12 things that you perhaps didn’t know about Ashavali
Ashavali is a brocade weave. The work however is called meenakari. By some accounts, weavers from Ashavali moved to Benaras to create the now-famous Benarasi...
Shoba Narayan
Weaver’s Emotions
We weave our emotions with the sarees. All kind of feelings being woven along with the saree. When I am sad, it will be little...
Gandhi before Khadi
Gandhi wasn’t born wearing khadi. Well, perhaps he was because most babies in India are wrapped in soft unstitched cloth which may well have been...
The Length and Breadth of Khadi
Interview with Anindita Sardar, Creative Director, Taneira How did the khadi collection unfold? Khadi was already there in India but it was looked down upon...
Gandhi, Ruskin and Khadi
Do you know what a Luddite is? Usually the term is applied to someone who dislikes technology and industrialization. Gandhi is a great example of...
From Dawn to Dream
well, a dreamy saree anyhow “Khadi is very delicate,” says master weaver, Krishnamoorthy. “You have to treat it carefully, like it is an honoured guest.”...
Khadi in Kanchi
If you think of khadi silk sarees, particularly those woven in Kanchipuram as these ones have, you cannot escape the Kalakshetra connection. Rukmani Devi Arundale...
Before the Weave
We celebrate weavers here. Of course we do. But for all that, there is the space before the weave. The space where threads roll out...
Portrait of a Weaving Unit in Gujarat
The little-known Ashavali cluster in Ridrol, Gujarat The beauty of India is that every weaving cluster is special, every cluster does something so totally unique...
The Dissenters: Naidu, Tagore, Ambedkar
Khadi’s path to becoming the freedom fabric was paved with thorns. Not everyone was on board with Gandhiji’s penchant for khadi. As Lisa Trivedi writes...
