which is famous for its bright coloured saris, with small zari border woven closely. Traditionally they had narrow thread borders.

Yardages of fabrics are also produced in this variety which is very popular for garment and dupattas.

• In Mangalgiri saris were woven in 60s X 60s counts on the pit loom which were mainly meant for women working in the fields.

In 1986 Mr. J. K Reddaih started to experiment with just one loom.

The first sari was tried with 80s X 80s counts and an effort was made to avoid the selvage or rather have the border at the selvage area. Mrs. Pupul Jayakar, chairperson of the Advisory Board, Hand-looms, Ministry of Textiles, liked the sari and presented it to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

• Slowly these saris gained popularity through Crafts Council of India, who promoted them. In 1970 to 1980 it also became popular amongst the eminent people in Hyderabad.

• In 1989, hand-loom weavers’ skills were diversified and they wove dress material in 60s X 40s counts which were courser than those used for weaving saris.

• The famous Nizam border was also a contribution of Mr. Reddaih. By the mid 90s due to the demand of the market, new border design flourished. Sari weavers were converted to weaving dress material. Now there is a huge demand for Mangalgiri fabrics where as the production only accounts for half of the demand.

• The specialty of the Mangalgiri fabrics lies in its sheer which is the result of the street sizing. After the sectional warping, the warps are stretched out and the rice starch is applied with the help of a brush. This is done several times and thus the fabric has the sheen.

• The looms here are mostly pit looms with simple dobby mechanisms of 8, 12, 24 & 48 levers. The other variety of looms is the one without any kind of dobby setting which is used to produce plain fabrics.

• For 80s count 76 reed is used and for the 60s count in the warp 72 reed is used depending on the quality required.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Study of Dastkar Andhra Collection

Weave structure through a pick glass

To understand the variety that DA explores, the study off by familiarizing with their yarns, the textures, the yarn counts, and the difference between single yarn and plied yarn. A lot of samples from DA’s collection were collected, and their counts, reed, pick and cover factor were calculated. Also analizing the texture & the counts used for saris, dress material and also the type of weave used in each case.

This also resulted in classifying sari producing societies, and analyzing their product ranges. Out of all the samples that studied, some characteristics in the collection became evident.

Firstly most of the fabrics were plain weave without much organic intricacy (in case of sari border and the yardage which had borders, the preference was towards geometric) to suit even an average skilled weaver and not affect production.

The colour palette of the yardage fabric and sari were made to match the market’s demands and enough to balance the degree

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of intricacy in each case. The dye used in 80% of the cases was azo-free chemical dyes and 20% were natural dyes which primarily came from around three weaver co-operative societies.

Textures were explored using different yarn counts together, missing dents, checks and stripes and playing visual texture by using colours. Densely woven fabric like twill is being made recently. Counts used in making yardage are 100s, 80s, 60s, 40s, and 26s.

To find the difference in the compactness of the weave in each fabric, the cover factor is calculated (cover factor is calculated to know the openness of the weave). And the average cover factor is maintained usually below 1.

Interestingly all the deferent dobby border types had boon given proper nouns as names.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Dobby Swatches from different co-operatives of AP & Telangana Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Studying existing sari collection and translating onto graph

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Analysis of Sari Collection As a part of the project, DA’s collection of saris over the past 10 years were studied. That included a study of the weaving societies in question, and gave me a good idea of the skill sets that each society had, and also a comparative degree of quality of each, due to the warp and weft balance, and the texture achieved. This comparison with the chart prepared helped to pinpoint societies which had achieved a good degree of their own identity (since DA usually had a policy of retaining each societies typical motifs but intervening over colour, combination and composition) and had achieved a reasonable extent of quality over time.

A detailed documentation was submitted to DA for over 50 saris that included all technical details such as count, reed, pick, sari width & length and border width, warp and weft colour and the dyestuff used in each case.

Most of the sari dimension goes in the following manner: The saris usually are up to 46” wide with a pallu length varying from 18” to 30” and border about 2” to 6” thick.

Most of the techniques involved are dobby, ikat, stripes and check, missing dents, jamdani, kuppadam(three shuttle weaving).

There were some societies which specialized in large borders, some in small, some which worked with natural dyes and some that used tussar silk in the border and each had a different count, and even reed usage different amongst societies. These characteristics were peculiar to each place. Also the dobby and looms that each society used were looked into, and categorized all this information into a chart for easy reference.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

It is clear that still sari is unstitched cloth but the fabric is

highly structured and its design vocabulary is very sophisticated.

It is divided into three areas: the longitudinal borders, the end piece, and the field. Borders usually extend full length of the sari.

Although today the width of the borders tends to follow fashion rather than tradition, the regional origins of many border designs can still be recognized. Also the end piece is the part of the sari that is draped over the shoulder and left to hang over the back or front.

The elaboration of end piece depends on occasional and daily use of sari.

Mapping of skills of weaving co-operative societies in AP & Telanagna • Srikakulam:

• Guntur: AB – Ponduru (D & D & Kuppadam) KL- Rajavolu GH- Singapuram (D & D & Kuppadam) UV- Ilavaram • East Godavari: ZJ- Raipeta CD- Pasalapudi (D&D) ZV- Nidubrolu EF- Pulagurtha (D&D) YB- Sri lakshmi ZK – Veeravaram (D&D) YM- Sai Krishna (Dobby) ZN- Murmanda YC- Golluprolu • Anantapur: YK- Hasanbada (D&D) YG- Timbaktu (D&D) • Krishna: • Medak: ZL- Umasankara ZG- Siddipet YN- Chinnapuram (D&D) YO- Mallavolu (Dobby)

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Colour & Pattern Textile products from various regions, a distinct pattern makes itself apparent. One is the wide spread of the courser to finer count.

The second is the manner in which colours and patterning distribute themselves through the state.

The northernmost coastal regions seem to unanimously favors white. It may be demarcated by coloured borders, or relieved by subtle patterning, but fresh and pure white are favored above everything else. Patterning tends to be extremely simple; through three shuttles working is common practice. Structure of the plain botthanchu is rough and textured, ranging between 20s, 26s, 32s, & 40s, double threads being used in many tribal areas, especially in Srikakulam. Perhaps due to the influencing skills of the neighboring states, checks are once again dominant and colours & patterning range are wide. Three shuttle technique as well as more elaborate extra warp and weft patterning make their appearance, despite the lack of history of counts finer than 60s in the region.

As one gets closer to the Godavari whose water are said to be ideal in their mineral content for the fixing of dyes, deeper and richer colour emerges. There is a strong presence of the fine count, weft and warp patterning increase in intricacy, thus justifying the use of Silk floss or zari for the patterning. While medium counts prevail, structure becomes more compact here, even as the densely packed pattubadi sari makes their appearance in Guntur and Surrounding Areas.

Understanding size, scale & proportion aesthetically as acomposition

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The closed-shed beating action of the loom gives light weight to the entire Venkatgiri region. It creates an open mesh like structure with an intricacy, thus justifying the usage of silk floss or zari for patterning. The logic of the dense structure is that these saris are especially for the older women who continue to drape the sari without its modern petticoat. The weaver shows us that the long lasting pattubadi is still woven so closely that water poured on the surface will not seep through immediately.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Observing Interaction of colour through warp- weft interlacement

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Iconography in Sari In rural India almost every aspect of life has special significance and translated into symbolic expression in clothing & other forms of personal adornment. Even the sari colour can have meaning.

Although there is many sticking differences between sari designs in different areas, certain motif reappear throughout the sub continent, or else in such number in one region that they must be part of long standing tradition. Their original significance may have evolved through years, but they are often still regarded as important element in particular saris. A motif ’s past meaning and history are usually discovered from sources that have nothing directly to do with textiles; and the evidence based on archaeological finds, architecture, sculpture, painting and literature suggests that many traditional motifs are ancient.

Small geometric shapes include a wide range of different motifs, from dense basket-weave and interlocking diamond shaped designs to checks, serrated patterns and chevrons. Most are woven in supplementary-warp or -weft threads, creating bands of patterning in sari borders. In addition, checks and other net-like patterns are woven into sari field using ground warp and weft threads of contrasting colours.

Most of the sari motifs fall into one or both two categories: 1. Serve a protective function, guarding their weaver against the evil eyes.

2. Relate to communities as fertility in broadest sense of the word, wealth is closely linked.

Commonly used shapes as symbols: • Stripes, dashes, checks, squares • serrated & Herringbone band • diamond/basket weave • Jewelry related • weapons & devices • From nature: seed, eye, Creeping vine, lotus, mango, fish, peacock, parrot • Kolam

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

The “Temple Motifs’ (Te)muggu, mogga, kumbbam, kupadam

The temple motif consists of rows of triangles found along ethnic and tribal sari borders, as well as in end pieces of Dravidian and some central Deccan saris.

They are usually woven into the ground warp fabric of the sari the interlock-weft technique, so making the triangles point in the weft direction of the fabric, never the warp.

In Telugu dialect use the term karavai (saw) for serrated borders, which also suggest a protective association. The temples creates a visually central panel dominates instead of the border edge, which also a fertility symbols. Current evidence indicates that the temple is of per-Islamic, possibly tribal, origin adopted by caste Hindus.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Analysis of Sari Layouts 48”

90 cm Lopali chuttu

230 cm Kuchulu

120 cm Payita

110 cm Kongu

Sari Dimensions Dastkar usually works with existing traditional forms and layouts; A lot of typical layouts which were characteristic of the traditional vocabulary. The border of the sari was consisting of a repeating unit in the pallu in many of the layouts. They followed a very symmetric format in making the layouts as there was more pattern than rhythm.

The intension was to break the symmetry through principal of design in a simple manner and introduce rhythm to maintain the aesthetic balance between body and border and also pallu.

At the same time other commercially available layout of saris from different states were analyzed to compare their formats with Dastkar’s format. So here one with a direction of the layouts and collection as a whole.

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Illkal

western region print

Skirt sari

Wide Kornad

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Deccan sari

Madurai Print Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Gadwal course

Narayanpet silk

Dharmavaram

Kothapally

Mangalgiri missing dent

Uppada zari

Venkatagiri muslin

khadi Kuppadam

Pochmpalli

narrow 8 meter

sada bottanchu

Narayanpet

Siddipet patta

desi muslin

Baluchari

Banaras Brocade

Bangla Stripe

Korvai

Tamil Kornad

Patola

Tangil Jamdani

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Demostratating art of draping kanjivaram sari

Drapability: Yarn Properties & Constructions The sari can vary in length from 4 yards to nine yards, depending on the way the sari is draped. Today there are more than 80 recorded styles of draping a sari according to some researchers. In truth there may be many more styles that are either waiting to be recorded or even discovered. In most of the drapes, especially the more popular ones the midriff is always left bare. And the drape of a sari technically makes the most of a woman’s body; it emphasizes and in the case of the waist even displays the curves, it helps give shape to the rear either by minimizing or by adding the illusion of bulk and it allows a woman to love her body the way it is because a sari looks good on every body shape. Its accompaniments are the petticoat, the European term for the traditional, non-flaring lehenga over which the sari is draped and into which the sari is anchored at the waist; and the blouse, again a European term for the choli, whose essential function is to cover the breasts.

