Heritage Threads. Craft. Culture. Sustainability. Issue 1: India's Silk and Handloom Heritage

HERITAGE

THREADS

CRAFT.

CULTURE.

SUSTAINABILITY.

ISSUE 1

India’s Silk &

Handloom Heritage

Photograph by Maria Weigt. With kind permission of Strawberry Hill Trust.

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ISSUE 1

India’s Silk &

Handloom Heritage

written & edited by Maria Weigt

© Heritage Threads. Craft. Culture. Sustainability.

All rights that pertain to the author reserved.

This is an educational magazine designed for yearly publication and targeted

at fashion professionals, students, and interested members of the public.

It pursues no commercial interest and is solely created and distributed for

knowledge sharing and storytelling in a written and photojournalistic way. The

first issue is published in partial fulfilment of the Sustainable Fashion: Business

and Practices Masters program at Kingston University London.

The written content is based on primary and secondary research. The

primary research was conducted with the consent of all participants, including

recording, documentation, reproduction and publication for educational

and non-commercial purposes. For participants who, for various reasons,

could not provide or sign a written statement in English, the organisation to

which they directly or indirectly belong signed on their behalf and verbally

explained the conditions for using the content provided through interviews

and photographs in this magazine. The secondary research was conducted to

complement the primary findings and is based on credible sources. Harvard

citations have been omitted for the sake of readability and the intended target

audience, but are available for each article. They can be provided at any time

upon request by contacting heritagethreadsmagazine@gmail.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, the photos published within this issue are

owned by the author of this magazine, Maria Weigt, and were taken with

consent from all parties depicted in the image. Use of stock photography and

images from other photographers, brands and individuals are recognised and

credited. Adobe stock images have been licensed through an educational licence

as part of the author’s affiliation with Kingston University London, as

the first edition of this magazine is part of the author’s Masters project and

is being produced and made publicly available for educational and editorial

purposes only.

Contents and parts of this magazine owned by this author may not be

re-distributed, sold or used in non-commercial and commercial media and

publications created and published at a profit, may not be altered, edited or

abridged, applying to written and photographic material, without explicit consent.

No written or photographic material in the possession of other parties

and published within this issue may be used without their express consent.

Permission to use their property is limited to this publication only.

Although the contents of this magazine have been compiled with the

utmost care and scientific accuracy, the author is not liable for any direct or

indirect damages arising therefrom.

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Craft, Culture,

Sustainability

Table of

CONTENT

As an introduction, the first chapter

defines each term in detail while explaining

their relationship to each other.

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India

The second chapter offers an overview

of the country, introducing political,

economic, and cultural facts while highlighting

the artisan economy’s influence

and importance in India. It presents the

issue’s central theme: India’s silk and

handloom heritage.

20

Silk’s History &

Cultural Significance

The following chapter explores the

history of silk and its first occurrence

in India, describing its cultural manifestation

in society and weaving patterns.

36

The Raw Silk Industry

To understand how silk is made, the

fourth chapter presents the supply chain

from cultivating mulberry trees and rearing

silkworms to reeling and processing

its cocoons into silk yarn.

54

Silk Dyeing & Weaving

The fifth chapter outlines the steps to

transform silk yarn into a textile including

dyeing and loom setup. Additionally,

it explains a handloom, a jacquard machine,

and some popular weaving techniques.

72

The Economy & Artisans

behind the Craft

To appreciate each craft product’s

imperfections and origin, the sixth chapter

will provide insight into the artisans’

socio-economic conditions and work

culture to platform their life stories to a

wider audience.

122

The Craft’s Threats to

Preservation

The penultimate chapter reveals the

craft’s threats to its preservation, which,

from a global perspective to a significant

extent, also apply to the handloom industry

in general.

136

Indian Brocade x Vintage

A Photo Story

The eighth and last chapter features

a photo story that showcases the transformation

of Indian handloom silks into

vintage-inspired garments to promote

cultural sustainability and slow fashion

consumption further.

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Saree by “Parvez Creation” Varanasi. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

EDITOR’S

LETTER

We are living on this planet as if we had another

one to go to.

Terry Swearingden

The journey I find myself on today all

started when I was about 14 years

old. I was not thrilled by the fashion

options offered to young women my age

in 2012: wedge sneakers, short skirts paired

with leggings and wide sweaters and shirts.

Although I briefly participated in this trend, I

quickly realised that this type of fashion was

not for me. So, I started rummaging through

my grandma’s attic, looking for clothes I could

bring back to life, inspiring me to find my own

personality. And believe me when I say there

were plenty of treasures to be found. The

nearest flea market became my guilty pleasure,

and no historical film was left untouched.

This eventually led me to discover my love for

the 1930s and 40s – a period of clothing in

which every dress and suit symbolised craftsmanship,

uniqueness and elegance. Made

from natural fabrics like silk and beautifully

handcrafted with every seam sewn to perfection,

they were made to be repaired and cherished

for generations.

However, it was not uncommon for vintage

pieces to be too small or simply too expensive

for me during my teens. So, I looked

for garments in the familiar shopping giants

like H&M and Zara, unaware of fast fashion

and its severe impacts. I found it challenging

to stay true to myself and my style as so many

garments were made from synthetics, lacked

creativity in design and cut, and were of terrible

quality. I then asked myself whether this

is really all that fashion has to offer these days.

Disappointed by this realisation, I searched

the internet for small companies specialising

in vintage reproductions and finally found a

tailor’s shop in Berlin called Marlenes Töchter.

A typical local from Berlin and owner of the

one-women business, Franziska discovered

her passion in making clothes inspired by past

decades but with a fresh take suited for modern

times, explicitly resolving my sizing issue.

I saved up money so that whenever I was in

Berlin, I could make a small purchase. She also

tailored my prom dress, whose colour, fabric,

and fit I could choose before it was meticulously

assembled by hand.

As the years went by, I met many more designers

and tailors like her and was fortunate

enough to be able to wear their collections.

Whenever I had something made for me, I

asked myself who the people making clothes

for Zara and HM were. Where do they come

from? How do they live? Do they earn enough

money? Where do the fabrics come from?

And how do the finished garments get to us?

However, it was not until 2021, when I was

first introduced to the concept of sustainability

in university and its dimensions of social

equity, environmental protection, and economic

growth, that I realised the impact of

our consumption behaviour on the world. So,

I started my research to find answers to these

questions. My findings were very disconcerting.

Every year, 2 billion T-shirts are sold

worldwide. Cultivating the amount of cotton

needed for one T-shirt requires 2700 litres of

water, which is equivalent to around 30 bathtubs.

In addition to the water usage, cotton is

treated with insecticides and pesticides that

lead to soil degradation. Once transformed

into fabric, cotton is processed with toxic

chemicals like bleach and dyes containing

heavy metals like cadmium, lead, or mercury.

These chemicals are discharged into our waterways

because of inadequate or non-existent

factory sewage systems.

The same goes for garments made from

synthetic fibres, such as polyester, which

makes up 60% of our wardrobe. Polyester is

based on PET, a material we come across daily.

It may be in plastic water or juice bottles or

even a container filled with shampoo. Its production

involves burning fossil fuels, which

leads to high GHG emissions. 10% of global

CO2 emissions can be attributed to the fashion

industry.

The garments are then assembled in countries

like China or Bangladesh by a predominantly

female labour force who regularly

works 10 to 15 hours a day and often more

than seven days in a row. They endure verbal

abuse and sexual harassment while facing unfair

payment. Of the retail price of a T-shirt of

29,99€, only around 1,80€ will go to the garment

worker.

Once assembled, they are shipped to

high-income countries in the global North,

like my home country, Germany, where they

are released in multiple collections throughout

the year in shops like H&M, Zara and

Primark and on global online platforms like

SHEIN. But why? Consumers are mainly triggered

by fashion trends that they want to

replicate. However, as they change quickly,

approximately 80 billion garments are produced

yearly. In that same timeframe, consumers

buy around 60 new pieces of clothing

and wear them for half as long as 15 years ago

before discarding a little less than half of their

wardrobe every three years. Many of these

garments end up in Kenya or Ghana, where

one truckload of garments is landfilled or incinerated

every second, contributing to waste

colonialism.

Effectively, our current fashion industry

represents a linear economy in which resources

are depleted just as quickly as they

are disposed of, a phenomenon called fast

fashion. Completely shocked by how our capitalist

market system and society could create

such a supply chain of exploitation and pollution,

I have made it my mission to advocate for

more sustainability in the fashion industry,

including slow fashion consumption. By boycotting

fast fashion, supporting local dressmakers,

and buying second-hand, I could

either guarantee the choice of a sustainable

fabric and decent income for the people who

made my clothes or prevent them from being

discarded. Nevertheless, I needed to learn

more about the concept of sustainable fashion

and its potential for change, which led to

my decision to pursue my master’s degree in

this field. More specifically, considering that I

embarked on this journey out of love for vintage

and locally handmade clothing, I wanted

to understand why we have changed how we

make clothes.

Why would we use synthetics when we can

use hand-spun and woven natural fibres? Why

would we mass-produce clothes in readymade

sizes with similar designs when we can

make them made-to-measure and unique?

Why would we industrialise the fashion industry

when we can handcraft garments?

Why has everything changed so drastically in

the last 80 to 100 years? What will happen to

tailor businesses like that of Franziska in the

future? Will we lose our ability to handcraft

products we consume, like shoes, garments,

furniture, and metalware, and depend entirely

on machines?

These commodities are all craft-based.

Shoes were made by cobblers, furniture by

carpenters and metalware by metal smiths,

just like tailors made garments. As an inherently

European craft, looking to Italy, England,

and France, I wondered whether tailoring was

the only craft impacted by industrialisation

and globalisation and how craftsmanship,

regional cultures, and sustainability are interconnected.

While some readers may see

an obvious connection, others may need help

finding it. So, follow along to explore their

meanings and relations to one another in the

context of the fashion industry while being inspired

by the world’s crafts.

6 7

The mandala graphic placed in the square box is repeated throughout the document. Source applies to every occurence. Adobe Stock #345684439.

