The act of handloom weaving can sometimes seem mechanical, which it is not. A more apt word that comes to mind is meditative, where the mind, body and heart are synchronized in a natural rhythm.
I became aware and interested in handloom weaving back in the late 1980s while working with the URMUL Trust, in Loonkaransar, Bikaner. A severe drought in 1987 had resulted in the migration of cattle and in cattle deaths, due to lack of fodder. The farming communities we worked with were in urgent need of remunerative work and food. Upon discovering that many women had wooden charkhas/spinning wheels and knew how to spin, we bought raw wool from Bikaner, the largest wool mandi/wholesale market in Asia, and gave it to women to spin. One thing lead to another and before long we met with handloom weavers from Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, who wove the most beautiful Rajasthani Pattus – large shawls which double up as light blankets, and thus began an organic connection from wool spinning to weaving.
Pattus were presented to the in-laws, at the time of weddings. Pattu weaving using the extra weft technique, is both an art and a science. Graphs have to be drawn to plan for motif placement, and the warp has to be manually lifted to insert the extra weft. The extra weft traditional technique of embellishing textile weaving being done on pit-loom in the Jaisalmer and Jodhpur region of western Rajasthan. This involves physically lifting warp yarns with fingers to insert extra weft and create motifs.
The URMUL campuses became hubs of activity, - students and teachers from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, craft enthusiasts and professionals from Dastkar Delhi, and very soon by the early 1990s we had two nascent organizations of handloom weavers – the URMUL Marusthali Bunker Vikas Samiti in Phalodi, Jodhpur, and Vasundhara Gramothan Samiti in Loonkaransar. Later on women who embroidered the most beautiful motifs and patterns joined in, embellishing the handwoven fabric with their colourful designs, to become a part of URMUL Seemant, in Bajju. A lot of diligent and concerted efforts were made by the weavers and the URMUL teams on the ground that included research on dyes and how to ensure colour fastness, improvement in looms and technology, learning new weaving techniques or adapting the older ones. The organizations flourished all through the 1990s and early 2000s with designers, management interns, and marketing organizations helping to take the products to all the major cities in the country, and URMUL products came to be known across the metro cities for their earthy vibrant hand crafted look.
All though the early 2000s, the weavers continued to make and sell in exhibitions, and a couple of them got a orders from fair trade organizations. Unfortunately they were unable to keep up with market requirements, nor were they able to hire designers to make new products. Exhibitions were the one outlet for sales, but not everything sold at exhibitions. Stock that would not move kept piling up, blocking working capital. On the supply side, young weavers moved to manual labour at construction sites – breaking stones, and working on the many govern- ment sponsored infrastructure programs in and around their villages and towns. Some of them later got access to tube wells, and started focusing on agriculture.
Transforming and investing in the sector to survive and thrive
We realized that we needed to transform ourselves if handlooms were to survive and thrive in the 21st century. This led us to the idea of creating Rangsutra – an idea which came to me in 2002, while on a sabbatical from work. After several talks with the URMUL weavers and other community based organizations we decided to form a community owned social enterprise, where weavers and artisans could be shareholders. It would be a for profit enterprise, so that we were not dependent on external funding, and could retain our independence.
Rangsutra builds on the aspirations and skills of handloom weavers and other rural artisans, to create and sell hand crafted products to customers. Aiming to be a bridge between rural artisans and urban and global customers we strive to retain what's best of the traditional practices while catering to contemporary needs and making use of appropriate 21st century technology and tools. Handloom weavers from Rajasthan are our founder members/ shareholders and remain on the board of directors.
An empowerment approach, which is different from a benefactor – benefactory or owner/ manager to a worker approach has been vital in ensuring a strong base for Rangsutra's work. Investment in building leadership capacity for constructive collection action has been the cornerstone of our efforts.
One of the key transformations that we strive to bring about is a shift in mindset from weaver to weaver-entrepreneur, keeping the market in mind.
Caring for the Planet
Handloom weaving does not need electricity and has a low carbon footprint. Of course the raw material used by weavers, mostly cotton, does consume a lot of water. As we grew, we recognized that we need to take care to ensure that making more fabric and products does not come with a cost to the environment. This meant setting up an effluent treat- ment plant at our dyeing unit, and switching to the 'Better Cotton Initiative'(BCI), an initiative that took shape in India in 2011 that is aimed at sustainable cotton production. We adopted these environment protec- tion practices as we grew our partnership with IKEA, the Swedish global chain store. This partnership has given a second lease of life to Rangsutra's weavers.
As cotton when grown conventionally requires large amounts of water and chemicals, making it harder for farmers to earn a living the BCI aims to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment it grows in, and better for the sector's future. BCI connects people and organizations from across the cotton sector, from field to store, to promote measurable and continuing improvements for the environment, farming communities and the economies of cotton production areas.
It has also motivated us to experiment with solar powered looms devel- oped by the SELCO Foundation. These looms, increase productivity while weaving striped, or chambray fabric which does not require engineering the weft. Solar powered looms are a viable alternative to plain fabric, on which Rangsutra embellishes hand embroidery, which in turn provides work to hundreds of women.
Zero waste, upcycling is part of the culture of rural life till today and we are trying to stay true to this value of waste not, and utilizing every bit of raw material and left over fabric. Weaving our own fabric means that we can be precise about the breadth and length of the fabric, and avoid wastages at the sides or end bits, which is inevita- ble when we buy mill made fabric.
An area that we in Rangsutra and others in the textile industry need to put committed efforts into, is natural dyes. We know that chemical, synthetic dyes cause harm to the soil, the water and can also harm the people/ dyers who are using them to dye the yarn/ fabric. And also maybe to the person who wears/ uses these synthetic dyed fabrics. Natural dyes on the other hand, made from plants, fruits and vegetables have no such adverse effects. The natural dyeing process is slower and more complex, as compared to synthetic dyes, and may seem more expensive, but in the long run it is the synthetic dyes that are proving costly to the earth to its inhabitants and to the environment as a whole.
Written by Sumita Ghose for UNEP Publication