The most widely used drape in the sub-continent today is the Nivi drape. It starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel, which are also tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. Some of the other popular drapes which continue to be used today include the Bengali style, the tucked in version worn in Maharashtra and Konkan, the Madisar drape typical of the Iyengar/ Iyer Brahmin women of Tamil Nadu, the Gond style which is popular across central India, the Gujrati drape, which has witnessed a resurgence after being worn by one of the most recognized ideal bahu of Indian television – Tulsi, etc.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

The Nivi drape gained a certain kind of pan-India recognition and acceptance through a series of factors. One among them is the paintings of Ravi Verma. While he painted women wearing other traditional styles of drapes too, one of his most popular painting metaphorically depicted the Indian subcontinent as a mother wearing a flowing Nivi drape sari. The second factor that played a part was the cinema – actresses in the early decades of Indian cinema tended to be featured in the Nivi drape unless they were playing regional stereotypes. The third factor was the Gandhian movement which made the hand-spun khadi sari a nationalistic symbol- here too the drapes tended to be either the Nivi or the Gujarati style. The last factor is the royal family of the state of Cooch Behar. Widowed early in life, Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularized both, the chiffon sari and the Nivi drape. Keeping with conventions she began wearing the traditional unadorned white. But she had her plain white saris woven out of silk chiffon in France to her personal specifications.

Later she had chiffon saris in various colours and prints woven for the trousseau of her daughter, Gayatri Devi. Soon, Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur became the international icon of grace and elegance of chiffon sari draped in the Nivi style.

Today designers have begun to experiment with newer, edgier styles of draping. While they may be for the fashion forward, the sari is truly classic and timeless in its appeal and beauty.

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Drape of a Sari Drape, one of the most important properties of fabric, has played significant role in providing graceful aesthetic effects in garment.

Study of historic costumes of India, Egypt and Rome reveals that when stitch craft was not known to man, drape of fabric was used as device of special adornment in the garment. This article discusses factors affecting draping quality of fabric as well as its measurement.

improving draping quality. If at the same time, fabrics are made from filament yarns with little twist, the draping quality is enhanced more.

Drape ratio of woven and non-woven fabrics differ because of the difference in their method of construction.

Drape is the ability of a fabric to fall under its own weight into wavy folds of different nature. Fabric drape can be evaluated objectively as well as subjectively.

• A sari is known to be one of the most flattering pieces of clothing and can make you look visibly slender, if worn right and chosen well.

Choose the right material: The fabric of the sari plays a key role in helping you hide your body’s flaws. Georgette, chiffon and crape are the ideal materials to opt for • Drape it tight, if drape if a sari is loose, you will unwittingly add volume to your look. Tie it perfectly and a little tightly for that beautifully thin appearance.

• Limit the pleats; adding more pleats to your sari can actually nullify the slimming effects of the six-yards of grace.

• Go for dark colors if you have a dark complexion. Shades of Maroon, dark green or dark pink will suit you most.

• If you are a little chubby or on the heavier side, fabrics like chiffon, Georgette or synthetic fabric will suit your body type.

• If you are slim or petite body type, go for fabrics like cotton, organza, tussar silk etc.

• If you are short, avoid horizontal lines and bold / big prints.

• Tall women should avoid vertical line and small prints.

When yarns are woven into fabrics, a wide range of stiffness is possible depending upon the extent to which free movement of fiber is inhibited by fabric structure. Fabrics made from heavy, coarse yarn and in dense construction do not drape well. Fabrics that have long floats in weave can be more flexible, bending more easily and

Minimize the borders; for shorter or stockier women, it is always recommended to go for saris with minimal borders. Broad borders tend to make you look bigger. If your main objective of wearing a sari is to look thinner then it would be ideal to opt for a sari that has no border at all.

Aesthetic appeal of apparel has always been important for men.

Drape, one of the most important properties of fabric, has played significant role in providing graceful aesthetic effects in garment.

Study of historic costumes of India, Egypt and Rome reveals that when stitch craft was not known to man, drape of fabric was used as device of special adornment in the garment. This article discusses factors affecting draping quality of fabric as well as its measurement.

Drape aspect of fabric has been focus of research in fabric engineering for many years. Although drape is a subjective quality as it pertains to appearance, attempts have been made to objectively define and measure drape in fabric form.

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Rta Kapur Chishti teaching individuals various methods of draping a sari in ‘The Sari School’ workshop, Delhi.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012 http://www.borderandfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Rta-5.jpg

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LIGHT WEIGHT

organza organdy

chiffon voile

georgette

lawn silk charmeuse crepe

batiste

light silk twill Dupioni STIFF

DRAPEY sateen

gabardine

broad cloth denim

wool crepe

brocade coating

HEAVY WEIGHT cotton

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silk

wool

linen

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Mangalgiri missing dent Dupatta in courser count like 40s.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Dyeing Workshop • Context: Dastkar Andhra has fixed recipes for their shades in Vat & Reactive dyeing. But in some shades are being getting dyed in some cooperative in Napthol dyes (not Eco-friendly) due to lack of proper knowledge and adopting new dyeing process. Also Dastkar Andhra has a fixed colour shade card for longer time and they need to introduce new shades to their shade card under the observation of WSC technical assistance through a workshop & laboratory environment.

Due to environmental issues and cutting down production cost through certain technical parameters needs to be understood by the professional traditional dyers of hand-loom cooperatives. This also will help to increase in bulk production of dyed yarn and decrease the water wastage and chemical process hindrance for environmental issues and economical benefits.

Secondly, Dastkar Andhra wants to train co-operative dyers to create new shade by putting them in self experimental laboratory equipped environment in Weavers’ Service Centre facility in Vijayawada through a 5 days intense workshop on VAT, Reactive (HE & M Brand), COLD PAD Batch, Silicate etc methods. The idea is to give dyers a space to experiment on their own so that they can carry forward the knowledge to co-operative dyeing.

Also the post dyeing steps for better fastness and fixation of colour in the yarn stage. Necessary agents and steps to follow, have to be exposed in front of the dyers.

This 5 days workshop in Vijayawada Weavers’ Service Centre is undertaken by Chennai WSC Dyeing in charge Mr.Ravichandran And carried forward by the Deputy Director of Vijayawada Weavers’ Service Centre, Mr. Vishesh Natyal, who is an expert in Colour & Dyeing process.

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

A shelf containting all kinds of textile dyes at VWSC, AP. Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Developing Combination colour in a lab environment by a trainee dyer in VWSC

Dyestuffs Used: (application method of temperature) • VAT Dyes + sodium hydrosulfite (“hydros”, Na2S2O4) + Na-OH 1. IN / Indanthrene normal 2. IW / Indanthrene Warm 3. IK brand • Reactive (HE & M Brand) +soda ash + common salt * Cold brand reactive dyes * Hot brand reactive dyes * High Exhaust brand reactive dye

Dyeing Methods Practiced By depending on application methods of temperature, reactive dyes can be classified as: • Cold brand reactive dyes • Hot brand reactive dyes • High Exhaust brand reactive dyes • Cold Pad Batch Dyeing

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Dyeing Workshop on Pad batch reactive dyeing technique at Vijayawada WSC

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Points of Understanding 1. Always in dyeing colour shade should be in same count yarn, the change in count gives same shade in 2 different counts, the percentage changes.

Shade in 60s == shade in 80s (Dyestuff %) == (dyestuff %) Moment we match shade in different count, Shade in 60s == shade in 80s (Dyestuff %) == (Dyestuff %) 2. Courser yarn gives darker shade in X%, finer yarn gives lighter shade in X%.

3. Reactive dyeing cost effective, than VAT dyeing.

4. Depth in colour comes good in Vat, but brightness of colour comes in Reactive dyeing.

5. We can make dull colour shades by using bright colour dyestuff, but we can’t make bright shade by dull colour dyestuff.

6. Self shade every dyers do, market full of this same colour, even though dye colors from different company.

7. Cold brand reactive dye has less wash fastness, than hot brand.

8. Reactive dyeing maximum bright colour needs fixation or makes colour dull after several wash.

9. The dyestuffs not only should belong to the same group of the reactive class but also possess similar substantively / exhaustion and reactivity characteristics- i.e. the dyes selected should have very close exhaustion.

10. Soaping is one of the most important steps after dyeing. In vat dyeing, soaping in high temperature gives brighter colour and good fastness, because of crystallization.

11. Small change in temperature, process steps brings big difference in shade.

12. More combination colour shade gives more option in production, more variety in sale.

Developing colour palette for the collection at Rajovolu Dye House

Palette development for collection.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Opposite side: Up: Rajovolu Dye House consists of a Master dyer with 2 dyer assisting him for a client like FabIndia. Dyeing is purely Azo free Chemical Dye mostly reactive & vat dyes.

Below: Drying of scoured yarn hank for dyeing. A mixture of mylaboram washing agent used for the process.

Workshop conducted with Vijayawada Weavers Service Centre on Chemical Dyeing as a co-operative dyer training.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Loom Study - Lattice Pit Loom The Treadle Loom – the phrase is used here to indicate any type of loom that employs the foot or feet to change shade by a treadling action, regardless of whether the foot actually depresses a pedal or pulls on a cord that is looped over the ankle or toe.

The development of horizontal treadle loom appeared in Europe about the year A.D. 1000. The earliest surviving illustrations show an already perfected invention with revolving cloth and warp beams, treadles that were connect to counterbalance heddle harness, & possibly even a suspended reed beater. All hand looms, no matter how primitive and sophisticated, it involves four processes that are subject to varying degrees of complexity or mechanism: 1. A system for holding the warp threads parallel 2. A means of forming alternate shed 3. A process of inserting the weft 4. A manner of pressing it home.

The Indian Pit Loom The pit treadle loom is the earliest know treadle loom to be used in India. It is conceivable that single treadle loom preceded it, but no evidence to that effect has yet been discovered. The Indian loom probably changed but little in four thousand years.

In Mill’s History of British India, the loom consisted of two wooden rollers, one of the warps and one for the cloth, and a pair of harnesses long with a pit to accommodate his legs and the treadles of the loom.

The loom is always set up under a shed or in a house, not in the open air. Sits with his two legs on the paddle upon a piece of matt, placed close to the edge of the pit, and depressed the treadles alternately with the great toe of the foot. The pit is measured as about three feet in length by two feet in width and 3 feet in depth. The boat shuttle is made out of light wood of the betel-nut tree, tipped with iron points

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in varying size and weight. Each beam is locked in a place, one end of which passed through a mortise in the end of the beam, while the other end was braced against the ground.

The lattice dobby system is used to produce a symmetrical and identical border for one sari. It starts off by pegging in the design as per the grid for the border. The setup only involves affixing the dobby to the main loom.

The lattice is hooked on to the dobby fixed on top of the frame. As and when pedaling is done, the chains of the lattice move forward and, the places where there are no pegs; the extra warp yarn is lifted to allow the weft to pass under it. It can produce borders up to 58 Kavva (116 picks).

The extra warp is usually operated by lifting them using a series of nylon threads suspension that go across, form a border at one end to the border at the other. These nylon suspensions are connected to the lattice using a series of hooks (jack lever). As and when the hook gets lifted with each pedal two extra warp threads (one from either end symmetrically) get lifted too. Now two picks are passed through and this way the borders get woven simultaneously along with the ongoing plain weave body.

With dobbies a higher number of shafts can conveniently be worked, but it is not only for this reason that dobbies are so extensively used. They are extensively used for weaving twills,satins.

Dobbies are made to weave up to 48nshafts, but 16 and 20 are the commonest numbers. Most dobbies are now used on the double-lift principle. The dobby is placed at one side of the loom, and is therefore in a convenient position for being attended to.