SUSTAINABILITY

CULTURE

CRAFT

The concept of sustainability was first

defined in 1987 by a United Nations commission,

which nowadays is commonly

known as the Brundtland Commission. It

is described as a development that meets

the needs of the present without compromising

the ability of future generations to

meet their own needs.

filling our clothes and thereby using more

renewable resources than our planet can

regenerate for future generations.

But how can we tell whether our level

of consumption is sustainable or if we

are already depleting resources meant

for future generations? For better measurement,

the term was broken down into

three dimensions: sustainable economic

growth, social equity, and environmental

protection. This means that the degree to

which our consumption of goods and services

is considered sustainable depends

on whether it promotes economic growth

rather than decline, ensures social equity

rather than exploitation, and protects the

environment rather than causing pollution.

able circumstances to afford a decent

standard of living.

But how are sustainability and culture

connected, and what role does craftsmanship

play in this? According to UNESCO,

the United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization, cultural heritage

encompasses traditions and cultural

expressions passed on over generations.

These include customs and traditions

from the past as well as contemporary

additions as culture changes and evolves

in response to environmental and societal

development. Often, people from the

same region and community share the

same cultural heritage, which they carry

with them wherever they go, contributing

to intercultural exchange, whether

as tourists, for work, or as migrants –

whenever people move across different

geographical locations for various reasons.

There are five domains of intangible

cultural heritage. The first are oral traditions

In this context, needs are any physical

and cultural expressions, including

or emotional requirement we need to satisfy

stories, myths, legends, prayers, chants,

to survive or feel well. Those include For the fashion industry, that means or proverbs. Also, part of that domain

fundamental needs such as shelter, food, shifting from a linear to a circular economy

and base for the transmission of cultural

and clothing, as well as higher-ranked

by extending the life span of garments heritage to future generations is languag-

needs such as safety, education, friendships

and encouraging second-hand, renting, es. The second domain is the performing

and love or self-achievement. To repairing, or upcycling, as well as com-

arts, involving dance, musical and spoken

meet them, we consume goods and services

posting or recycling garments once they theatre, singing and even pantomime.

like electricity and water, vegeta-

have reached their end of life to avoid The third domain is social practices, like

bles and grains, shoes, pants, shirts, use textile waste. A circular economy also rituals and festive events, which are different

public transport, or attend university. entails making new garments from natural

in every culture and may include

However, as individuals, we are not alone.

or recyclable materials like organic festivities for events in a person’s life like

We are part of a broader society with cotton, bamboo, lyocell, or hemp, among weddings and funerals but also practices

similar needs. As such, we have to reflect others, which are processed with renewable

related to agriculture and the beginning

on whether our children and children’s

energy using minimal amounts of and end of seasons like Thanksgiving and

children will be able to meet their needs water and non-toxic chemicals. Garment culinary practices. The fourth domain is

in an equal matter or will be stripped of workers would assemble them in a safe knowledge and practices related to nature

their ability to do so because we have led and comfortable working environment

and the universe, for example, flora

an unsustainable life by wasting food, and receive a living wage sufficient for and fauna, healing rituals and medicinal

taking excessively long showers or land- food, housing, education and unforesee-

plants, and shamanism.

8 9

Indian blockprinting artisan from Jaipur. Adobe Stock #144248379

Basket weaver. Adobe Stock #462115661

Indian dancer. Adobe Stock #365135250

Indian potter Rajasthan. Adobe Stock #313642757

Lastly, the fifth domain and integral to

this magazine series is traditional craftsmanship,

which, according to UNESCO,

is considered the most tangible manifestation

of intangible cultural heritage.

Examples include hand-made clothing,

jewellery, musical instruments, objects

for religious festivals and rites, costumes

and props for the stage, decorative objects,

household utensils, toys and tools.

Wherever you look in the world, this craft

will take a different form and be characterised

by the local culture. While some

craft products may last for generations,

some are fleeting and made for a single

event or purpose. Like other cultural expressions

within the five domains, many

of these crafts are endangered by globalisation

and industrialisation, environmental

challenges like climate change,

and limited access to natural resources.

To preserve traditional craftsmanship, it

is crucial to protect the skills and knowledge

required to perform the craft instead

of focussing on the craft product itself to

prevent it from going extinct by passing it

on to a new generation of artisans within

the local community.

Therefore, culture is considered a

driver and enabler of sustainable development

since the cultural economy contributes

to sustainable economic growth

as a source of income in developing countries

and, therefore, poverty alleviation.

Take traditional craftsmanship, the fifth

domain, and the example of artisanal

bamboo weavers in India designing traditional

handbags and baskets. Their craft

enables them to offer their products on

the local as well as international markets

through the help of craft fairs or brand

collaborations, promoting their financial

stability. This contributes to the growth

of their bamboo weaving community as

income is often shared and used to guarantee

access to food and education for all

community members.

From a social equity perspective, the

practice of traditional community-based

craftsmanship as part of the cultural

and creative industries supports an artisan’s

sense of belonging to a community,

feeling of home and entrepreneurial

mindset, as well as the preservation of

cultural heritage through communicating

and passing on the local knowledge and

skills.

Indian artisan knitting. Adobe Stock #117346705

These five domains have one thing

in common. They are part of a cultural

Indian wedding ritual. Adobe Stock #549013850.

economy, often called an artisan economy,

in which artisans offer handmade

Candles for celebrating of Diwali. Adobe Stock #294609857

or designed products and services using

and presenting cultural heritage,

including entertainment, food, tourism,

The first issue revolves around a country

and traditional crafts like handmade Lastly, cultural knowledge emphasises

with a history that spans thousands of years

textiles, jewellery or art. It is the largest

an interaction with the environment

yet is one of the world’s technology hubs. A

source of informal employment globally that protects biodiversity by avoiding

country renowned for its vibrant colours,

for marginalised communities with a low mass production and depletion of resources

Therefore, Heritage Threads will fo-

remarkable food and extraordinary spices,

level of digitalisation and a diverse skill

through small-scale manufacturcus

on the intersection of cultural sus-

traditional roots, spirituality and cultural di-

set.

ing and by applying regenerative practictainability

and craftsmanship as one of

versity.

10 11

es and using natural and local resources

like bamboo with less impact on soil and

climate, contributing to environmental

protection.

So, instead of viewing culture as an

enabler of sustainable development, academic

reports and cultural committees

have argued to extend the model introduced

by the Brundtland Commission

by including culture as a fourth pillar of

sustainability because, according to UNE-

SCO, no development can be sustainable

without a vital cultural component. The

cultural economy supports the maintenance

and development of communities

worldwide, which are the beating heart

of their cultural heritage. For its traditions

and cultural expressions in all its

different forms to be preserved, culture

as a fourth pillar must exist in addition

to social, environmental, and economic

aspects of sustainability.

the five domains of intangible cultural heritage.

Through the lens of fashion, it will delve

into the world’s crafts to document and communicate

their values and material culture

while exploring the challenges of their preservation

to advocate for cultural sustainability

and slow fashion consumption. Apart from

secondary research, every issue will be based

on an educational journey involving travelling

to a country and diving into its culture to

fully recognise and appreciate its value when

platforming its story in this magazine for a

wider audience.

INDIA

India is the cradle of the human race, the

birthplace of human speech, the mother of

history, the grandmother of legend, and

the great-grandmother of tradition. Our

most valuable and most artistic materials

in the history of man are treasured up in

India only!

Mark Twain

12 13

Busy Street in Kolkata. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

As the world’s largest democracy,

India has surpassed

China in terms of population,

with more than 1.4 billion inhabitants.

While under European colonial rule, India

gained its independence in 1947 and

became a constitutional republic with

New Delhi as its capital city. Geographically,

India is surrounded by the Indian

Ocean in the South and the Himalayan

mountains in the North, with landscapes

as diverse as rainforests, grasslands, arid

regions, and mountains all within one

country. Nevertheless, Southern India

can be described as tropical and humid.

Since Northern India has less rainfall, it

is relatively arid even though summers

can still be scorching, with New Delhi recording

temperatures of 48°C and higher

in May. On the other hand, the Himalayan

mountains also sustain extremely low

temperatures that can lead to snowfall.

This geographic and climate diversity is

one of the reasons why India is referred

to as a subcontinent.

The same can be said when looking

at its age-old culture. India has 22 official

languages, including English. However,

more than half of the population speaks

Hindi and Bengali. Each region has its

unique way of dressing in traditional

garments, preparing food, or celebrating

religious festivals. North India is famous

for rich gravy dishes served with bread,

whereas South India mainly con-sumes

rice-based dishes with vegetable stews.

Besides its culinary practices, India is

known for its religious diversity, with

Hinduism being the most widespread.

Other practised religions include Buddhism,

Islam and Christianity. The most

celebrated Hindu festivals, cherished

beyond India’s borders, are Holi, which

welcomes spring with colourful powders

and Diwali, called the festival of light, as

it honours the light in life with beautifully

decorated villages and small gifts

exchanged between friends and relatives.

14 15

A landscape in Erode district. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

India’s economy is one of the fastest

growing in the world while still facing

extreme poverty in rural areas

of the country inhabited by 65% of its citizens,

with some living on a daily budget

of less than $2,15. One reason is that agriculture

is the most significant source of

employment, con-tributing to 20% of the

gross domestic product. In contrast, India

is globally renowned as one of the world’s

technology hubs, with a strong IT and

manufacturing industry that accounts for

most of the GDP. Besides, the country’s

cultural exports, including Bollywood

cinema, music, crafts, and literature,

should not be forgotten either. With more

than 200 million people involved, 50% of

whom are women, the artisan economy is

India’s second most important source of

employment after agriculture, although

with a much lower contribution to the

GDP. In the fiscal year 2023/24, India exported

craft products worth 32.758,80

crore rupees, which amounts to approximately

3,5 billion US dollars, with more

than two-fifths being shipped to the US.

Europe, including France, Germany, Italy,

the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK,

made third place, accounting for a little

less than a quarter of exports.

