Project LooM is a partnership between lovers of Indian handloom. The goal is to showcase and celebrate the people, places and processes behind India’s wonderful handwoven sarees.
It began as a series of conversations between me and my friend, Nandita Lakshmanan.
Taneira came on board to support LooM in late 2017 and thus it began. The first edition is Kanchipuram, then Chanderi, then Jamdani, Khadi, Gujarat, and on it goes.
Project LooM could not have happened without the support of the following people.
Rajeshwari Srinivasan, CEO of Taneira.
And before her, Ajoy Chawla and Shyamala Ramanan at Titan/Taneira.
Isha Sahu for the sensitive coordination and facilitation. And before her, Naomi Raphael.
Anindita Sardar, Kausalya Satyakumar, Dikshita Pant, Manjunath D., B.B. Paul and many others at Taneira for their help in introducing LooM to weaving clusters all over India.
Thanks also to…..
Jacob Kurian, who introduced Ajoy to me.
Calligrapher and architect, Dharmesh Jadeja from Auroville for designing the logo.
Ulhas Anand, my birder friend and Bird Podcast collaborator for the website design. Among other things, Ulhas organizes Bengaluru Bird Day and runs Ecoedu, for environmental education. Thanks, Ulhas for creating the website and all the social media pages.
Red Bangle Film Collaborative: where a vibrant group of young filmmakers come together to make films.
I make all the shorter amateur films but Red Bangle produces the 3-4 main films that are on top of the Youtube page of each edition.
And a great big Namaste and thank you to Taneira for keeping the faith.
Now on the nitty-gritty.
The mission statement.
Project LooM celebrates authentic Indian handwoven sarees and the people behind them.
India is unparalleled in the range of sarees that it offers. Each region has specific and special motifs, draping styles, and colours that are anchored in the land and its people. How marvellous this is and how lucky we are to have access to the saree: six to nine yards that epitomises the purity of the unstitched cloth. One that is woven through our history, geography and culture. One that is part of our collective unconsciousness as a people.
Luxury has many definitions and goes by many monikers: limited edition, customized, bespoke, handcrafted, handwoven, specific, rare, hard to get, unusual, painstakingly made. Sourced the right way, a handwoven saree conforms to all these definitions. In that sense, a well-made saree is Indian luxury at its finest.
This website is for all those of you who would like to learn about sarees. Whether you are a saree novice or a connoisseur, we hope that you will find something in these (virtual) pages that will educate and entertain you (preferably both).
Welcome to Project LooM. We are delighted you have chosen to visit us. May your tribe increase! Contact us by emailing us at pr**************@gm***.com.
Thank you for your support.
Shoba Narayan
Founder & Anchor, Project LooM