When a pattern is beyond the range of a tappet either in the number of shafts to manipulated or in the picks to a repeat of the pattern and is at the time too small to be economically produce by a Jacquards, a

machine is employed which is known as a Dobby.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Setting up a Dobby Loom Points of consideration • Dobby machine should be exact center of the pit loom • Machine should be suspended rather than fixed on • Check all the levers in place and in working condition • Attaching threads to the levers. Each lever controls two set of picks in both side, if one side border then threads attachment for one side • No extra threads should be attached to any extra levers; number of lever depends on the picks in the design graph.

• Lever threads should be divided in to half according to design graph • Each lever thread be pass through a reed which consist same gap as the width of the levers.

• Each lever threads should be parallel from lever to heddle, otherwise lifting of dobby & design problem will occurs.

• Each heddle eye let should be in same height from the ground • At least of 0.5 kg weight should be hanged at the end of the dobby extra warp bobbin • Al the horizontal parts of the loom should be parallel to the cloth beam.

• Reed should be placed exactly in the center of the sley or hatho.

• The dobby’s extra warp is woven to fall to the inside, so that the other side is exposed to the light and dust while the front remains intact. It is woven in a way that the back of the border is on the face of the fabric on the loom .

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Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Technical Expertise on Loom & Weaving

As per the conversation with Mr. Venugopal regarding understanding yarn count, reed picks, dobby loom technology, design making on graph paper led to a market research also that what kind of adaptation is going on in hand-loom weaving also in specific direction to sari weaving. I would like to put forward the conversation step by step the process involvement and its impact on fabric to buying behavior of customer or market.

1. There is two kind of sari in the market a) high textured sari, b) finer textured sari.

High textured saris are having 30s -60s count yarn and the sari is heavier, where finer textured saris are mostly woven above 80s count yarn. 100-120s count will give lighter fabric which is proffered in the market most. Still DA maximum working with 80s count warp that also gives lighter fabric comparatively.

2.

Construction

Reed

Pick

40s/40s (high texture) 72

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40s/60s (high texture) 72 - 76

72

60s/60s (high texture) 72-76

74

80s/60s

78

76

80s/80s

78

78-80

100s/80s

84

80-82

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3. Quality of the sari also depends on whether the yarn is combed/ carded or not. Warp also needs to be sized for better quality weaving.

4. Construction of new dobby design depends on warp interlacements of extra warp. In lattice dobby maximum 48 interlacements can be possible; if the motif is symmetric then 48 levers can be translated in the one side of the motif to middle of the motif.

5. Size of the motif depends on the reed of the loom. Suppose a 48 lever dobby motif has to me made on 80 reed looms, then 1” = 40 reeds are there and motif needs 48 dent gaps. So the motif size will come approximately 1 ¼”.

6. Maximum of 1/8” of float is allowed between two interlacements. In lattice dobby machine 100-150 dobby sticks (weft interlacement) possible but preferably 60-80 interlacement design works without any technical problems.

7. To create better draped, light weight fabric we can introduce dent gap design in the warp. Also we can mix 2 different counts (60s & 80s) in the warp to create textured look and good drape.

8. We should design the smaller part of the dobby border (Banaras border + motif) then divide rest of the levers for motif design.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

Akkulappa helping weaver

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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InnovativeMarketing The Guiding Vision of the Market research is based on the great strength of hand-loom production is in the plain everyday fabrics woven by the large mass of weavers of ordinary skill levels, worn and used by the vast majority of ordinary, everyday people for home as household linen, etc. Their starting premise is: (A) There is a large and unsatisfied demand for medium price, good quality hand-loom fabrics among urban middle and lower middle income groups; 70

(B) The product – good quality, medium level product that is capable of being woven by a large number of weaving families with ordinary skills; As per the Stock room customer study and Exhibition in different cities all over the country has a reflection of 4 aspect of design development, such as 1. New design line, 2. Colour palette 3. Trends in hand-loom products by both state organizations & design studios over the country. 4. Dastkar’s line of designing in terms of Viabilities of human interaction with hand-loom technology for market.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

Guntta Maggam Saris | NID 2015

I’m looking out for what was traditionally woven in the area on the scale of living memory, and exploring design directories and fabric structures with the oldest weavers in each village. This helped initiate our research into the hectic process of listening, discussing, writing, traveling, photographing,; at the pace of two or three village. Working on this project has been a rewarding experience, even though it has meant more work for me.

This market survey provides to be beneficial in developing a generic understanding of the elements that constitute a typical Andhra Pradesh sari. This included trips to several places: East & West Godavari, Srikakulam, Guntur, Krishna Districts. This helped identify trends and possible consumer pools for the sari I was planning to design.

The three classes we are catering to are the upper class, upper middle class, and the middle class.

In every case, the first thing customer noticed is colour and then the pattern of the sari. Colour plays an important role in the transaction. In cotton, deeper and darker colours are the preferred category since the colour lasts in richness much longer than lighter colours.

Upper classes mostly prefer a varied colour palette in comparison since the sari use is mostly in specific occasions and need not be on a regular basis.

Most upper middle class customers buy sari which have modest composition where the motifs stand out in comparison and the entire sari looks very dignified and elegant, at the same time fancy.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

Middle class customers feel that since polyester and synthetic saris are a lot cheaper they would like to get more than the money’s worth for the cotton saris and hence we see maybe, a variety of colours but excessive ornamentation to make the sari sell. Since it is not easy for the customer to distinguish between hand-loom and mill cotton saris, so hand-looms lose out in comparison.

The standard counts available in the market are 80s X 60s, 80s X 80s, 100s X 100s, 120s X 120s & 80s X 100s. Since there is greater preference for light weight saris.

Daily wear saris are found in darker colours with courser counts compared to occasion-wear saris and they are sparingly ornamented.

They are mostly done in dobby as they are cost effective.

Occasion-wear saris come in brighter colours where the zari is much bolder and jacquard and jala techniques are used to create such saris.

The kinds of cotton saris found in the market are: • Gadwal: Silk pallu or atuku (piecing) in pallu. Traditionally gadwal sari is woven with two borders, one in zari and other threads.

• Venkatgiri: Saris are woven in finer counts.

• Mangalgiri: Thicker count, darker colours, small borders with simple pallu. Mostly as a regular wear sari.

• Guntur: Similar to Mangalgiri saris.

• Chirala: Thicker counts, dark colours.

• Dharmavaram: Very fancy dobby borders in fancy colours with ornamental yarns.

• Bengal cotton: Localized extra-weft technique (inlay) • Kanchi cotton: Big borders with bright colours.

• Chettinad cotton: The border and pallu are differentiated only by colour from the body.

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Market Survey Table

Saris Traditional Sari Store

Contemporary Sari Store Traditional based (skills, motifs, machine made) Middle class, Upper middle class

Nalli silk

• Retail outlet Marriage shopping mall • Ethnic colours, contemporary patterns, Traditional • Mostly in reds, orange, yellow were seen • USP: Saris in traditional colours & motifs

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Tradition (skills & motifs)

Contemporary (mill made, fancy prints) Upper class

Middle class

Fab India, Creative bee, Indian Emporium

CMR, Chandana brothers , Kalamandir

• Mostly printed sari were available in these retail stores

• There are all varieties of saris for all age groups

• Follow the season colours and trend

• Fake Hand-looms, ornamented and fancy Vibrant colours

• USP: Elite group and trend followers

• USP: range of saris in range of prices for all kind of groups

Contemporary aesthetics (handloom)

Upper middle class

Middle class Upper middle

Middle class Upper middle

Nalli silk

APCO, Co-optex, Lepakshi

Anaga, Daaram, Malkha

• Traditional motifs, pure hand-loom, random colours

• Saris are traditional, colour at present day market

• Not at all contemporary , mostly older age group

• Daily & occasional, traditional block printing

• USP: All purely hand-loom

• USP: Modern classic

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Brief • Age of the user

PRODUCT SARI

• Traditional or contemporary • Does feel of the product matter?

• For Indian market only?

• What are the technique used?

• What are the expectation?

• Any cost constrains?

• Season forecast needed?

• Weavers point of view

Design Approach • How does she feel when she wear it?

USERS

Women audience

• Does the feel of the sari matters?

• How does she walk in a sari?

• In what ways does it compliment her?

• What is her income bracket?

• What accessories does she need with it?

• What occasions makes her wear a sari?

• What does the client want?

• What are the constrains?

• What are the objective?

• Does the brief is the base of the project?

Infrastructure & Production

• How many weavers?

• How skilled are the weavers?

• Are there dye house & dyer in the co-operatives?

• Where does one resource raw materials?

• How long does it take to weave a sari?

• What kind of looms are available?

• What are the techniques can be explored?

• Introducing new system design needed?

Market

• Who comprise the market?

• What does the market want?

• What is the recent market scenario?

• What has been done?

• What can be done?

• Who is the client?

• Only for the Indian market?

Design

• What’s new?

• Traditional or contemporary?

• colour forecast?

• Which season?

• Product life in market or sustainability?

• Elements & Principles of Design

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iii. Functioning Systems.......................................................

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Field Visits Understandings

Ponduru & Singupuram, Srikakulam District [Sri Saibaba Weavers Co-op Society]

Singupuram

Ponduru

Pedapadu Srikakulam Chilakapalem • Ponduru Society was started in 1942, as part of the co-operative movement to local market & provides work to weavers.

• Ponduru has a population of 400 weaving families. But only 5% 7% of them weave the fine 100 or 120 count khadi(handspun cotton) for which Ponduru is famous.

• The Sali, Padmasali, Pattusali, and Devanga communities are involved in hand spinning and weaving in the area.

• The weavers weave pattu saris and the thread is known as pattu sali nulu.

• The thread is spun either by hand or on the ambar charkha. On ambar charkha upto 200 count is possible.

• Special reddish coloured cotton is produced in this region, which is spun locally and woven into fine khadi and handloom cloth.

• Fish bone is used to clean the cotton, giving it a particular shine that is not lost even after the whole process of weaving.

• Such fine khadi thread is difficult to handle and adds to the usual problems of weavers; the warp cannot be laid when it rains, and humidity makes weaving difficult. When the air is too dry the thread breaks.

• The dhotis & saris from this district are famous, for instance, Ponduru dhotis and the 8 yards sari, which is used by local women.

• Some innovative variations on the khadi products are there like with the use of mill spun cotton for the warp and khadi for the weft.

• Ponduru weavers use the handpicked jamdani technique of in laying motifs into the fabric, in coloured cotton, moga silk or gold 78

zari, a technique that is used from Tangail to Uppada.

• The loom is the traditional fly shuttle pit loom. They have a very light and easy action, there are always 2 people working in the loom.

The reed (jonna panna in telugu) is 56. Warp is 60s mill cotton & weft is 16 kal.

• 48 leavers working in Kuppadam doby motif, design varies from 1040 leavers mostly. Weft bobbins are wet to have better woven structure and increase the pick/inch in the fabric.

• The width of the looms is 54” and they are mostly worked by 2 people side by side. In a day weaving a three stuttle fabric is most meter, with jamdani motifs or borders like temple border this comes down to half or even less. The loom we saw was running a DAMA dupattas of Indigo body and red border with muga dobby kuppadam border. Also temple border made using three shuttle techniques.

• Weavers are given wages as per one warp. This wages differ from fabric to fabric.

• The cooperative is able to use infrastructure to dye their yarn on a regular basis, which has allowed for production to be standardized in terms of quality as well as quantity.

• We have encountered the early morning activity of street sizing activity in every house almost. They are mostly sizing Khadi warp in 100s & 120s count of KSF fabric. The sized liquid is rice paste and lime water which is sprinkled 5-6 rounds to make the warp sized. After that the warp is kept under sun for at least 2 -2 ½ hrs.