Historically, crafts have always played

an essential role in India’s economy, mainly

reliant on agri-culture and the artisan

economy, having been responsible for

25% of the global economic gain be-tween

1000 A.D. to 1700 A.D. Artisans then crafted

textiles, food products, and metalware

while also processing raw materials, all

sold on domestic and international markets.

This changed with the arrival of the

British and the establishment of the East

India Company in the 18th century. As a

co-lonial force, they imposed European

values on the Indian people and imported

readymade British products, which soon

represented three-quarters of India’s exports.

They also banned or imposed high

duties on local artisans’ agricultural produce

and craft products. Once a self-sufficient

econo-my, India quickly became

dependent on the British, which led to

the slow decline and fragmentation of

the home-based artisan economy. In 1950,

three years after India regained its independence,

the country only contributed

4,2% to the world’s GDP, highlighting the

significant impact of colonial-ism.

Even though the artisan economy still

faces significant challenges in today’s

world, it has growth potential due to its

inherently sustainable nature, which has

become increasingly important in our

society. According to UNESCO, it meets 11

out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals

and has the lowest carbon footprint compared

to any other industry. Artisans craft

each product with respect for the environment

while being socio-economically

uplifted. Additionally, consumer demand

for craft products has risen as each product

reflects the artisan’s skill and identity,

making them unique and different from

industrialised commodities, which are

the Western standard.

These artisans are part of a cluster

or community whose identity is strongly

defined by their craft, of which more than

3000 are spread all over India. While this

is not an exhaustive list, important examples

include handwoven, hand-painted

and dyed textiles, imitation jewellery, embroidery

and crochet goods, woodware,

glass and stone crafts, pottery, and paper-mâché

arts, some of which have even

been awarded a geographical indication,

to prove their origin and traditional techniques

of production. Central to this issue

are handwoven textiles, which account

for 15% of India’s textile production volume

and provide employment to around

3,5 million weavers and artisans in allied

professions whose skills vary from cotton

to linen and hemp or silk.

16 17

Top left: A cow in Kanchipuram. Top right: An auto rickshaw in Bengaluru. Centre left: A junction in Kanchipuram. Bottom left: Typical South Indian food. Bottom right: A street in Kanchipuram. / Photographs by Maria Weigt.

In its first issue, Heritage Threads

will focus on India’s silk and handloom

heritage. The basis for this

issue is a three-week journey to India in

May 2024, which took this author all over

the country, starting in the South, in the

Mulberry fields and silkworm sheds of

Tamil Nadu while looking into the techniques

of weaving in Chennimalai and

Onnupuram in Arani. It continued North

in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh to understand

the home-based artisan economy

of India, with visits to Chanduli and

Islampur and a digital meet-up with artisans

from Salar before travelling to Varanasi

and Ayodhapur and finishing off with

the capital. This journey was made possible

due to significant support from individuals

and sustainable brands in India,

including Five P, N.S in Erode, Manokaran

and R. G. Panneerselvam in Onnupuram,

both in Tamil Nadu, Anuprerna in West

Bengal and Loom to Luxury in Varanasi

and Ayodhapur in Uttar Pradesh, as well

as other brands, individuals, translators

and drivers featured at the end of this

magazine.

This journey has shown that Heritage

Threads can only give the reader a

glimpse into the artisan economy since

India is such a diverse country, which

is reflected in its culture, food, climate,

landscapes, and, most importantly, in the

communities that cultivate and weave

silk and other handloom textiles. Supported

by secondary research, this issue

intends to provide the reader with an

understanding of the history of silk and

its cultural importance in Indian society

while also giving an overview of its supply

chain, from the cultivation of mulberry

trees and the rearing of silkworms to the

reeling and processing of its cocoons into

a silk yarn then handwoven into a textile.

Further, it will provide an insight into the

artisans’ socio-economic conditions and

work culture to platform their life stories

while presenting the craft’s threats

to preservation. Nevertheless, it cannot

highlight all the nuances and differences

that make each cluster and community

unique. One reason, among many others,

is that three weeks is not long enough to

reflect upon and understand each region’s

cultural identity.

Moreover, through visiting and talking

to artisans from mulberry silk clusters

as well as weaving communities focused

on other types of silks and cotton,

along with a discussion with involved

stakeholders, this journey has further revealed

that the organisational structures

and living conditions of home-based

weavers in the rural countryside of India

essentially do not differ regardless of the

cluster weaving silk or any other material.

Therefore, when presenting the artisan’s

socio-economic conditions and artisan

economy, this issue will not only feature

silk handloom weavers but incorporate

all other interviews and experiences

that were part of this journey to platform

everyone’s story to reflect, to some

extent, the Indian handloom industry in

general with silk weavers continuing to be

the centre of the chapter. Ultimately, this

issue should inspire all readers to travel

to India and explore the country’s beauty

and each community’s habits and traditions

surrounding their craft.

As a symbol of luxury and cultural

significance, silk has been valued all

over the world for centuries. However, its

story begins in China, where it was first

discovered before knowledge of its cultivation

and processing was later shared

with other kingdoms and empires via the

Silk Road. In this first chapter, Heritage

Threads explores the rich history of the

queen of textiles and how it found its way

to India. Moreover, it will dive into its

cultural importance on the subcontinent,

looking at its status in society and regional

weavings, motifs and colours.

New Delhi

Jaipur

Mumbai

Bengaluru

Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow

Varanasi

Hyderabad

Chennai

West

Bengal

Kolkata

N.S. Manokaran &

R.G. Panneerselvam

Kanchipuram /

Arani

Tamil

Nadu

Erode

18 19

Map of India. Adobe Stock #492890695

SILK’S HISTORY

& CULTURAL

SIGNIFICANCE

The discovery of silk dates back

to the 27th century BC in China.

The story goes that during

the reign of Yellow Emperor Huang Ti, a

cocoon fell from a mulberry tree in the

garden into the teacup of his wife, empress

Hsi-Ling, also known as Leizu. In

the attempt to pick the cocoon out of her

tea, she realised it had started to unravel.

What was left in her hands was raw silk

filament. She later decided to weave the

filament into a textile for which her husband

had a loom built for her – marking

the birth of the silk industry.

From that moment on, the empress

was called Goddess of Silk or Silkworm

Mother. According to the story, the empress

then taught the farmers and artisans

of her country how to produce silk, from

mulberry cultivation to silkworm rearing

and weaving. First, silk was worn only by

the ruling class and aristocracy before

being made accessible to the public, who

were mostly unable to afford it due to

its high prices. Effectively, silk was proclaimed

as a symbol of social class. Later,

it became a commodity for exchange and

payment and was used for bowstring instruments,

fishing lines, textile banners

and even paper.

The Chinese kept the secret of silk

production for thousands of years, accumulating

wealth from exports to foreign

kingdoms and empires before opening

the Silk Road from East Asia to India and

Europe around 130 BC. It was operational

for many centuries until the 15th century

AD when the Ottoman Empire started

to control key trade routes between Asia

and Europe, which led to a decline of silk

exchange on the Silk Road. However, by

then, many countries had already started

conducting sericulture and silk weaving

themselves.

While sericulture was practised in

India as early as 2000 BC, in modern-day

Pakistan in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro,

sources confirm that silk originating from

these regions was indeed from indigenous

wild cocoons such as Tasar. Opinions as to

who introduced the mulberry silk differ.

Some sources say that a Buddhist monk

brought the silkworm species to India

between 400-600 AD, along with Chinese

techniques of silk processing like reeling

and weaving. Others say that silk was

introduced to India by traders from Uzbekistan,

after which it became popular

among the royals and aristocrats for its

auspiciousness. Popular centres of flourishment

were Gujarat (a western state),

Malwa (a cultural region in the centre

state of Madhya Pradesh) and South India

before it spread all over the country. From

there, the craft grew and was integrated

into the warp and weft of India’s cultural

identity.

Silk symbolises wealth, auspiciousness,

abundance, and prosperity. Products

made from the queen of textiles

include sarees and other traditional and

non-traditional silk garments, made-ups,

fabrics, yarns, carpets, shawls, scarves,

cushion covers, and accessories. Of all silk

products, sarees are the most important

for the domestic market. The word saree

originates from the Sanskrit word “Sati,”

which loosely translates to “strip of cloth.”

It is a long piece of textile that is purely

woven, unstitched, and draped around

a woman’s body. They are considered a

symbol of femininity and strength.

The first record of a saree was around

3200 – 2000 BC, during which people of

the Indus Valley Civilization also covered

themselves with one piece of cloth, even

though it was not made of silk yet. From

this point onwards, the saree continued

to change and develop for centuries. The

Mughal Muslim Empire, which ruled over

India from the early 16th to 19th century,

introduced embellishments and embroi-

20 21

dery to decorate the saree and, apart from

that, stitched garments, such as skirts and

blouses, that did not need to be draped.

From the mid-18th century, the British

started to impose their values of culture,

society, and economy on the people of India,

often with a lasting negative impact

before eventually taking over the reign in

1858.

This also led to the emergence of Nivi,

considered a universal drape that contributed

to the decline and submission of

regional drape forms. The textile would

be pleated and wrapped around the waist

with one end tucked into the underskirt.

The other end would be loosely draped

over one shoulder with the pallu, the end

of the saree hanging down the back. As

such, the shoulders and back would be

bare. Therefore, the British also manifested

the use of blouses and underskirts

below the saree, implementing their ideas

of modesty, even though the textile was

worn initially without it, as it was the belief

that the belly button and waist should

be uncovered as they are the source of

life.

Today, silk sarees are worn for ceremonial

meetings, weddings, and functions.

A symbol of exquisite craftsmanship

and cultural heritage, they are

considered an heirloom handed from

down one generation to the next. They are

regarded as social capital and financial investment

as sarees, handwoven and containing

real gold and silver, have a high

value and can be resold during economic

straits. Sarees were also given as part of

a dowry to represent status and wealth

through the intricacy and quality of the

saree. However, this may not be the case

for every household anymore and vary

from region to region. The groom’s family

used to provide and pay for the silk sarees

for the wedding, depending on the number

of functions and the family’s financial

means. At a wedding, a bride usually

receives five sarees. One for the evening

and morning functions, home moving,

and other occasions. The bride’s mother

would also be provided with a saree,

which they would wear for the wedding

and only again for similar festivities. This

culturally led consumption supports the

whole supply chain from farmer to dyer

and weaver.

The design of a saree is based on a

concept. The pallu, the end of the saree

often draped over the shoulder, is typically

different in weaving pattern and

colour from the rest of the fabric. It epitomises

the forest, the origin from which

the river, the body of the saree, begins its

journey. The saree’s border symbolises

the riverbanks, guiding the river’s flow.

They often contain Zari work. Zari refers

to a silk yarn twisted with silver wire and

coated in real gold. These types of yarn

are mainly sourced from Gujarat and are

manually woven into the saree’s border

and sometimes even the body to increase

its intricacy, value and auspiciousness. In

the past, real gold and silver were used

as status symbols. However, yarns made

from silk and synthetic imitations coloured

in gold or silver have become more

common to make sarees more financially

accessible.

The length and drape of the saree vary

depending on the region. There are more

than 108 ways to drape a saree, and each

textile’s length can vary between four

and nine yards, although six is common.

Moreover, every region has its own cultural

identity and traditions, leading to

differences in motifs, colours and decorative

embroidery, making the saree a

symbol of cultural heritage. These cultural

differences are recognisable in the

silk materials, traditional silk garments,

and sarees woven in each regional cluster,

which often carry the name of their place

of origin. Although this is not an exhaustive

overview, the following page shows

some essential weaving patterns from

different regions in India. While they all

differ in their design, colour coding, and

weaving techniques, they are all made

from silk.

22 23

Wedding photo with traditional Indian garments. The bride wears a silk saree. Courtesy of Vaishali Awasthi and Bhavishya Sharma.

A Pochampalli saree. Courtesy of Sanskruti The Culture Boutique Pune.

A Patola saree. Courtesy of Tilfi Banaras.

A Paithani saree. Courtesy of

Sanskruti The Culture Boutique Pune.

A Baluchari saree. Courtesy of Tilfi Banaras.

A Chanderi saree. Courtesy of Sanskruti The Culture Boutique Pune.

Pochampalli sarees from Pochampalli,

originally in Andhra

Pradesh, today, Telangana, are

created by deploying Ikat dyeing techniques.

This resist dyeing method is

achieved by tying bundles or single yarns

together before wrapping them in a geometric

pattern and dyeing them. This is

repeated as often as necessary to create

the desired design and multiple colours.

This can be done for the warp and weft

yarn or both, referred to as double ikat,

before weaving them into a textile.

Similarly, Patola silks from Patan in

Gujarat are also made using the Ikat technique.

If only the warp ends were dyed in

a pre-planned manner, the pattern would

already be slightly visible when prepared

for the loom. It fully comes to life when interlaced

with the weft yarn. Although both

sarees are famous for their geometric patterns,

birds like peacocks, parrots, and

elephants are also used as motifs.

Paithani sarees from Paithan in Maharashtra

are famous for their singular,

meaningful, prominent motifs, often on

the saree's pallu and contrasting end.

There is no clustering, and essential motifs

include peacocks, swans, parrots, and

lotus flowers. Lotus flowers are considered

the only plant that grows in the mud,

yet they are not regarded as dirty but elegant

and auspicious.

Baluchari sarees from Baluchari in

West Bengal are clearly identifiable by

looking again at the pallus, where stories

of gods and humans are depicted in rectangular

boxes. On the other hand, the

saree's body often has small, unremarkable

motifs not to move the focus from the

pallu.

Lastly, Chanderi sarees from Chanderi

in Madhya Pradesh are known for

their intricate small motifs on the body,

whereas their borders are decorated with

sophisticated golden and silver Zari work.

This type of saree is either made from cotton,

pure silk, or cotton silk blends with

cotton used for the body and silk for the

saree's pallu.

24 25

Unfortunately, not all of them

can be featured in more detail

in this magazine. However,

two types known beyond India’s borders

for their intricacy and finest quality of

silk, mostly Mulberry, are brocade sarees

from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu

(Kanjivaram sarees) and Varanasi in Uttar

Pradesh (Banarasi sarees). Both received

a GI Tag, a geographical indication tag,

to prove their origin – Kanchipuram in

2005 and Varanasi in 2009. That means

only silks made by artisans in this region,

using the original weaving techniques,

can be sold as Kanchipuram or Varanasi

sarees. Instead of verifying a single product,

such as copyright or trademarks, it

is a collective seal applying to those that

can prove the textile’s origin. Known as

the city of a thousand temples, Kanchipuram

houses Ekambareswarar Temple,

a significant place of worship. Besides its

spiritual importance, which brings pilgrims

and tourists to the city every year,

it is known for its weaving traditions,

which, besides tourism, is one of the primary

sources of economic activity.

26 27

Ekambareswarar Temple Kanchipuram. All photos depict the same location. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Its silks distinguish themselves by

their bright colours, varying from

a light shade of pink to a dark blue

hue. The body often has small and intricate

motifs while the border is subtle,

with Zari made from silk yarn coated with

real gold and silver or synthetic threads

to mimic the metallic appearance.

As a temple city, its motifs are inspired

by its spiritual sanctuaries, animals,

and geometry. One of the most

essential motifs is the peacock, Mayil

Chakram. As the national animal of India,

the peacock is considered a guardian representing

the circle of life, starting with

birth and rebirth. In Hindu mythology,

the auspiciousness is ascribed to Lord

Krishna, who has always worn peacock

feathers in his hair.

Another vital motif, Thazhampoo

Reku, is derived from a yellow flower

used to ornate the hair. Its geometric triangular-like

petals are found in the South

in the Tamil Nadu riverbanks and symbolise

a temple’s towers. Other patterns

include checks and squares.

Apart from geometry, there is also the

elephant motif, Yanai, which stands for

royalty and wealth. More importantly, it

also represents wisdom and guarantees

protection.

Lastly, there is a mango motif, a variation

of the paisley design, referred to as

Manga, which has significant importance

in Hinduism and stands for fertility and

prosperity. It is depicted on temple walls,

and a tree is often planted in the inner

sanctums.

28 29

Top left: A Kanjivaram saree with geometric pattern. Courtesy of Sanskruti The Culture Boutique Pune. Top right: A Southern saree with paisley motif by Fashion Handloom Park Erode. Photohraph by Maria Weigt.

Bottom left: A Kanjivaram saree with peacock motif by Prakash Silks, a silk showroom in Kanchipuram. Photograph by Maria Weigt. Bottom right: A Kanjivaram saree with Thazhampoo motif. Courtesy of Sanskruti The Culture Boutique Pune.

Varanasi by boat on the river Ganges. Dashashwamedh Ghat. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

Another type of well-known brocade

saree is Varanasi silk. The

weaving tradition was primarily

influenced by the Mughal Muslim emperors

based in North India, specifically

Akbar, who cherished the arts and crafts.

Varanasi is one of the seven sacred cities

in Hinduism and has significant spiritual

importance. Many pilgrims come there to

bathe in the holy Ganges or die and be cremated

along the ghats to be released from

the cycle of rebirth. Besides its importance

in Hinduism, like Kanchipuram, it is famous

for its weaving tradition.

30 31

Its silks are renowned for prominent

motifs and broad Zari borders,

pure and synthetic in gold

and silver, on a darker-coloured body

such as dark red and green. What distinguishes

Varanasi sarees from Kanchipuram

silks is the genre of motifs. Floral and

foliate embellishments, such as the floral

jaal, bel buti, and floral butta motifs, are

typical. Due to the Muslim influence,

intricate leaves, colourful flowers, and

fruits were preferred over human and

sometimes animal figures. They generally

symbolise love, fertility and joy. The Star

& Moon motif, referred to as Chaand Tara,

can be ascribed to the Mughal period as

well, as it signifies the Persian influence

and the importance of day and night in

the life of a human. The mango and paisley

motifs are reoccurring as they hold

significance in both regions.

Although shades and hues differ, red

holds a significant and symbolic role in

both Kanchipuram and Varanasi silks. It

is associated with Lakshmi, the goddess

of wealth and beauty, and symbolises

prosperity, fertility, purity, abundance,

and wealth. Therefore, many women wear

red during the marriage ceremony, like

European brides wearing white, hinting

at a fertile and prosperous marriage. At

the wedding, the husband also applies

red vermillion paste on his wife’s hairline,

which is called the Sindoor ceremony,

proclaiming the husband’s long life. Apart

from red, green also holds a significant

cultural meaning, which involves living

in harmony with nature and finding balance

in life. It also represents fertility and

growth, as nature’s greens symbolise life.

Yellow is often used to replace gold and

exemplifies brightness and good fortune.

In contrast, black stands for the opposite

and is considered an inauspicious colour

in Indian culture and not quite worn by

its people.

32 33

Top left: A Banarasi saree with Chaand Tara motif. Courtesy of Tilfi Banaras. Top right: A Banarasi saree with floral motifs by Loom to Luxury. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

Bottom-left: A Banarasi saree with foliate motifs from Parvez Creation Varanasi. Photograph by Maria Weigt. Bottom right: A Banarasi saree with floral jaal. Courtesy of Tilfi Banaras.

Once designed and woven,

these sarees are marketed

and sold to customers. While

e-commerce and virtual assistance have

increased since Covid, in-person showrooms

are still the most common way

to purchase sarees, specifically in Kanchipuram

and Varanasi, where often

significant parts of the family travel to

buy traditional garments for a wedding.

In these showrooms, it is expected, like

in any place of worship, to remove one’s

shoes and be greeted at the door by an attendant

who guides the customers to the

correct section of the shop, depending on

the desired type of garment. There, customers

will sit down and be offered tea

and coffee while being shown sarees and

served by a salesperson assisted by sales

agents looking for the desired colour and

design.