Post Graduation Project Documentation |

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Product Variety

Count

Reed

Pick

Sari 1

60/16k

70

66

Sari 2

40/14k

66

62

Sari 3

60/40

68

62

Sari 4

80/16k

76

74

Dupatta

40/14k

68

64

Plains

10k/10k

52

48

Plains

20k/20k

52

50

1. Plain

8. Shot colour

2. Zari kuppadam

9. Pettu chire

3. Temple

10. Stripe Gold zari

4. Khadi flower motifs

11. Ikat stripe

5. Stripe

12. Twill

6. Banaras Border

13. Kuppadam muggu pettu

7. Patterned

14. Wavy pattern

Hand spinning of khadi yarn from ponduru cotton.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

Ponduru weavers use the handpicked jamdani technique of in laying motifs into the fabric, in coloured cotton.

Ponduru kuppadam Khadi sari in 16K/60s count, natural dyed.

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Tribal drapes found in the region.

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Street warping is going on after the Piecing has done, a age old tradition of this region of coastal Andhra.

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Opposite side Top: Marking on the length of the warp after each gajjam or yard with ash paste.

Bottom: Leasing the peiced warp evenly to maintain the tension in the warp beam.

Left: Peice of cloth hanged for keep the infants in rest while parents are engaged in weaving pit.

Bottom: A kuppadam muggu pettu gtting woven in ponduru khadi, dyed in natural dye. Intricate zari diamond figure running as a dobby in the border.

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Pasalapudi & Hasanbada, East Godavari District

Rayavaram

[Pulugurtha H.W.C.S][ Pasalapudi H.W.C.S ][ Hasanbada H.W.C.S]

Mandapeta Pulugurtha

Pasalapudi

Hasanbada

Dharmavaram • Products woven in these societies are cotton saris (60s to 100s counts), dress material and jacquard saris.

• Power looms are found only in this part of the district. Some of the younger generations moving from the weaving communities have set up these power looms.

• Over the decades, production shifted to 60s count from 40s. We have seen 40 x 40 saris with tie and dye borders and 20 x 40 5 yds saris in stock along with other out of the loom product like Doti (bordered), Pancha Khandava, Towels, Dress materials in different count in Co-operative.

• Most of the looms weave dress materials. New colours and designs and co-ordinate ranges with aesthetic appeal are popular and undoubtedly booster for the sales, especially in Pasalpudi society, which had helped to come up with design innovations by themselves.

Weavers also have good design vocabulary down the year.

• Fabrics which had been in 60x60 were changed to 60x40 to cut the mark up cost. This society or co-operative is good with higher reedpick counts. All the looms are using Iron reed from chirala.

• Looms are all fly shuttle pit looms. All looms we encountered are weaving single shuttle weft in lattice dobby loom. There are two type of loom Dobby & dobby with Jacquard. One loom had uppada jala 84

motif in pallu. This loom having 60s red warp ongoing warp joining to previous set of warp.

• A range of metallic & HF Zari-bordered saris and fabrics is in stock.

They are making zari-bordered fabric (60s/40s) for fabindia along with jonsy fabric as dress material(80s/60s). Also they are shifting from zari heavy border to cotton/muga border. Experimenting with short colour variation in the weft.

• Hand-loom weaving is a household occupation and while there may be one family member registered in the co-operative, the entire family expend labor on weaving. Good quality weaving can make a meter weaving a day max.

• Choosing the name of the sari according to Telugu film industry heroine, is a big hit in market they think - like Vatsala, Amani, Sonia, kalayni,Eshwari.

• Most of the design is working by using the knowledge of Uppada, Gadwal, Kuppadam, Throw shuttle & three shuttle techniques.

• As per the visit, Pasalapudi has adopted to different techniques along with experimenting new design possibilities.

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Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des 2012

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Attaching of new warp to previous warp by twisting both threads together clockwise, called as Achu atakatam or Piecing.

Bobbin making for weft, bobbins are called as Kandi and the process of doing this is done on a charka.

Due to pre loom process involved in cotton sari manufacturing and lack of family member involved economically is making a huge shift of cotton weavers to silk as it does not need any pre loom process.

Here the weaver is involved in making a silk warp ready for loom. the warping process is called as Todinchadam.

Most of the looms weave dress materials. New colours and designs and co-ordinated ranges with aesthetic appeal are popular and undoubtedly booster for the sales, especially in Pasalpudi society, which had helped to come up with design innovations by themselves.

Weavers also have good design vocabulary down the year.

Left & below: Over the decades, production shifted to 60s count from 40s. We have seen 40 x 40 saris with tie and dye borders and 20s x 40s 5 yards saris in stock along with other out of the loom product like Doti (bordered), Pancha Khandava, Towels, and Dress materials in different count in Co-operative.

Opposite/ clockwise : The silk border and the Pallu of the sari were in contrast in terms of colour to that of the body. Nice rust for the body and a parrot green for the border and the Pallu. The body was filled with small size gold worked buti. They are known for weaving the body of the sari in contrast with the border and Pallu.

The simple and elegant opulence is apparent in their fine weave, lightweight softness and mostly Peacock ornament. The yarn is a fine polished variety that yields a very shiny and smooth cloth. Often the saris have a very large lower border and a narrow top border.

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Rajavolu & Ilavaram, Guntur District

[Rajavolu H.W.C.S][ Ilavaram H.W.C.S ][ H.W.C.S]

Godavalli Ilavaram Rajavolu • Rajavolu & Ilavaram comes under Mangalgiri style of weaving tradition of cotton textiles of Guntur district. Mostly these societies are dealing with 40s- 100s count quality fabrics.

• Rajavolu has around 50 weaver families in the village and the rate of reducing number of weaver is note worthy. In other hand Ilavaram has more than 600 weavers in & around. Also the management of these societies are in great hand which produces around 80,000 yards/ month to fulfill market need.

• They work in very much inter dependent network because of outstation Master weaver job-work also. The weavers have their freedom of working in their terms and make good quality among other cooperatives in the district.

• Most of the production happens in yardage, missing dent cloth, dhoti, saris, dupattas & stole varying from courser to finer count.

We can find both pit & frame loom in these sectors which is comfortable producing both chemical & natural dyed fabrics.

• Commonly seen motifs here are mango, leaves, flowers, and geometric designs. Animal motifs are hard to find. The field of the sari is plain, striped or has the popular ‘missing weave’ pattern.

Depending on the thickness, borders derive their names; a two inch border is called a mini durbar, a three inch border is referred to as the durbar, like this even more wide range of border is super durbar.

• In Rajavolu most of the weavers are aged (above 50yrs) to work perfectly for sari, so most of them has converted themselves ti weave dress materials & dupattas with sada or plain border in zari or cotton.

Only 3-4 weavers are confident enough to weave dobby border sari with the existing mechanism.

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Cherukupalli • The anchumalupu or the folding border style with two borders and striped zari weave in between, along with saris with cross colour are new valuable additions to the repertoire.

• Ilavaram has established themselves as versatile weavers, because they are more interested in jacquard weaving of silk sari now days.

Because silk weaving wages are higher along with the process of making doesn’t involve pro loom processes.

• They are a hub of Dobby weavers in these areas and they only cater to local market due to lack of exposure in urban market.

• Rajavolu has its own dye house which provides dyed yarn in this cluster of cooperatives. The dye house also ETP (Environmental Treatment Plant) to recycle waste.

• Ilavaram has a sizing shade which provides ready warps to the local and neighboring weavers of Rajavolu.

• Most of DA’s good quality textiles come from this belt which has less involvement in dobby setting and change in warp sequence.

• The contribution of Co-operative Societies help in maximizing the benefits for weavers in the entire chain of Production and Marketing, their present condition is a cause of concern. Since the Co-operative system has utterly failed in selling finished products as the handloom Cooperative system is riddled with corruption and political interference. Many hand-loom weavers in Andhra Pradesh though they are not members of these Cooperatives, still make better profits as they all join together forming private limited companies.

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Natural dyed Indigo hank getting dried in a shade for next preparatory process of Bobbin making & woman involved in the process.

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Family member of weaver performing bobbin winding for warp preparation in Ilavaram, wearing a white mangalgiri sari as attire

A street sizing person busy making ready warp in Ilavram

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Woman attire in local guntur sari performing warp winding as a morning activity

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Ilavaram Weaver’s shade weaver on a pit loom producing dress material for DA

Subaiya Rao & his wife are involved in warping for sample sari

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Kuchipudi dancer Govinda Rajulu Garu unfurling a length of cotton fabric, handwoven at Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh. Named after a coastal village on the Bay of Bengal, the Kuchipudi dance form is almost twenty centuries old and has its roots in Andhra Pradesh.

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Question Arises • What kind of Possibility is there to make quality of a fabric to increase by changing its construction?

• Why we are not upgrading to finer count for a better drape?

• Is there a construction proportion, in terms of count & technique?

• To what extent we can mix techniques for develop new possibilities?

• How to balance Body & Border of a sari?

• What about customers in national level beyond state customer taste?

• How is identity of product formed?

• How to acquire an identity as a specialty of that region / co-operative?

• Can we conclude that identity is more of recognition in the customer’s mind?

• Aspect of time, plays a crucial role in formation of identity?

• What are the tangible/ intangible cultural elements that go into crafting an identity?

Raw Materials & Production Cotton Fiber

The hand-ginned cotton is on the right. You can spin the fiber in this form, but it usually creates a slubby/ textured yarn. For spin finely prepared cotton fibers, either hand carded or Indian punis, or carded commercial sliver. If you want a fine, uniform thread, puni preparations are an excellent choice.

Cotton is a natural cellulose textile fiber. Natural cellulose textile fibers are obtained from plants whose fibers can be readily and economically separated from the rest of the plant. Cotton is a seed fiber, a fiber that grows within a pod or boll from developing seed.

Performance of Cotton as fiber: Aesthetic – Attractive Luster – Matte, pleasant Drape – Soft to stiff Texture – pleasant Hand – Smooth to rough Appearance retention – Moderate Resiliency – Low Dimensional stability – Moderate Elastic recovery – Moderate Comfort – Excellent Absorbency – Excellent Thermal retention – Low Durability – Moderate Abrasion resistance – Moderate Tenacity – Moderate Elongation – Low Recommended Care – Machine wash and dry

Fiber Identification by Burning the Fiber • Cotton does not shrink or fuse while approaching the flame.

• Cotton burns when it is in the flame.

• After removal from the flame, it continues to burn and after glow.

• The ash formed is gray, feathery, smooth edge.

• The odor is of burning paper.

Khadi Fabric woven into Kuppadam sada chire in Ponduru

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Khadi or Khaddar

What is the difference between Desi charkha and ambar khadi?

Hand spinning on the traditional Desi Charkha unfortunately, has become the most neglected & forgotten strength of Khadi whereas, the faster semi-mechanized Ambar Charkha has been in favors over the last 50 years. Therefore, a determined effort is being made to develop hand spinning up to 115s count on the Desi Charkha & develop 115s to 500s counts on the Ambar Charkha so that they do not compete with mill yarns which average at 120s count.

After the initial exhibition titled ‘Khadi – The fabric of freedom’ in 2002-2003, the original sponsors Volkart Foundation on the recommendation of Martand Singh handed over the exhibition for its promotion & development of Khadi fabrics to Rta Kapur Chishti & her team including Rahul Jain & Pallavi Verma.

The hand spun yarns of the traditional spinning wheel have a much lower twist than the mechanized Amber spinning wheel which is a manual counterpart to the mill spinning mechanism. Thus, the fabric developed through weaving of hand spun yarn is more soft, supple and absorbent.