Often, that is the first contact many

customers have with people engaged

in the silk industry, such as employees

in the retail sector selling in high-end

showrooms and bridal studios. Some

of the female sales assistants encountered

in these locations were even from

silk-weaving families in the region who

still partly pursued their craft but also

contributed to the family income with a

retail job. This raises the question of how

the unique products of cultural heritage

are created in the first place, starting with

the agricultural side of the industry, from

mulberry cultivation to silkworm rearing

and yarn production, followed by the

economy and life of the artisans behind

the craft.

34 35

Lower Half: A Southern silk saree stored in a paper card box opened for presentation to the customer. Products by M.S. Pattu Maaligai. Photography by Maria Weigt.

Upper Half: Boutique selling traditional garments made from silk among other materials. Courtesy of Sanskruti The Culture Boutique Pune.

THE RAW SILK

INDUSTRY

Today, India is the second largest producer

of silk after China, accounting

for almost 40% of global silk production

with a production volume of 38.913 metric

tons in fiscal year 2023/24. Nevertheless, compared

to synthetics, which comprise 60% of

our wardrobe, silk only represents 0,2% globally.

India is the only country that cultivates all

four types of silk, including Tasar, Muga, Eri,

and Mulberry, with the latter being responsible

for 75% of the annual production volume

in India.

Mulberry silk is the most famous silk in

the world. The name comes from the mulberry

tree, the plant with which the silkworms,

Bombyx Mori, are fed. It is cultivated all over

India but mainly in the southern states, including

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil

Nadu. Its texture is shiny and smooth, and its

raw silk usually has an off-white colour. Matka

is a rare sub-form that is also based on Bombyx

Mori, in which the moths are not killed and allowed

to hatch from the cocoon.

Eri silk, on the other hand, is considered

peace silk. It is also referred to as “Ahimsa” silk,

which translates to non-violent, as the moths,

similar to Matka, can emerge from their cocoons

before they are further processed, which

will be explained later on for Mulberry silk.

Silkworms from the breed Philosamia Ricini

feed on castor plants and are mainly grown in

northern India, including Assam. With a naturally

golden to yellow appearance, its texture is

like wool.

Tasar silk is cultivated using Antheraea

mylitta, a species commonly occurring in

Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Bihar.

It also has a rough texture and is naturally

dark brown or grey.

Lastly, Muga silk is declared the most expensive

and rarest silk, and textiles made from

that type are specifically cherished and designed

for longevity. India is the only country

in the world cultivating this silk. Silkworms

from the Antheraea assamensis produce a naturally

golden silk fabric, mainly originating in

Assam and West Bengal.

Muga

Mulberry

Tasar

Due to Five P being based in Tamil Nadu

and playing an essential part in explaining and

showcasing all steps related to the agricultural

side of the craft, as well as its high production

volume, the following documentation will

mainly focus on Mulberry silk.

Courtesy of Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

36 37

Eri

(blended with Matka)

MULBERRY CULTIVATION

The first step towards successfully

cultivating silk is growing the

Mulberry plant, which is very

time-consuming and laborious. While the

mulberry plant is generally very undemanding

and grows under very different

climatic and soil conditions, its plantation

requires deep ploughing, spacing, continuous

irrigation and loosening of the soil.

It takes 4-5 months under irrigated conditions

to grow to the size of a bush, often

kept around 5- 7 feet high. Once sturdy,

these plants can support the farmer’s

sericulture business for 15 years.

Dhandapani farm. Farmer cultivating (centre) and harvesting (left) mulberry. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

The harvest yield depends upon the

regularity and quality of care in terms of

irrigation, pest control, and use of fertilisers.

This is very different for each region

and farmer. Most of them, however, do

not use any chemical or synthetic additives

on their soil. After it has reached its

adult size, it can be harvested every 7-10

weeks – making it 5-6 harvests annually.

Once the farmer has successfully grown

and harvested the Mulberry leaves, they

would prepare their rearing sheds for the

arrival of the silkworms.

When discussing the sustainability

of the process, it is important to mention

that mulberry irrigation requires

energy, water and sometimes chemicals.

Each mulberry field measuring one

hectare may yield 11,25 tons of leaves, of

which every kilogram requires two litres

of water to grow. Nevertheless, many

fields are still rainfed, and others collect

rainwater for irrigation. Those chemicals

used for mulberry, if any, are significantly

less harmful than those applied to cotton

fields.

38 39

THE LIFE CYCLE OF

A SILKWORM

Pupa inside

cocoon 4

Spun

Cocoons 4

Adult

Moth 1

Silkworm

eggs 2

1st/2nd instar

larvae 2

However, by the time they

arrive, the silkworms are

no longer freshly hatched

and small but have already completed a

significant part of their growth. To better

understand each step on their journey

to silk, which will be explained later on,

the following paragraph gives a short

overview of the life cycle of a silkworm. It

starts with silkworm eggs. The incubation

period, which is the time between the laying

or storing of the eggs and their consequent

hatching, differs. Depending on

the silkworm type or hybrid, it can take

9-14 days. The freshly hatched silkworms,

called ants, are only a few millimetres

big, weighing around 0,5mg.

They go through a cycle comprising

four moultings and five growth stages

or instars, the first immediately starting

after birth. In every stage, silkworms

feed on mulberry leaves to prepare to

moult, which is when they shed their

skin to grow. They signal this by stopping

to feed, raising their heads, and

turning translucent. Once they complete

the moult, which may take 20-24 hours,

they continue feeding as part of the next

growth stage. This process, from hatching

to reaching adult size, spans 20-28 days,

depending on the silkworm type, hybrid,

and climatic conditions.

After the larvae complete the fifth

and final growth stage, they are 10,000

times their original size, weigh around

4-5 grams, and are ready to spin their

cocoon, which takes about two to three

days. Their silk glands comprise 40-50%

of their body size at that stage. Inside the

cocoon, they will undergo metamorphosis

within one or two days and become a

pupa. Depending on the species, they usually

spend 10 to 15 days inside the cocoon

before slicing open the shell and emerging

as an adult moth that lives three to 10

days without food requiring food.

However, since they are domesticated

and cultivated for the textile industry,

they cannot fly, and their life cycle

is interrupted to harvest silk, for which

the pupa inside the cocoon needs to die.

If the moths were to emerge from their

cocoons, the silk filament would break,

leading to less yield and lower quality

silk. Therefore, they are harvested on the

fifth or sixth day after being mounted on

the nets or out on the Chandrika, sold

on the cocoon market, and further processed

to produce silk. This aspect of the

sericulture industry is often criticised by

animal rights activists such as PETA since

animals have to die for human consumption

needs. They argue that these insects

have a nervous system that enables them

to feel pain, which they may experience

when steamed or cooked to process the

cocoon.

5th instar

larvae 3

40

1 Hatched adult moth. Adobe Stock #420276939 / 2 Ramya farm. Silkworm eggs and hatched silkworms. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. 3 Dhandapani farm. Silkworms feeding on mulberry. Tiruppur district of

41

Tamil Nadu. / 4 Karthi farm. Readyspun and sliced open cocoon. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. / 2, 3, 4 Photographs by Maria Weigt.

SILKWORM REARING

Voltinism

After briefly looking at a silkworm’s

life cycle, the supply

chain’s individual steps are explained

in more detail. Since the quality

and yield of silk are strongly dependent

upon the quality and genetic conditions

of the eggs and on the early rearing of

the silkworm, governmental units called

grainages conduct research into these

aspects and ensure the eggs stay disease-free.

Their research and hy-bridisation

efforts of different types and species

also ensure that the silkworms can resist

climate change better or provide higher

yields without compromising the silk

quality. Their main task is to breed and

rear moths to mate and lay eggs.

In the case of Mulberry silk, the species

used for cultivation is Bombyx Mori.

Depending on the region, these silkworms

may produce yellow and white cocoons,

with the latter being more com-mon in

Tamil Nadu. The process would start with

grainages acquiring the cocoons from the

market, selecting them based on several

criteria, and testing them for diseases.

Afterwards, they separate the sexes and

wait for the moths to hatch. Once that

has occurred, male and female moths are

coupled, with females beginning to lay

eggs immediately after mating. Depending

on whether the eggs are from a uni-,

bi-, or multivoltine species, they undergo

hibernation, for example, by refrigeration

or are incubated to hatch for rearing and

reeling silk.

In the next step, grainages then supply

these eggs in amounts of DFL (Disease

Free Layings), where 1 DFL has around

400-500 eggs, like what one moth would

lay, to Chawkie rearing centres that are

focussed on early silkworm rearing or

sometimes directly to farmers skilled in

that regard. They are stored at around 25-

27°C at 80-85% humidity on trays inlaid

and covered with wax-coated paraffin

paper to create the ideal environment.

Once ready to hatch, their shade turns

blue, and farmers start brushing the eggs

to initiate the hatching. Afterwards, they

immediately begin feeding on tiny cuts

of mulberry leaves after birth. To prevent

overfilling and guarantee a certain

amount of food for every silkworm, they

use similar brushes to divide and transfer

them to larger trays with more significant

leave cuts as they grow.

Univoltines only have one

generation, meaning their

eggs would only hatch

once a year, generally in spring. Bivoltines,

on the other hand, have

two generations, usually in spring

and summer. Any eggs laid outside

that schedule would undergo hibernation

for six to ten months at varying

temperatures, depending on

the silkworm type. This is primarily

the case in regions with temperate

and arid climates, like Europe or the

Northern states of India, specifically

when it comes to the Univoltines, as

it may prevent the growth of the silkworm

or restrict the availability of

Mulberry. They typically yield high

quantities of excellent-quality silk.

Multivoltines go through several generations,

meaning their eggs hatch

seven to eight times a year. This is

the case in regions with tropical and

humid climates like Southern India.

They generally yield low quantities of

poor-quality silk. Approximately 90%

of farmers in Tamil Nadu, however,

have bivoltine species. Most use hybrids

of bivoltines and multivoltines

that withstand the tropical climate

yet yield better-quality silk.

42 43

Ramya farm. Silkworm eggs (above) and hatched Chawki silkworms (below). Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Although Chawkie rearing centres

rear the larva from the

moment they hatch to the second

moult, requiring three to four feedings

a day, farmers eventually take over,

in case that has yet to happen and are responsible

for late age rearing. The farmer’s

rearing shed must fit approximately

200-250 DFL, around 80.000 -125.000

hatched silkworms. It should be built to

guarantee good air circulation, including

regulating the humidity and temperature

without any electrical equipment and

preventing insects from flying in.