Why desi charkha khadi?

• Uses indigenous rain fed organic cottons • Makes for an ecologically viable & sustainable activity • Employs fine hand skills especially of women • Cotton seeds are extracted by hand thus they can be reused for sowing back into the fields and is also used in animal feed.

• Drawing and twisting by hand renders an uneven texture and low twist to create greater absorbency for summer and these yarns provide warmth in winter • Ideal for wearing and home use • Healthy, supple, soft and soothing to touch for any skin type

What is khadi?

The word Khadi is derived from ‘khaddar’ which essentially means a fabric developed through weaving of hand-spun yarns on a handloom. The entire process i.e. separation of cotton from the cotton seed, cleaning, combing, carding, spinning of yarn and weaving of fabric is all carried out by hand.

Khadi was widely produced & used for clothing & home linen all over India until the influx of mill yarns imported by the British at first & later substituted by Indian mills. As a result, hand-looms began to use mill yarns as they were smoother, stronger & easier to handle on the loom though that essentially meant compromising on the texture of the hand-spun fabrics.

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

Khadi 2-tone handwoven fabric made cost effective by useing undyed warp interlace with dyed weft from Srikakulam district.

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iv. Guntta Magga Chiralu – Collection of Cotton Handloom Saris

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Re-briefing of Project

1. To design range of saris (6-8 nos.) in 60’s and 80’s count for, i. Saris for Domestic / National market, age group: 30-40 women. ii. Saris for Domestic / National market, working women iii. For young generation, age group: 20+ - 30 The approach to make collection could be based on initial brain storming and analysis. For e.g. Chemical dyes, Dobby border, contrasting border, weave structure, warp density, relief pattern, and dye pattern in East Godavai and Krishna districts.

2. To design range of saris (6-8 nos.) in 2/60’s x 32’s count for, i. Saris for Domestic / National market, age group: 30-40 women ii. Saris for Domestic / National market, working women iii. For young generation, age group: 20+ - 30 The approach to make collection could be based on initial brain storming and analysis. For e.g. Natural dye, Kuppadam(3 shuttle) multi treadle weave variations to repositioning traditional saris in modern context.

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Concept Development

“Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects”

- Charles Eames

From beginning, to understand the project direction development was started in by understanding how a design works in a sari according to its proportion and perception when it is draped.

This lead towards observing urban and rural sari drapes around me & started to understand interaction of a sari in modern life in terms of colour, layouts and aesthetics in a collective environment.

Throughout the field visits to different districts mostly in AP, gave a close encounter with the dobby technique and weaving perception around it. So the journey started with the archive design study, drawing them and interpreting them in graph to understand the extra weft technique from various different perspectives as interlacement, loom settings, tools, pegs, floats of figure, pre process of weaving, size, scale up/down and count-reed-levers and most important is limitation of possibility. Thousand of question came one by one and was getting piled on top of another. To solve these uprising questions one had to dig deeper to understand dobby as a semi advance technique in handloom weaving which is then solved by hand holding with Mr. Venugopal from Vijayawada Weavers service center to translate design in to graph. From there, started the process of conceptualizing around theme and the parameter so that the designs can justify the understanding.

Therefore, the actual feel of sari from size, material, construction, layouts, color interaction, sari dimensions and their own prominence as a collective entity started to emerge.

Next step was to get hand on with material and dye stuff and dyeing to evolve better color management perception.

Also there was a introduction of FabIndia as a client came in to the picture and also the design direction shaped around their brief.

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A evaluative back and forth process clubbed these identities and make sense out of it, along with the idea to improve drapery and fall of the sari to introduce different count construction in different reed.

The idea of a contemporary sari was getting born out of many inspirations like Jamini Roy’s & renowned Andhra Painter Thota Vaikuntam’s painting and throughout my field visits to coastal Andhra one can encounter Kolam as a daily & spontaneous form of practicing ritualistic art forms. So a deliberate attempts made to achieve graphically subtle look and macro-micro visual perception in terms of distance by introducing stripes in the border along with the simplest form of dobby. So started to visualize striped border in range of 1” – 6”, because width of the border maximum varies in between both traditional and contemporary in an aesthetically balanced layout. Introduction of rhythm here would make it strong in terms of balance out the body & pallu in a contemporary manner by addition and subtraction of space and colour play.

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Muggu decoration in front of the house is a part of early morning activity among the Telugu family. This art form is handed over generation by means of practice & observation of hand movement & imbibed figures naturally.

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Chaturbhuj Temple at Orchha

Most of the borders were worked out within two inches since big borders are out of Market for last few years also DA wants to convert these borders in to running material where big borders did not make sense for further embellishment to carry on aesthetically.

Since the first brief specified explicitly to explore dobby weaving properly, a conscious decision was taken to look into some rather complicated and unconventional techniques to see if they could be equally usable or production friendly for both the sari and the weaver.

Each part needs to be designed with a certain sensibility. Usually the pallu is very symmetric and regular. Hence, to make the collection more graphical, The pattern of regularity had to be broken and established a rhythm through principals of design.

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Since the borders were minimal, the pallu was made more interactive to wear both casual as well as formal occasions. The designs also made sure that some of them could go into production straightly away. Possible permutations and combinations were worked on colour, pallu, motifs and body to see how they would work out on the whole.

Making on loom sampling through different weft combination gave a direction to go further to visualize the layouts in order to create a coordinated accent collection. Also on loom explorations gave more clear ideas about the color interaction in colour palette.

Although along working with a particular set skills of weavers we started to explore beyond regional identities and got practical hand on the different on loom embellishment and weaver started to get more engaged into the process of trying new things out.

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At the end of weaving the complete warp to keep the balanced tension in the warp multiple weight has been attached

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

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Sari weaves from different parts of AP & Telangana

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Sari rolling & dry washing in Rajenndranagar, Hyderabad.

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Design Development Methodology Inspiration 1 | Muggu | Figure & Motifs

Rangoli in Andhra Pradesh is called as Muggu. Like in most parts of the country, every morning before sunrise, the women folk clean the entrance to a home and/or the courtyard with water, considered the universal purifier, and the muddy floor is swept well to prepare an even surface. As the index finger and thumb clasp a tiny bit of it and start dropping it from half an inch above the wet floor, the white powder falls gently leaving a white trail behind. There is a knack of letting this powder flow smooth and even, as one draws lines and curves of the muggu designs.

During festivals rice flour is used to create the muggu, instead of the muggupindi as it is considered as an offering to the ants, insects and sparrows that tend to feed on them.

One characteristic of muggu is that it is drawn by commoners.

On festive occasions it is drawn in every home. No formal training is required to acquire this art. The art of muggu creation is typically transferred from generation to generation and from friend to friend.

The traditionalists still follow the age old methods of using rice powder or creating the patterns with dots, at the thresholds of homes and court yards.

These studies reinforce the idea that there is so much to learn about and from kolams. They also mean a lot more than just pretty patterns. They reflect the depth in our culture, connect us to our roots, urge us to see them in new light, and derive new meanings and understandings.

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Design Directions • Pure secular motifs, abstract designs, philosophic & religious motif mingled together and these symbols expressed the feeling of people, which are highly aesthetic too.

• Different type sog muggu across the state exhibit a sense of geometry or a algorithm, indicate a certain discipline governs either the simplicity or the complexity of the pattern.

• Traditional designs also seem to imbibe mathematical properties such as symmetry, permutation, patterned repetition, curved family as a visual symbolic expression.

• It also carries a symbol of never ending cycle of birth, fertility, death, continuity & eternity.

• Muggu symmetry can be seen a horizontal, vertical, rotational.

Muggu Colours: • rice power, chalk, rawa, chili, turmeric, leaves, petals, natural dyes Muggu Symbolism: • Triangular: male & female principles in the life • Suare: Stability • Pentagonal: Five elements • Hexagonal: worship of goddess Lakshmi • Octagonal: symbol of protection or Vishnu • Circular: Life & growth • Pot: Fortune & fertility Types of Muggu: 1. Chukkala Muggulu (Dot Designs) 2. Chukkalu leni Muggulu (Designs without dots) 3. Tippudu Muggulu (Curved Designs) Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

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http://theshukran-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/b5e5a998b78babd69415dac6b94aa700.jpg

Understanding Motif size according to reed • Lattice Dobby motifs can be prepared using maximum of 48 leaver & 4 extra levers for Banaras, moti, twill lines to consolidate the figure.

• In one dent of a reed 2 extra warp dobby threads & 2 skeletons warp (body warp) runs for the dobby border.

• Available reeds are 80, 78, 76, 72, 70, 68, 64, 60 etc.

So, in each case of different reed size same figure varies its size accordingly.

Therefore, for 80’s reed, 40 dents = 1” 1” figure = 40 dents 1/2” figure = 20 dents 1/4” figure = 10 dents

For 68’s reed, 34 dents = 1” 1” figure = 34 dents 1/2” figure = 17 dents 1/4” figure = 9 dents

For 76’s reed: 38 dents = 1” 1” figure = 38 dents 1/2” figure = 19 dents 1/4” figure = 10 dents

For 64’s reed: 32 dents = 1” 1” figure = 32 dents 1/2” figure = 16 dents 1/4” figure = 8 dents

For 72’s reed: 36 dents = 1” 1” figure = 36 dents 1/2” = 18 dents 1/4” = 9 dents

For 60’s reed: 30 dents = 1” 1” figure = 30 dents 1/2” = 15 dents 1/4” = 7 dents

In this way we can create design graph accordingly and vise versa.

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Figure Explorations Exploration derived from the elements in kolam designs found in these region. The geometric structural quality of line & dot composition has been tried to translate onto graph for ornamentation of border in extra warp technique.

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Figure Explorations Understanding element of muggu and representation of smaller units to create a thick and thin patterned border composition has explored to get proportionate layout for sari borders for urban sari users.

Motifs are based on the nature of shape in muggu found in Andhra Pradesh.

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Inspiration 2 | Orchha - Indo Mughal Architecture | Colour & Figure This is a part of inspiration is developed by Dastkar Andhra’s client FabIndia for their summer 2016 collection and which had become one part of my concept development and colour palette to carry forward in terms of production, style & guidance.

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Orchha is the majestic era of Rajputs, full of grand monuments,

silhouette against Betwa river of medieval time. Believed to be built as a friendship between Bundel Rajputs and Mughals. Orchha, situated in the Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, is a town established by Maharaja Rudra Pratap Singh in the year 1501. Picturesquely set along the Betwa river, Orchha houses a confluence of Indian and Mughal architecture. These architectural masterpieces are home to some of the

Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

best examples of jaali work and frescoes. On the walls and ceiling of the temple is the riot of mural and frescoes. The main entrance ornamented in both Hindu & Islamic style with delicate chhatirs & intricate jaalis which also reflects Bundela art. Plain exterior crowned with chhatirs, give away with boldly coloured murals in interior. Mahals are kept by series of kiosk creating an interesting skyline. With all the grandeur and detailing, Orchha becomes a perfect inspiration for Indigo Dairies.

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Design Direction • Geometric over the figural • Covering whole surfaces in dense geometric designs • Calligraphic, geometric, and vegetal (plantlike) ornament • Repetition and illusion of infinity • Symmetry & Two-dimensionality • Maze patterns & Inlay work of ceramic tiles • Interlocking or overlapping designs that create the illusion of depth and produce an aesthetically pleasing and visually playful composition • These patterns have three basic characteristics: 1. They are made up of a small number of repeated geometric elements.