Inside is a shelf of rods open on all

sides made from bamboo, wood, or iron,

ideally comprising three levels. Its sometimes

woven-based shelves covered with

wax-coated paraffin paper contribute to

good circulation and are filled with freshly

cut mulberry leaves from shoots grown

for at least 50-60 days.

The farmers then carefully place the

silkworms they have received on top

of the leaves. At that stage, the larvae

are in their third growth stage and require

two to three daily feedings, mainly

morning and evening, and have shelves

cleaned from the excrements they leave

behind when they moult and shed their

skin. Once they have completed the fifth

growth stage, farmers will remove the

silkworms from the mulberry-filled

shelves and place them on plastic nets or

circular bamboo trays called Chandrika,

a step called mounting. They support the

larvae during the spinning process of

their cocoon.

When discussing the sustainability of

this process, it should be mentioned that

the previous 11.25 tons of mulberry leaves

yield 200 kg of cocoons, with just 50-80%

of all eggs reaching the cocoon stage,

leading to 40 kilograms of raw silk. However,

silk, compared to its fast fashion

counterparts, has a much longer lifecycle,

being ingrained in cultural practices and

cherished as a luxury product.

44 45

Dhandapani farm. Silkworms feeding on mulberry (above). Shelves in rearing shed filled with mulberry leaves (bottom right) and mounted silkworms (top right). Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

PICKING

While the rearing shed is being

cleaned out and disinfected

for the next batch,

which might arrive as soon as ten days

later, the spun cocoons are transported

to another small farm where artisans, in

a laborious process called picking, untangle

the cocoons from the plastic net or

bamboo tray for further processing. The

harvest is brought to a cocoon market,

such as the one in Ramanagara, located 50

km outside Bengaluru on the highway to

Mysore in Tamil Nadu. It is Asia’s largest

cocoon market in terms of traded volume

of silk cocoons. They even have an online

auction. While the price of a cocoon varies

depending on the season and demand

and supply, it usually ranges between

200-500 rupees for one kilogram of cocoons.

Reeling units, which extract the

silk from the cocoon, either go and source

these themselves or often receive them

from neighbouring businesses that rear

and pick the cocoons. The reeling unit

visited during the trip to India gets 5-10

tonnes of cocoons on a daily basis.

46 47

Lower Half: Ramanagara cocoon market. Courtesy of Tamanna Naseer /People’s Archive or Rural India

Upper Half: Karthi farm. Female artisans picking cocoons from the mounting nets. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

REELING

The reeling process starts by

steaming or hot air drying the

cocoons, a process called stifling.

What looks like a bakery oven is

filled with trays of cocoons and set to a

temperature between 55°C to 115°C, depending

on the cocoon’s shell thickness,

at which they are steamed for about an

hour. This process kills the pupa and removes

the remaining moisture. As a result,

the cocoons will have lost 50-75% of

their weight.

tangled filament, often described as floss,

is removed by wheeling it through a machine.

The waste is collected and returned

to the field as organic fertiliser.

Afterwards, the clean cocoons are

brought to a sorting table, where those

that are not the right shape, infected, or

damaged from the heat in the stifling oven

are disposed of to avoid compromising the

quality of the reeled silk.

Malar Silk Yarns - manufacturer of silk yarns. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Top left: Stifling Oven. Bottom left: Cocoon storage space with pressurised cooking tank in the bank. Top right: Floss removal Bottom right: Cocoon sorting.

Nadu. However, the pressurised cooking

tank, which the visited reeling unit is also

equipped with, is the most effective in

terms of the quantity and quality of silk.

The cocoons are alternately boiled and

steamed at temperatures between 70-97°C

for one to two minutes each.

A cocoon consists of fibroin, the protein

we call silk, and sericin, which acts as

glue and holds the silk filaments together.

The boiling process softens and partly

removes the sericin, which makes the

unwinding and reeling of the silk protein

The next step is to boil the cocoons.

In the second step, the outermost layer

Different types of machinery, such as pan

of a cocoon, which consists of broken and

cooking systems, are common in Tamil easier. From there, the cocoons are coned

by a machine.

48 49

veyed to the reeling machine.

While reeling was commonly done by

hand with the help of a charka, a sort of

spinning wheel, or a domestic reeling basin,

it is nowadays supported by semi-automatic

or fully automatic machines as

they increase productivity significantly

and require less physical effort from the

reeling worker, which is advantageous

for their health. Reeling 100kg of raw silk

would take 10-15 days if done manually,

with a charka, and only 1-2 days if support-

Malar Silk Yarns - manufacturer of silk yarns. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt. Top left: Cooked cocoons directed to reeling machine from pressurised tank. Bottom left: Trays filled with cocoons

conveyed to the reeling basin. Top right: Cocoon Brushing. Bottom right: Reeling machine with guides, wheels and pulleys collecting and reeling the raw silk

A

cocoon’s outer and inner layers

are not made of continuous filament,

which is why these layers

cannot be reeled and are called reeling

waste. Integrated into the machine is

a system of pre-treatment, which includes

a big brush that loosens the filaments of

the external layer and collects them on a

wheel. This reeling waste is later spun into

noil silk, a type famous for its rough and

matte texture due to its short filament nature.

It is often used in the Indian fashion

industry.

Once the external layer has been removed,

the cocoons are conveyed to the

actual reeling basin in small trays. Supported

by manual work, these filaments

are then passed through multiple guides

and merging points to combine the single

filaments into one thread. Afterwards,

they are straightened by wheels and pulleys,

which also help maintain the same

thread thickness throughout the reeling

process and achieve the correct tension

to prevent breakage or loosening of the

thread. Ultimately, they are slightly twisted

to create a more substantial thread

before being wound onto the reeling

swift, which looks like a spindle of which

each collects up to 180g of raw silk. These

automatic and semi-automatic reeling

machines reel at an unbelievable speed

of 100-120 meters per minute, leading

to a daily yield of up to 35 kilograms of

silk.

In the end, the raw silk is re-reeled

for better uniformity and converted from

small reeling swifts to standard-size

skeins or hanks, which are long loops of

filament twisted in spirals and laced up.

These are convenient for storage, transport

and hand dyeing. To be woven into a

saree or fabric, it must complete one last

step: yarn manufacturing.

When discussing the sustainability

of this process, large amounts of energy

are required to control temperatures and

water to reel and cook the cocoons. Nevertheless,

water can be recycled, and energy

may originate from sustainable sources

such as sunlight. Studies have shown that

silk’s energy supply chain is 1000 times

more efficient than producing PET-based

fibres.

50 51

K.S.G. Silks. Onnupuram, Thiruvanamalai district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

From left to right: winding, double-plying, twisting.

Denier

What does that mean?

Denier is a unit of

measurement used

to describe a fibre’s density or

thickness, which is specifically

relevant in the textile industry.

Fibres with a higher denier count,

such as functional nylon, developed

for tents and parachutes

with a denier count of between

70-1000, are strong and robust.

However, fibres with a lower denier

count, such as silk, developed

for decorative purposes and elegant

attire with a denier count

of, for example, 20-22 (single ply),

are more delicate and flowy. Effectively,

one denier states how

much grams 9.000 meters of that

respective material weigh.

YARN PRODUCTION

Softened and partly removed during

reeling, the sericin is now

completely extracted to achieve

that flowing and easily draped silk texture.

Since sericin acts as “gum” holding

together the actual silk filament, this

process is called degumming. Completing

this process before it is produced into

yarn is common, although it can also be

done after it has been woven into a textile.

The silk filament is boiled in water

with caustic soda, a mix of soda and soap,

for 45 minutes. Once passed, the silk filament,

now pure silk protein, is sent for

yarn manufacturing.

Although the reeled silk filament has

already been slightly twisted, it is still

not strong enough to endure subsequent

processes, such as dyeing and insertion

into the loom, without risking breaking

it. Therefore, the silk needs to undergo

further processing. It is delivered to yarn

units in hank or skein form. The first step

towards creating a yarn is winding these

long loops of silk filament onto cones,

which helps detect and remove irregularities

such as knots or split ends. This

single-ply (single filament) of silk would

be 20-22 deniers thin, a type of measurement

indicating its thickness.

Because single-ply silk is still not

strong enough, two cones of silk filament

are wound together to achieve double-ply

silk thread with a thickness of 44 deniers.

This double-ply silk is twisted again to

avoid untangling and create uniformity

and tension. Depending on the design and

the intended purposes, some yarns are

even made of three or four plies, accumulating

66 or 88 deniers. While this process

is somewhat industrialised and already

incorporates machinery for efficiency and

productivity reasons, similar to reeling,

home-based artisans who complete all

steps of yarn production in their villages

and clusters often still resort to manual

winding and twisting with the help of a

charka, a spinning wheel.

52 53

SILK DYEING

& WEAVING

DYEING

One could assume that once

the yarn has been produced,

it is ready for use in weaving.

However, multiple small steps follow to

process, calculate, and measure the required

yarn before it can go on the handloom.

Dyeing the yarn is an essential step in

achieving the desired design. Dip dyeing

is a widespread method in the artisan

economy in rural India. In the first step,

the silk yarn is dipped in water with

added coconut oil so that its fibres can

expand. This later helps the colour to

set in and penetrate the fibres uniformly.

Afterwards, it is put into a metal pot

filled with water, water-pasted colour

powder and acid. It is then cooked at 60°C

for two to four hours before being rinsed

with clean water and left to dry. Artisans

sometimes even use plastic tubes

to separate silk yarns from one another

to dye the hank in different colours for

the body and border of the saree or even

different textiles and techniques such as

Ikat.

While natural colours like those from

Indigo or Curcuma are widely used in the

artisan economy, they often cause bleeding

in the fabric. This is why artisans frequently

resort to chemical dyes, which are

nevertheless often azo-free and, therefore,

more environmentally friendly. This

is a typical dyeing method in Varanasi.