2. They are two-dimensional. Islamic designs often have a background and foreground pattern.

3. They are not designed to fit within a frame.

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Mood Board

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https://howtobecomeanarchitect.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/5x5-pattens1.jpg

http://thegiftsoflife.tumblr.com/post/50907431862 Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

http://islamic-arts.org/2011/a-world-of-stars-decorative-art-in-morocco/

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Colour Palette

Indigo Diaries derives inspiration from the geometric details of the architecture in Orchha. The arches, trellis patterns, jaalis, frescoes and elaborate carvings lend to a wide design repertoire. Indigo diaries skillfully amalgamates all these elements into this special collection. These are exquisitely decorated architectural textures are adorned with thousands of ceramic tiles bearing the “seven colours of heaven”: turquoise, night blue, black, green, red, ochre & white. - a dazzling testimony to the ceramist’s art.

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Figure Explorations

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Islamic art while learning about the variety of geometric patterns employed by artists to embellish a wide range of works of art, including textiles, ceramics, metalwork, architectural elements, and manuscripts. Through the activities, learned the design principles and techniques by which the artists created these beautiful and intricate patterns. Which is framed in graph for exploring design directions.

The idea is to break the complex pattern in to geometric shapes.

These patterns have three basic characteristics: 1. They are made up of a small number of repeated geometric elements.

2. They are two-dimensional. Islamic designs often have a background and foreground pattern.

3. They are not designed to fit within a frame.

Four types of ornamentation can be found in the figure vocabulary: calligraphy, figural forms (human and animal), vegetal motifs, and geometric patterns. These patterns, either singly or combined, adorn all types of surfaces, forming intricate and complex arrangements.

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Figure Explorations Brilliant contrasting colors to create a sense of animation and balance. The main repetitive motif in the geometric bands consists of an eight-pointed star formed by two overlapping squares.

Vegetal patterns, knotted angular script, and basic shapes from the ornamented jallis enhance the overall geometric effect of the design.

The outcome of the exploration in graph technically gave a vast learning on figurative textile development parameters & lot of scope of variation in structure of the figure.

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Figure Explorations

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Stripe exploration for Borders

The idea of contemporary stripes composition is initiated by understanding the visual language of the draped cloth. Principles of design have played an important role to develop a range of stripes for borders.

The Stripes also give a dimension to the pattu motif a backdrop and distinction from the zamin or ground.

These stripes a driven by the distance between viewer and the object, in this case sari borders. Scale and proportion of the composition has created playful explorations aesthetically. Stripes in Borders are inclining to horizontal nature of it, which creates more subtle look than a vertical stripe. More of broad interval can improvise the look of the border in graphical way. Stripes can be seen as: 1. Rhythm, 2. Tonality, 3. Proximity, 4.

Distinction, 5. Directional.

This exercise is led to visualize the idea of stripes which we can see different from different distance and in some cases its creates a new stripe composition to while using tonal colour or complimentary colours in the same layouts. It helped to come to a point where existing collection understanding merged with the thick & thin stripes explorations to emerged new possibilities and thinking beyond traditional outlook.

This exercise also develop a sense of harmony driven sets to classify the borders aesthetically.

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This black & white stripe workouts are created by paper cuts, hand drawn & digitally in actual size and compared to see which kind of harmony & contrast will be appropriate for the collection to be successful in the market and bring out new possibilities to play around.

Black & white have been chosen because maximum contrast we get on this pair of colours.

Also it gave an idea of yarn calculation for warping depending on the thickness of the artwork. It made easy further process of visualizing the product at large.

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The idea of exercise on layout & border composition is done to develop an eye for actualization of the designs. Therefore actual size printout has been taken for Motifs, stripes & other elements to mix and match according to modern aesthetics and urban customer taste.

By doing this ideation process it helped to build a understanding of how border design for a sari works in terms of size & scale, positive negative space, colour interaction in both warp & weft interlacement happens.

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Border Compositions Creating a horizontal rhythm to emphasis & diversify figure manipulation by introducing continuous and drop repeat ideas blending with the technical knowledge of pegging for actualization the borders.

Qualities of a form has been inspired as a solid with line composition to established the look & aesthetics of the border, which only covers 2-5% of the sari base to balance and give a distinction between zamin & petu.

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Floral design have been simplified in graph & some times repeated to create modern classic border exploration with element of different traditional moti lines to solidify the figure in a controlled layout.

Each of the figure has been tried to explore through the knowledge of element & principles of design.

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Warp Explorations

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This is the next step taken to finalize warp layout for production sampling. With the help of this combinations & understanding of border stripes, possible motif direction and colour combination put together to come to a range for sari explorations.

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This layouts are understanding of regional sari layout of the region in a contemporary understanding to create a fresh look on to the collection . The size of the Dobby border varies from 1” -3” in width so that it can accommodate Indian average hight women to enjoy different drapes.

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Warp Explorations

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Warp Explorations

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Warp Explorations

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Warp Explorations

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Warp Explorations

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Warp Explorations

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Warp Explorations

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Selected Warps

Warp_1/ 2.5” Dobby

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Out of the exploration on figures, layouts, Border compositions 16 warps have been selected to go for pre processing for sari development further. This borders are characterized on the basis of their look variety, technical possibility & easy for modification. Colour combination can variety according to dyeing & production.

Warp_2/ 2” Dobby

Warp_3/ 2.75” Dobby

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Warp_4/ 1.5” Dobby

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Selected Warps

Warp_5/ 2.25” Dobby

Warp_6/ 1.25” Dobby

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Warp_7/ 1.5” Dobby

Warp_8/ 2.5” Dobby

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Selected Warps

Warp_9/ 2.5” Dobby

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Warp_10/ 2” Dobby

Warp_11/ 1.75”” Dobby

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Warp_12/ 1.75” Dobby

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The range has possibilities in warp & weft both ways to explore in each sari making process, which created a range of striped, checked, extra weft textile samples to further sari sampling.

Warp_13/ 1.5” Dobby

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Warp_14/ 2” Dobby

Warp_15/ 1.5” Dobby

Selected Warps

Warp_16/ 2.5” Dobby

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Sampling done on stripes, checks & pallu ornamentation

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Sampling done on stripes, checks & pallu ornamentation

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Tarangini

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Collection 1 Overview Post Graduation Project Documentation |

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Srivatsa

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Samudri

Collection 1 Overview

Mudra 156

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Hira

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Bela

Rudhra

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Ambipadma

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Inspiration 3 | Urban Potua - Paintings of Jamini Roy & Thoda Vaikuntam | Colour & Composition

Synthesis • Controlled Lines & formalistic • Simplified structural pattern • Pictorial idioms • East Asian calligraphy • Terracotta temple friezes • Daily chores in their village settings • Use of bold, vibrant, dazzling colours that negated the naturalistic colour palette.

• Tempera • Rhythmic line • Pulling motifs out of their own context • Limited palette of Indian red, yellow ochre, cadmium green, vermilion, charcoal gray, cobalt blue, white • Decorative clarity & monumentality Both of the painters work is a constant depiction of formalistic values in work of art. The Sinuous lines and dots in the sari of Bengal/ Telangana women, the exuberant colours and earthy skin tones much part of their childhood and they remained bound to it.

We all are decorative by nature, men and women; we love to decorate ourselves with ornaments, flowers, clothes, bindis, and cosmetics that are how women in our country dress, with dazzling saris and blouses.

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M o o d B o a r d

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“I use rich primary colours, which give a sense of character and depth to my paintings. Like red and saffron and even orange, because these are essentially Indian colours. I don’t like using colours that re mix of two, because they are not natural, they don’t exist in surroundings around us, in our every day life.”

-- Thoda Vaikuntam

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Colour Palette

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Kuppadam Temple Exploration

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Kuppadam Temple Exploration Kuppadam, a weaving technique using three shuttles is practiced by weavers to create solid body and borders. Generally, one shuttle is used in weaving and this is thrown across the fabric width to create lengths of fabric. Two extra shuttles are used to create three distinct parts in one width of the fabric. Today, this technique is used mostly by weavers in Srikakulam and Mahaboobnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh.

This collection of motifs and forms are created out of triangular manipulation in terms of line quality, size-scale, positive- negative, summer look, and simplification of the techniques. This extra weft technique is used mainly to weave solid body & border, but in this explorations the idea is to create light pastel look on to the weave along with the solid border. Initial possibilities are observed in terms of drape composition and give a light look for summer.

The look of the sari has been visualized in light zamin with solid darker border. To achieve this effect a white warp with black/Indigo stripe border is set for creating contrast while different colour weft interaction happens and creates a positive-negative look to it.

The forms are very much inspired by the grid work for developing a kippadam interlacement with understanding of picks, counts of the weft, colour interaction in urban potua context.

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Kuppadam Temple Exploration

Series of visualization on size, scale, repeatation, positive - negative & interaction as three shuttle technique. Digital explorations.

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Kuppadam Temple Exploration

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Kuppadam Temple Exploration

Series of visualization on size, scale, repeatation, positive - negative & interaction as three shuttle technique. Digital explorations.

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Kuppadam Temple Exploration

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Sampling in Singupuram, Srikakulam This is a sample warp consist of kora (60’s) base warp along with khadi weft interlacements through three shuttles. Each side there is a border, one side its 2” & other side 1”. Both the borders are only striped border in Black/ white & Indigo/white.

The contrast of the border is complimenting the temple above.

The concept running in this collection is play of space to create solidity in the border & on the other hand a translucent pastel ground by the interaction of white warp and natural dyed weft. This developed from understanding the core of the technique, which is of single interlacement between to weft threads in every movement. This mechanism is used to get solid colour in blocked areas.

To make it contemporary the technique is simplified aesthetically and also to achieve good quality under weavers limitation & capacity. Borders have been kept without any extra warp embellishment. The border look is created with the help of representative intervals to make the process simpler.

• Line 1. First sample from the left is a basic composition with solidity & line exploration.

2. In second one the shape has explored in terms of line composition of two different colours. The contrast created a visual language within the continuity of the border.

3. This sample is again a abstract representation of two colour line interaction in which thickness of the both the band plays a rhythm in weft direction.

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• Solid 1. The idea is to evoke white space design through composing solids. This has achieved by putting solid triangles in a representative rhythm. Base has darker body weft and lighter border weft.

2. Similar aesthetic has tried with different figure to diversify the vocabulary in different size and spacing. The is also creates continuity in the body composition.

3. Triangle manipulation in darker border with pastel body.

The broken look naturally derived by kuppadam technique.

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• Multicolour Wefts This samples are little complicated to produce but this concept has tangible potential in creating new possibilities. This consumes more skill to actualize and contains very fresh look in nature.

1. First sample is exploration through use of multi colour weft bobbins creating pattern and by permutation combination of only 2-3 colours it creates a vibrant summery look. Also it can develop look of stripe bands with solid border.

2. This one is a conscious change in kuppadam shuttle after each figure while repeating throughout warp direction.

This also creates quite contrasting possibilities in terms of manipulation section of warp.

3. This look is more subtle in terms of using colours in the weft. Figures are same scale repeatation for easy adaptation along with a twist of weft striped body.

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• Size & Space 1. This sample is weaved in the direction of size & proportion play with same figure in representative interval. Also the body has weft stripes to explore pallu layouts.

2. Similar line has woven onto fabric with triangular figure found in the Hyderabad architecture used as a frescoes and ornamentation in windows and parapet. The contrasting border creates a boundary to the composition throughout the length.

3. Ascending arrows are composed to create a figure to repeat along the length. The Spacing & placing of colour weft also created a rhythm for pallu exploration.