Although slight variations might exist in

other regions, the procedure remains the

same.

54 55

Ramesh dyeing unit. Left: Dipping of silk yarns. Right: Rinsing. Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

WARP & WEFT

WINDING

Afterwards, the coloured yarn

is prepared for the loom.

These steps are divided into

primary and secondary processes and

weaving. The first part of the primary

process is winding, which is very similar

to yarn production; however, it is different

in that the yarn already has the desired

thickness. For use on the loom as

warp and weft, the vertical thread running

from the front to the back (warp)

and the horizontal thread passed from

the left to the right of the loom (weft),

the yarn needs to be converted to cones

and bobbins. Since it is often dyed in

the looped hank form, it is wound onto

cones with the help of a cone winding

machine.

In the second step, the amount of

yarn on the cone is adjusted with the

help of a warp-winding ma-chine based

on the desired length of fabric or saree

to be produced. For example, if the goal

is to make 150 m of silk fabric, each cone

would require around 250g of yarn.

While this machinery is available to

artisans in centralised weaving studios

such as the one provided by Five P

in Chen-nimalai, home-based artisans

would mainly resort to manual cone

winding supported by a charka, a manual

spinning wheel. This is also used to

prepare the weft. The yarn is transferred

to small bob-bins and inserted into a

shuttle that transports the yarn from

one side of the loom to the other.

56 57

Cone winding machine at Five P. Chennimalai, Erode district in Tamil Nadu. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

Female artisan winding weft yarn in West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

Sectional warping of blue silk fabric at Five P. Chennimalai, Erode district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt. Top left: Warping Drum. Bottom left: Warp Beam

SECTIONAL WARPING

Once the yarn is converted, the

sectional warping can begin.

This process measures the

warp threads based on the desired width

and length of the textile that is to be made.

The math behind each warp is complicated

and is one reason for each textile’s uniqueness.

It also shows the artisan’s skills and

years of experience.

Take the example of a typical saree

48 inches wide and 6 yards long. The

rule is that every inch comprises 100

warp threads, called ends. Hence, one

saree shall consist of 4800 ends. A drum

equipped with a hand crank is used to prepare

this number of threads for the loom.

Its circumference varies depending on the

region and artisan cluster. For this example,

it is 4 yards. That means to achieve the

length of the saree, one and a half rounds

need to be completed.

To wound the yarn onto the drum, the

previously readied cones are placed onto

a yarn holder called creel. Effectively, it

is a shelf or framework made from iron

or wood with pins that hold the cones.

Its dimensions vary based on its design

and standard. While weaving studios like

Five P’s have a more streamlined model,

artisans working from home might have

a simpler framework to work from. The

principle, however, remains the same. For

this example, the creel has six rows and

eight columns to fit 48 cones. The threads

of these cones are guided through a rod

or a similar guiding device, which helps

to merge, align, and evenly space them

in sections of 48 threads. The ends of the

threads are attached to the drum, which

is turned 1,5 rounds to complete 6 yards.

The yarn is cut and knotted. It is then reattached

to the drum next to the first section

to wind a new section of 48 threads.

The drum is yet again turned 1,5 rounds

to complete 6 yards. To achieve the width

of the saree, the artisan needs to complete

100 sections of 48 ends to reach 4800 ends

measured to the length of 6 yards.

This simple yet practically relevant

example highlights the complexity and

physi-cal strenuosity of sectional warping.

Even more so when artisans practice street

warping in rural parts of India. Without a

drum, they stamp poles into the ground,

stretching the warp length along the street.

Once the warping is finished, it is transferred

to the warp beam, which concludes

the primary processes.

For better understanding of the secondary

processes that follow, the next page

will explain essential parts of a handloom.

Even though they are different handloom

types, the following being a frame loom,

the parts do not vary greatly.

58 59

THE HANDLOOM

1 TREADLES

4 WARP BEAM

7

5

The treadles are operated by the

weaver’s feet and control the upand

downward movements of the

heald frames. One is lowered by

pushing down a treadle, which

is connected to one heald frame

with ropes.

This is the beam at the back of

the handloom onto which the

warp threads (see warping) are

being wound.

5 REED

1

2 HEALD FRAME

The healds are held together by a

frame called a heald frame made

from wood or iron. The number of

frames, which can vary between

four and 28 and sometimes even

40, depending on the handloom

type, determines the weave's intricacy.

The difficulty of the pattern

increases with the number

of frames. The pattern develops

as the frames are raised and lowered.

3 HEALD

The reed is a tightly spaced metal

comb. The spaces in between

the metal strips are called dents.

Threaded through the loop of the

heald, the warp threads are then

guided through the dents of the

reed, which keeps them evenly

spaced and aligned. This also ensures

that the number of threads

per centimetre or inch according

to the design is adhered to.

6 SHUTTLE

This tool holds the weft yarn,

which is guided from one side of

the handloom to the other.

4

3

2

A heald is a wire or cord, sometimes

made from cotton or synthetic

yarn, with a loop in the

centre (heald eye) through which

a single warp thread is threaded.

The number of healds is equal to

the number of threads.

7 CLOTH BEAM

This is the beam at the front of

the handloom which collects the

woven fabric.

6

60 61

Top & Bottom left: Handlooms at Five P. Chennimalai, Erode district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Bottom right: Ketya silk (from hatched tasar cocoons) weaver for Anuprerna - inserting new weft yarn in the handloom’s shuttle. Islampur, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt

5

DRAWING & DENTING

3

2

What follows is the threading

of the warp ends into the

loom. This is achieved by

guiding them through the heald’s eye of

the respective heald frame according

to the design, a step called drawing.

For example, in a loom with two heald

frames, the warp ends are alternately

drawn through the first and second heald

frames to achieve a simple up-and-down

pattern. This creates a plain weave and a

strong fabric.

On the other hand, a satin weave

would be used to obtain a flowing fabric

texture, typical for a silk fabric. There

are multiple types of satin weaves, but a

simple example would entail a loom with

seven heald frames. The first warp end

would be guided through the first heald

frame, the second through the second

heald frame, and so on until seven

threads have been drawn. The process is

repeated, with the eighth warp end being

guided through the first heald frame

again until the entire length of the saree

or fabric is complete.

Afterwards, the warp ends are guided

through the reed’s dents, which keeps

them evenly spaced and aligned and

ensures that the number of threads per

inch according to the design is adhered

to. After finishing the denting, the warp

ends are attached to the cloth beam,

which collects the woven fabric. If the

design of a saree or fabric gets repeated,

the artisan merely knots the ends of

the previ-ous warp to the new. With the

finish of the loom set up, the weaver can

now start weaving. Once the weaver has

completed weaving, the textile is rolled

off the cloth beam and folded for further

transport and purchase.

7

5

62 63

Artisans at Five P drawing (top) and denting (bottom) to prepare the loom for weaving. Chennimalai, Erode district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

WEAVING

The weaving process consists of

three central steps: shedding,

picking and beating. The sequence

begins by operating a treadle,

which lowers the connected heald frame

and attached warp threads. This step is

called shedding since it creates an opening

between the lowered and unmoved

warp threads, referred to as shed. Secondly,

picking involves guiding the shuttle

containing the weft yarn through the

shed from one side of the handloom to

the other since one shuttle pass equals

one pick. Lastly, the reed is used to push

the weft thread against the previously

woven fabric, which is called beating.

These three processes are continuously

repeated until the woven textile is complete.

Effectively, weaving can be described

as the interlacement of weft and

warp yarns. A couple of essential weaving

techniques are performed all over India

to create unique and traditional saree designs.

Some, yet not all, are presented in

the following page.

64 65

Artisan at Loom to Luxury’s studio performing the weaving motions. Ayodhapur, Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Top: Shedding. Centre: Shed inbetween warp ends. Bottom: Weaver inserts shuttle and consequentlly beats up the fabric using the reed.

Phekwa. Saree by Prakash Silks

Kanchipuram.

Cutwork. Saree by Parvez Creation Varanasi. Tanchoi. Courtesy of Tilfi Banaras. Kadiyal. Courtesy of Tilfi Banaras. Kadwa. Saree by Parvez Creation Varanasi. / 1, 2, 5 Photographs by Maria Weigt.

WEAVING TECHNIQUES

Phekwa is the most common

weaving technique as the weft

thread inside the shuttle is interlaced

with the warp ends across the

whole width of the fabric from selvedge

to selvedge, which creates loops of loosely

hanging threads on the reverse side of the

fabric.

Kadwa, on the other hand, requires

the weaver to insert every weft thread

for every motif separately, almost like

embroidery. That way no weft is visible

on the back of the textile. This highly laborious

process makes it possible to create

different motifs of different sizes and

repetitions compared to handlooms fitted

with jacquard machines, explained afterwards.

threads and create intricate patterns with

various colours.

The Kadiyal technique becomes essential

when weaving a saree with a

differently coloured body and border.

Although it also requires a specific dyeing

method, the weaver must constantly

change the weft thread to achieve the

contrast.

These are sometimes cut away manually,

often by female artisans, to create

In Meenakari, additional coloured

a more continuous fabric and to prevent The Tanchoi technique incorporates weft yarns are inserted to create a more

the saree from being damaged, as draping one to two sets of warp ends and often colourful fabric, whereas, in Zari Vasket,

and wearing it may lead to threads being multiple sets of weft threads, usually between

the Zari threads are incorporated into

pulled. This type of technique is referred

two and five, inserted similarly to the whole body of the saree to create a

to as cutwork.

the Kadwa technique to avoid floating wealthy appearance.

66 67

THE JACQUARD

MACHINE

However, sarees like those seen

in images of previous weaving

techniques or those from Kanchipuram

or Varanasi are unique in their intricately

woven patterns called brocade. These

types of weaves are impossible to achieve

by simply increasing the number of heald

frames. Although other types of looms, such

as the dobby loom, use a slightly different

shedding mechanism and can therefore be

equipped with up to 40 heald frames to increase

the achievable difficulty and intricacy

of the pattern, they are still not sufficient to

create a brocade saree.