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Sari Collection 1

- Pettu Chira

This collection is developed around the Inspiration 1 & 2 for a range of dobby saris for Dastkar Andhra and also FabIndia, for their summer collection 2016.

This collection of saris are developed with the support of Rajavolu & Ilavaram weavers community. Around 10-12 Different dobby setting has been successfully worked out in 3 months of time as a part of sample development.

Keywords: Kolam, Islamic Architecture, Light, patterned, Graphical, Summer softness, Urban.

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1

Tarangini

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur Sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/sample warp 1/sari1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 78 Picks: 80/84 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2.5” Weight: Month/year: May 2015

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3

Fabric Sample:

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BODY

Pallu Layout

5”

BODY

6.5”

2”

10”

12/2 kavva

7”

PALLU

10”

1”/12 kavva

5”

2”

2”

PALLU

3”

3” 1” Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

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Tarangini

Konia

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 2/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 76 Picks: 80/82 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2” Weight: Month/year: May 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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1”

8/2 kavva (BODY)

2.5”

2/6 kavva

Pallu Layout

4”

4” 2.5”

PALLU

2/6 kavva

2.5”

4 kavva

1”

2.5”

2.5” 2.5” 10 kavva

1”

2/6 kavva

4”

2.5” 2.5”

4/10 kavva

2”

2.5”

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Konia

Srivatsa

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 3/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 80’s cotton Reed: 78 Picks: 100 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2.75” Weight: Month/year: April 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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1” 2.5”

PALLU

10”

1”/4 kavva

1”

4 kavva

1”

4”

4”

4”

1” 2.5”

1” 1” 1” 1”

BODY

4”

4/4 kavva BODY

4”

2 kavva

Pallu Layout

4”

2”

4”

2”

4”

2”

2” extra weft

PALLU

3”

2.5”

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Srivatsa

Bela

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 4/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 76 Picks: 88/90 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 1.5” Weight: Month/year: June 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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3”

4/4 kavva 8/3 kavva

20”

8/3 kavva

BODY

Pallu Layout

3”

2.5” 3”

10”

3”

8/3 kavva

3”

6/6 kavva 8/3 kavva

2.5”

8/3 kavva

3”

3”

8/3 kavva

3”

3”

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Bela

Dharani

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 5/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 76 Picks: 80 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2.25” Weight: Month/year: June 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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3”

PALLU

2”

4”

4”

BODY

2 kavva

2 kavva 4”

5”

1” 6 kavva 2” 6 kavva 1”

5”

PALLU

4”

4/4 kavva

8”

6 kavva

10”

4/4 kavva

6/2 kavva

BODY

Pallu Layout

3”

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Dharani

Adrika

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 6/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 80’s cotton Reed: 78 Picks: 88/90 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 1.25” Weight: Month/year: April 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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20/4 kavva 20/4 kavva 4/2 kavva

10”

30”

1”

6/6 kavva

12”

PALLU

PALLU

16”

BODY 6/6 kavva

BODY

6/2 kavva

Pallu Layout

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Adrika

Nalini

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 7/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 76 Picks: 90 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 1.5” Weight: Month/year: June 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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4/2 kavva 2/4 kavva

4”

BODY

6”

3” 2.5”

PALLU

3”

6”

4 kavva

20 kavva 3.5”

PALLU

3”

2/4 kavva

BODY

Pallu Layout

20 kavva 2.5”

3.5” 20 kavva 2.5”

2/2 kavva

20 kavva

3”

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Nalini

Hira

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 8/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 80’s cotton Reed: 72 Picks: 98/100 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2.5” Weight: Month/year: May 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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BODY

Pallu Layout 1” 2”

BODY

3” 4”

2”

10 kavva

3”

8”

1” 2.5” 2.5”

10/10 kavva

2.5”

6/2 kavva

4”

10/10 kavva

PALLU

6/2 kavva

12” 12”

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PALLU

3”

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Hira

Ambipadma

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 9/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 76 Picks: 80/82 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2.5” Weight: Month/year: June 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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BODY

Pallu Layout 3”

3”

30/6 kavva

3”

3”

3” 5” 3” 7”

3”

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10/4 kavva

3”

PALLU 30/6 kavva

3”

30/6 kavva

7”

30/6 kavva

PALLU

3”

BODY

10”

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Ambipadma

Rudhra

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 10/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 80’s cotton Reed: 76 Picks: 78/80 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 2” Weight: Month/year: April 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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BODY 4” 4” 4”

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6/6 kavva PALLU

24 “

4/4 kavva

20 kavva 60 kavva 20 kavva 50 kavva 20 kavva 40 kavva 10 kavva 30 kavva 8 kavva 20 kavva 4 kavva 10 kavva 4 kavva 10 kavva 2.5”

PALLU

12”

BODY

10 kavva 4 kavva 10 kavva 4 kavva 20 kavva 8 kavva 30 kavva 10 kavva 40 kavva 20 kavva 50 kavva 20 kavva 60 kavva 20 kavva

4/4 kavva

4/4 kavva

Pallu Layout

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Rudhra

Saroja

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 11/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 78 Picks: 76/78 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 1.75” Weight: Month/year: June 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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BODY 2/2 kavva

Pallu Layout

4”

10/10 kavva

4”

5”

PALLU 8/3 kavva

4’

BODY

4”

3”

PALLU 20/20 kavva

30”

3”

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Saroja

Mudra

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 12/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 72 Picks: 74/76 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 1.75” Weight: Month/year: May 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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2”

Pallu Layout

BODY

2 kavva

4”

10/10 kavva BODY

2/2 kavva

12”

10/10 kavva

4”

10/10 kavva

3”

30”

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PALLU 20/20 kavva

3”

PALLU

3”

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Mudra

Samudri

Layout:

Motif Graph:

Variety: Guntur sari/ Rajovolu Sample No: DA/ SW 2/ sari 1 & sari 2 Warp: 80’s cotton Weft: 60’s cotton Reed: 78 Picks: 80/82 Size: 6 yard x 48” Dobby border: 1.5” Weight: Month/year: June 2015

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Fabric Sample:

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Pallu Layout 2” 2 kavva

2” 2 kavva

BODY

2” 2 kavva

10”

3”

PALLU

6 kavva

4”

4/4 kavva

6 kavva

3”

4/2 kavva

2 kavva 1” 2 kavva 1”

4”

BODY

6 kavva

6”

4”

4/2 kavva

3”

6”

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PALLU

3”

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Samudri

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• Yarn Calculation Data Count: 80s X 60s, 80s X 80s 1 hank: 840 yards = 7 leas 1 lea = 120 yards Quantity: 1 bale = 20 bundles 1 bundels = 60 knot 1 knot - 10 hanks 1 hank = 7 leas

Conversions: 1” = 2.54 cm 1 yard = 2.54 x 36” = 91.44 cm

= 0.9144 m 0.9144 m = 1 yard 1 mt = 1/0.9144 = 1.0936 yards 1m = 39.37 “ 1 yard = 36” = 0.9144 mts

• Costing Statement Count of warp = 80s Ends per inch = 76 Warp length = 14 yards

Count of weft = 60s Picks per inch = 72 cloth length = 13 yards

Extra ends for selvedge = 152 ends on both side = 304 Total number of ends/inch x reed width = 76 x 48 = 3952 Extra warp end required = 96 on both side Warp yarn consumed: (including 5% wastage) = total no. of threads x tape length x 5% wastage/ 840 yard x 100

= 3952 x (14 yards x 105/840 x 100)

= 69.16 hanks

= 6.9 knot = 7 knot approx.

Weft yarn consumed: (including 5% wastage) = ppi x reed width x cloth length x 5% wastage/ 840 yard x 100

= 72 x 48 x 13 yards x 105/840 x 100)

= 56.16 hanks

= 5.6 knot

Cost of warp yarn + dyeing = 1 bundle + dyeing = 1200 + 350

= 1550 x warp consumed/60 knot = 180 Rs Cost of weft yarn + dyeing = 1550 x weft consumed/60 knots = 145 Rs Cost of preparatory charges: (winding, warping, sizing, bobbin, weaving) = 50 Rs/meter + extra warp sizing: 90 Rs

= 6.4 mts (7 yards) x 50

= 320 Rs for 1 sari Therefore, = (320 x 2) + 90 = 730 Rs. Cost of production (2 saris) = cost of warp + cost of weft + preparatory charges

= 180 + 145 + 730 = 1055 Rs.

Sari Collection 2

- Kuppadam chira

This collection a created by the traditional weavers of Ponduru & Singupuram in Srikakulam district. This collection is ongoing keeping to parameters in mind, natural dyed khadi & local kuppadam, three shuttle technique. The idea of this collection is to bring the higher count khadi saris to modern urban youth by creating dialogs between contemporary and regional touch.

Saris in this collection are more has controlled lines & formalistic in nature with a essence of pastel aesthetics to it. Use of bold, vibrant, dazzling colours that negated the naturalistic colour palette but interaction with black & white makes it more subtle in look we can find in daily life.

This collection is still on a sample development phase due to climatic condition & lack of enthusiastic weavers from this region. This has potential to bring back sada pettu kuppadam tradition of sari in future.

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Observations • Pricing DA’s sari range is created to fulfill the local customer need of middle class community throughout the country. So as a NGO also the price point is much less than anywhere outside in the market.

Also the elimination of middle man created more cost effective fabrics to develop.

• Colours As DA is catering mostly in southern India and local market; so the colour palette has more than 100 shades from pastels to bright colour range. For selection of fabric this range is good enough to introduce new combinations for the market and how they are training dyers to develop uncommon shades, so that it can easily catch customer’s eye, in this fast fashion platform.

• Quality assessment Superior quality is the primary concern at Dastkar Andhra.

They follow stringent quality control procedures at every level of the manufacturing process right from the selection of yarn to the shipment of finished products. All the raw materials are selected carefully and the products are launched only after a series of testing and re testing stages. Every step of manufacturing process is strictly monitored by a team of well equipped quality inspector in order to ensure error free production. The company believes in continuous capacity expansion to accomplish the set targets within specified time schedule. Few meter of fabric is followed and recorded in the form of a table: • Length and breadth of the fabric • The epi & ppi were noted • Fabrics were washed and checked for colour • The length and breadth were measured to evaluate percentage of shrinkage • The epi and ppi were checked again

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The analyzed data was put in a table form. This was a part of specification that they had to put wig the samples in their catalog.

• Quality Issues A general observation was that the weaving was inconsistent among the aged weavers. There would be inclusion of extra material, irregular beating and change in the consistency of the fabric as close as every half a meter. The co-operatives produced a lot of plain fabric and also stripes and the weaving could end up having a stripe less of loose weave in the middle. In some cases the selvedge of the fabric is also woven inconsistently. Colour vastness was not consistent since various dye houses were being used to meet deadlines and to maintain the budget. Colour was an issue, the users being not very accurate about the colour suggested would give shades closer to the suggested colour but not the exact colour, because there is no system of measuring the dyes while mixing in any of the dyeing house.

• Colour Fastness In case of colour fastness all the chemical dyes have consistently producing exact shade along with good rubbing and washing fastness, but the light fastness is less among the fabrics. Although there is a tendency to bleed extra colour in first 2 washes. Natural dyed colours have very less consistency in colour fixation and lack of professional indigenous dyer in the industry. It is also customer’s part to take wash care seriously to maintain the natural dyes. There are few colours in cotton dyeing which are black, Turquoise, Red mainly. When choosing, it’s important to be certain to check both the warp and weft of the fabric. Sometimes the excess dye from one thread will actually dye the other, resulting in an entirely different or variation of the original colour. Also change in temperature & soaping creates a difference in colour shade as well as the fastness of the fabric.

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• Co-operative goals This is similar to any other customer driven market, which develop products keeping the market’s choice.

• Design • Trend • Colour • Feel • Production sizes/ count of yarn • Finishes The mentioned finding can be easily acquired through intensive market research both domestic & foreign market.

• By enquiring the buyers/ user’s need.

• Getting updated through trend books, local market visits, kind of job work they are getting.

• Attending & participating in fairs and exhibition all over country/world • Consulting design experts for innovative ideas and solutions.

• To create a strong line or reviving the tradition of weaving etc.

For their products in order to captivate the buyer’s mind • To come up with different range of products/ yarn in terms of adding a lot of value to their finish product/yarn • It can cater to wide range of market as bottom to top of the ladder • By maintaining consistency in their supply of work in the market.

• Also there is sense of working as a community and perform for betterment economically

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• System Design DAMA model of working directly with NHDC & Co-operatives gave the an opportunity to plan & play a key role to sustain a balance in post modern cooperative system to run effienciant marketing activity. The company should look in to design development beyound product developments as only means of and explore other modern aspect of capasity building through local design persons create a modern scenario for dyeing implementation and product diversification. Also improve the saturation in market after certain establishment over the last three decades.

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Suggestions This project, with help of Dastkar Andhra has helped to

understand very subtle missing links in the working system in the company with its production units and final outcome as new product development. The following are some suggestions to improve the working structure from a designer’s point of view.

• The weaving units DA used to have 3 sample looms to develop upcoming new development in house so that it can be monitored well, but lack of weavers’ interests it has been put on hold. Also the given co-operative for production have less involvement in making sari in regular basis which has made a scope of revival of sari production and it needs infrastructure that allows the new loom & parts for better quality textiles. Also there is reluctance in weavers’ perception about their own conditions. We need to see this sector more rationally or logically than emotional ground by not hampering the traditional values along with provided technological facilities suitable for this sector of handloom.

• Weavers Most of the cooperative weavers are production based to sustain them but only the master weavers are developing new ideas according to the markets need. DA should have in-house weavers to channelize new or innovative designs, which are not given to or taken by regular weavers. So that we can overcome limitation of possibilities of exploration permanently and weavers can try out their skills and inputs along with the designers in the company.

• Colours Colours always played a very significant role in the selection of product by the buyers. As most of the buying houses follow a colour trends changes with season therefore, it is important for the Company to follow the current colour trend to the buyer’s requirements. Also

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very important to have production planned accordingly to fulfill pre orders in time, because these processes are more cooperative based than industrial floor plans.

• Quality DA as ethical institutional values has succeeded over the past decade to make customers conscious about the handloom product and use of it over its life cycle and people are very conscious of quality product and therefore, it is important now to maintain a high quality in their products so that the customers are satisfied with workmanship in the product. People are very particular about the feel of the fabric. Because of it’s a wearable textile so people tend to go for softer finish. The company should work on the finishing of the textiles to fulfill the commitment in larger scenario.

• Design Process In order to make the products look identified from the rest of the cotton products available especially in terms of design, look, weight and texture, therefore, one felt it was very necessary for the company to develop a proper story board around the people who were involved in the making of these textiles in the state so that buyer’s understand it and appreciate the process of creating cotton saris. The success of the product is not only based on the criteria’s like quality, design, colours etc but also highly dependent on its competitive pricing.

• Internal Communication System The company needs to redesign their certain inter departmental communication to more effective product and its very challenging to create a web network in the grass root level to implement where DA needs more professionals address these issues.

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Intension & Impact of Working with Rajavolu Weavers

1. Providing them means of income generation as livelihood • Financial Support • Skill & technology up gradation • Market development 2. Start Rajavolu ETP dyehouse after 6 months 3. Reviving Guntur dobby sari tradition by new product development in contemporary market and also to channelize sales to other handloom business.

4. New product development for Manalgiri yardage weavers to reconnect to Guntur sari weaving.

5. Sensitizing the weaver towards the product need in the market and product kinds.

6. Communicate with retailers for product needs to formulate design brief.

7. Visiting the retailers and exhibition to get concrete market information.

8. Experimenting the quality and cost aspect of sari production, signature of the region.

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9. To provide facility of modification of loom, so as to enable product diversification.

10. Colour preferences in the form of pantone number/ thread card number to be provided along with the design if required.

11. Prototype Development to give tangible outcome and understanding the project process.

12. Supervision of production & quality assurance keeping in view of ethnicity of the cluster.

13. it’s a continuous process of capacity building for both the side to achieve better system plan.

14. Most important to develop & diversify new dobby design by culturing the technical and aesthetic properties of product development as a design process in a professional environment to support Indian handloom industry.

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Bibliography Books

Website & Digital Medium:

• Saris: Tradition and Beyond, Rta kapur chisti, Roli Books, 2011 • Saris of India: Madhya Pradesh, Amba Sanyal & Rta kapur, 1989 • Of fiber and loom: The Indian tradition , Krishna Amin Patel & Lotika Varadarajan, NID, Manohar Publisher,2009 • Threads of Hope: The Magical Weavers of Andhra Pradesh, Noopur Kumar • The Book of Loom – A history of the handloom from ancient times to the present; Eric Broudy, Studio Vista Publication, 1979 • Dastakar Andhra & DAMA Anual reports 2011 -2013 • An illustrated guide to the Indian art of draping, by Chantal Boulanger, New York, Shakti Press International, 1997 • Urban Patua: The Art of Jamini Roy, Sona Datta, Marg Publishers 2010) • Orchha, an ode to the Bundelas, Alok Srivastava, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal (1999) • Raja Ravi Varma: The Most Celebrated Painter of India (1848-1906), Parsram Mangharam, Parsram Mangharam (2007) • Art of Islam: Language and Meaning, Titus Burckhardt, World Wisdom Books, 2009) • Watson’s Advanced Textile Design, Z. J. Grosicki, Woodhead Publishing Ltd, 1977) • TRADITIONAL TEXTILES For the course of FGM & CGD&M State Institute of Vocational Education Directorate of Intermediate Education Govt. of Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad 2005

• http://www.apcofabrics.com/ • http://www.unnatisilks.com • http://vintageindianclothing.com/ • http://sareedreams.com/ • http://www.fabindia.com/ • http://www.dsource.in/resource/rangoli/elements-used-in-rangolis/ index.html • http://www.borderandfall.com/ • http://www.abrahamandthakore.com/ • http://wendellrodricks.com/ • http://www.nallisilks.com/ • http://handlooms.nic.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Act%201985.pdf • http://www.dollsofindia.com/library/saree/ • http://www.sarisafari.com/ • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thota_Vaikuntam • http://www.saffronart.com/artists/t-vaikuntam • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamini_Roy

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Diploma Document • Sari – Splendour in Threads, Soha Parekh, Red Pepper Books Publisher, 2012 • A six yard Stories: Traditions-Perspectives-Design, Gita S. Patil,NID,2008 • Nagendra Satis Poludas, Cheneta: Handwoven Fabrics from AP, NID, 2004

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Glossary Sari Terminology in Andhra The Sari Layout 1. Sari: Dhoti/Chira 2. Border: Anchu/Patti 3. Body/Ground: Nadamu 4. Outer end-piece: Kongu/ Kamni/ Maijara 5. Inner end-piece: Kattu Kongu 6. Selvedge: Vara/Chiguru 7. End Fringe: Kucchu/Lopala Kongu 8. Parting-stripe of warp without weft: Madhulu Kongu 9. Sari fold: Madatha

Adai: Pattern harness Angavastram: Upper drape Angulam: Inch Anchu: Plain border Achu: Shaft Aripidi: Hank Atuku: A joint Achu atakatam: Piecing /attaching the warp ends to new ones Bottanchu chire: plain border, courser sari Bugdi: ear ornamentation Baddalu: Leasing Chitki: yarn-resist dash pattern sari Chire: Sari Cheneta: Hand woven Chiguranch: Selvedge Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012

Chukka: Dots Chiguruanchu: End in border Chelnetha: Cross-shed beaten weave Damaynti Patcha: Forest green Dasili/ Darili Chire: Tussar silk sari Devanga: weaving community at AP Doni: Warp beam and cloth beam Gajalu: yard Ganji: Strach Gantalu: Harnesses Gadapa: Entrance Gadwal: cotton body/ silk bordered end-piece sari Gaddi Chire: Check-body sari Ganji: rice starch Gintam: two threads per dent Gochi Kattu: Loin cloth Jaalru: nylon threads that holds the design on the loom Jaanedu: cubit Jammulu: End in border in warp; Selvedge or threading in dobby border Jonna Panni: Corn stem reed Kandelu: pirns Kongu: Pallu Kuchulu: Pleates Kachha: Between the legs wearing style Kangora: Temple spire Kavva: two ends Kirige: Child’s sari 189

Kora: Unbleached white Kuppadam: three shuttles Kal Eranadadu: sari with main field in checks, borders in weft stripe which runs through selvedge to selvedge.

Kalikalu: dent, 2 threads in a dent Korvai: Three- shuttle Lopala Chuttu: The inner warp of the sari Lahiri: Twill Lungi: lower drape Maggam: Loom Mudi: knot Marasu: Drum warping Muthu: pearl check or Dotted line style of Banaras Border Niluvu: Vertical Noolu: yarn Nippani: double track border Oosi vanam: Needle fine stripes Paipetu: extra warp Paatna: Pallu Petu or Anchu: Border Panni: Reed Padugu: Warp Pattubadi: compact weave Pettu: patterned border Peka: weft Pesarabadda: Checks in Rajovolu Pillulu: Lease Pora Theeyatam: leasing Pogu/ Kaliki: one end Punjam: a number of units of sixty dents in the traditional Jonna maize reed, which indicates the reed count.

Pinda: mango representation Pulusu: made of Tamarind

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Rapadi chire: this has weft turning technique in weaving Ravuka: Blouse Raatnam: Spinning wheel Shalika: weaver Thandavalam: Bold paired stripes Tomtom gaddi: solid check Todi kandelu: Weft bobbins Thokkadam: Pedaling Todinchadam: Warping Velu: finger width Veldari: wavy twill stripe

Particular Colour Name in Coastal Andhra

Damayanti patcha: Green Bulugu: Royal Blue Nachurangu: Dark olive Chiaka patcha: Parrot green Ratnavali: Cerulean blue Vakka: Brown Chocolate: Dark red Majenta: Majenta Lavendar: Lavender Lemon/ Pasupu: Yellow Nalupu/ Savineeli: Black Draksha: Navy Blue Neeli : Indigo

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Imon Khandakar Textile Designer, M. Des, NID 2012 69, Khudiram Sarani, Coochbehar W.B. India 736101 ikhandakar@yahoo.com imon_k@nid.edu

Hi There!

Nothing can be more interesting than a daily life and bits of imagination.

Inspiration from the same pours into my sketchbook. Design enables my senses to navigate. It is my process of Search, analysis, responsibility and elaboration.

When I say responsibility it is sustainability - the respect not only for the environment, but honest appreciation of cultures, traditional knowledge and, in the end, of people themselves.

I believe in the power of making. Working with craft, traditional material and techniques is something I love. I see textile as a versatile expression into shaping lives, customs, acts, rituals and everything that moulds the society. I amalgamate textiles and graphics to express myself.

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Imon Khandakar | Textile Design | M Des. 2012