Jacquard machines vary in terms of the number of hooks within a machine.

They can range from 100 to 1792 and even reach 5376 within an

electronic jacquard device. More indigenous communities switch to electronic

jacquards, as they can be fitted to an existing handloom, allowing them to

sell it as handloom high-quality silk while still making more profit due to a higher

intricacy and less time and effort. Instead of continuous weaves, these machines

have been adapted to intermittent weaving, which allows the weaver to control

the speed and correct the weave if needed. Many handlooms equipped with a jacquard

machine also have a small motor that supports the weaver in initiating the

changing mechanism of the card, causing less physical strenuosity and requiring

less strength while still being operated manually. This positively affects the weaver’s

health.

Therefore, weavers use a jacquard machine,

which a French weaver called Joseph

Marie Jacquard invented in 1804. Before its

invention, master weavers would require

the help of an assistant, often called a draw

boy, to manually raise and lower single warp

ends according to the design. Since this was

time-consuming and laborious, these fabrics

were not readily available and expensive.

With the help of a jacquard machine

fitted on top of the handloom, warp threads

can be selected and raised individually in a

less repetitive order. In contrast, the pattern

would be small and highly repetitive in regular

looms. While some handlooms equipped

with a jacquard machine use it exclusively to

create the pattern, others use it in addition

to the existing heald frames, for example,

by weaving the intricate borders with the

jacquard mechanism and a plain body with

simple heald frames. Each handloom will be

set up depending on the textile’s unique design.

White harnessesrunning from the

jacquard machine to the warp ends.

Punch Cards

which raises the warp threads. If there is a

blank in the punch card, the needle is pushed

against it, blocking the lifting mechanism of

the hook, which results in the warp threads

being left unmoved. Once a card is read, the

shuttle with the weft yarn flies from one side

of the loom to the other, creating a pattern

that results from the unique interlacement

of warp and weft threads. Afterwards, a new

punch card is positioned in front of the needles.

In simple terms, that is all a jacquard

machine was invented for. But what is incredibly

complex and unique to each fabric

and saree, similar to warping, are the calculations

behind the design and the transfer to

the punch cards, which eventually create the

pattern.

The number of hooks is always a deciding

factor for the number of motif repeats on a

saree. If the total number of warp ends within

a fabric or saree is more than the number

of hooks, the pattern will repeat itself.

However, if the number of hooks equals the

number of warp ends, one single pattern can

be developed as one hook can individually

control one warp end. That means the higher

the jacquard capacity, the more intricate

and broader the pattern. Take the example

of a 48-inch saree comprising 4800 warp

ends. The sample jacquard machine has 240

hooks. The developed design will repeat itself

20 times (4800/240) as each hook and corresponding

harness not only control one but 20

warp ends at the same time. Therefore, hook

number one would control the 1st, 241st, 481,

The mechanism is based on the interaction

of punch cards with hooks and needles

inside the jacquard machine, which either

raises warp ends or leaves them unmoved.

The vertically aligned hooks are connected

to exterior harnesses, strong yarns running

from the jacquard machine to the warp

ends. The hooks are operated by horizontally

aligned needles, which interact with the

punch cards stored in the card drum next to

the jacquard device. If there is a hole in the

punch card, the needle passes through it, initiating

the lifting mechanism of the hook,

721st, … 4321st, and 4561st warp end.

68 69

Handloom fitted with jacquard machine. Patternwise, they weave mainly Kanjivaram silks in Onnupuram.

Onnupuram, Arani district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Vertical Hooks

Top left: Artisan at Loom to Luxury’s studio preparing punch cards for the jacquard machine. Ayodhapur, Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Top right: Artisan placing new punchcard between perforated metal plates.

PUNCHCARD MAKING

The information the hook conveys,

meaning whether a warp

end is raised or remains unmoved,

is kept in the punch card, in position

one for hook one. A punch card is

structured in the same way as a jacquard

machine. If a jacquard machine with 240

hooks were structured in rows of 8 by 30,

the punch cards would have the same layout

of 8 by 30 to correspond and effectively

communicate with the jacquard machine.

While the repeat’s width depends

on the capacity of the jacquard machine,

its length is determined by the number of

punch cards, as each punch card contains

the information for one weft pick.

Punch card making requires considerable

skill, as the design needs to be

copied onto graph paper to determine

the number of punch cards required for

one repeat. This would usually be done by

an artisan who is an expert in this field,

transferring one repeat onto graph paper

in the correct ratio before handing it over

to the punch card maker.

Take the previous example of a 240-

hook jacquard machine whose hooks are

arranged in rows of 8 by 30. The graph

paper would have to measure at least 240

boxes in width to transfer the design onto

the punch card. These are divided into

eight sections, with 30 boxes each, to copy

the grid of the jacquard machine onto

graph paper.

Every row represents one punch card.

Although the graph paper is read right

to the left, bottom to the top row, punch

cards are punched right to the left, top to

the bottom row. According to the design,

any coloured box would be punched. The

first 30 boxes of the bottom row of the

graph would be transferred by punching

the first line of the punch card from

right to left. The artisan would continue

by reading boxes 31 to 60 of the bottom

row and transfer them according to the

design to the second line of the punch

card from right to left. This represents one

method practised in Varanasi. However,

every artisan or cluster may have developed

a slightly different way of dividing

the graph paper and preparing the punch

cards for the jacquard machine.

70 71

Street in the rural countryside leading up to farms. Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Photograph by Maria Weigt

THE ECONOMY

SERICULTURE

& ARTISANS

BEHIND THE CRAFT

While this previous chapter

focused on the technical

steps of sericulture and silk

weaving to cultivate and ultimately weave

silk to document and showcase the craft,

it is the hands and hearts behind the craft,

based on an age-old ecosystem sustained

by skilled artisans such as farmers, weavers,

and traders, that bring it to life. Therefore,

this chapter will focus on the economy

and its impact while telling the stories

of the artisans behind it.

The sericulture industry is a homebased

industry taken up in rural villages

in India. The streets leading up to farms

outside cities and deep into the rural

countryside of Tamil Nadu are peaceful,

with often no people in sight for a very

long time. The landscape is dotted with

simple mud and brick houses and sometimes

small bodies of water used for irrigation.

Surrounded by coconut trees

and fields of crops, the scenery radiates a

sense of calmness with only the occasional

rustling of leaves or the distant sound

of birds while the sun scorches down in

mid-May.

The supply chain behind sericulture is

fragmented, as one farm may be focused

on silkworm rearing and mulberry cultivation

while another is only undertaking

silk reeling. Yet, they are united in clusters

or districts such as Tiruppur, where

the entire process, from the initial stages

to producing raw silk, is completed in a

closed loop. Usually, there are multiple

clusters in one state. It is typical for the

cultivation of mulberry and silkworm

rearing to happen on the same farm.

These are often only marginal or smallsized

farms with 0,5 to 1,5 acres of land.

A small amount of land, 10-20%, is used

for mulberry cultivation and a significant

part for other crops.

72 73

extensive foliage, and the strong ability

to absorb and sequester carbon dioxide,

monoxide and even harmful substances.

These circular practices and environmental

benefits reinforce the craft’s sustainable

nature.

With the engagement of approximately

9,5 million people, including all

allied activities from 800.000 families in

54.000 villages from mulberry cultivation

to yarn production, these fields and

sheds are part of a family business where

both men and women are engaged, and

children are introduced early on to small

tasks like distributing the leaves on the

shelves. Most farmers who undertake

sericulture are middle-aged and between

40-55 years of age. While some have a secondary

school certificate, most farmers

will have completed primary school, and

a minority may be illiterate. In contrast to

weavers, they often live in nuclear families

of three to four, including adults and

children.

In total, sericulture, including mulberry

cultivation and silkworm rearing,

generates 1255-man days of work and

an average income of 50.000 rupees per

year and acre. At the same time, larger

farms may make as much as 75.000. As

such, one acre of mulberry plantation can

support a family of three without hiring

external employees, contribute to poverty

alleviation and provide farmers with the

opportunity for rural socio-economic development

and empowerment. However,

it is still considered a secondary occupation,

as they mainly focus on cultivating

crops like coconuts and rice and animal

husbandry like chicken, even though their

agricultural income is often equal to sericulture.

While most farmers own their land,

their income is often insufficient to employ

a farm worker, resulting in them farming

themselves. However, when preparing the

silkworms for mounting and cocoon spinning,

they will look for external labourers

or rely on help from neighbouring

farmers and friends. While agriculture

is India’s most significant employment

source, it is physically demanding work

with little economic prospect. Achieving

financial independence and caring for a

family with just an agricultural income

from crops and other sources without a

secondary cash flow like sericulture is

often challenging for farmers. Therefore,

many do not want their children to continue

the family profession as poor living

conditions frequently prevail.

Chicken farming on Dhandapani farm and banana plants. Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Since India has always been a

self-sufficient economy – farmers

try to use as many waste

materials as possible to prevent further

waste generation and support circularity.

What is incredible, however, is that none

of these practices seem to be forced. They

are much rather ingrained into the community’s

identity. Since mulberry is harvested

by top shoot or branch cutting, the

sticks are considered waste material and

used for construction. Besides that, coconut

leaves are dried and used to cover the

shed, like a pointed roof, with an irrigation

line running through the centre of

the roof, which keeps the shed moist and

at a mild temperature.

Waste materials from silkworm rearing,

like dried-up leaves and sometimes

shoots, are used as fertiliser in the fields

and the garden or as firewood, which

reduces the usage of natural resources.

Mulberry plants also have significant

environmental benefits by contributing

to soil preservation through deep roots,

74 75

Dhandapani farm. Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Top: Silkworm shed Bottom: Farmers (husband and wife to the right of the picture).

Farmers receive training for five

to seven days to conduct sericulture

in government-run training

centres. They are supported by agricultural

officers who regularly visit and often

initially refer farmers to mulberry cultivation

and silkworm rearing for its low

gestation, high returns and employment

potential. The initial investment required

to take up sericulture ranges between

12.000 to 15.000 rupees for one acre of

irrigated land, which is highly subsidised

by the government, specifically for marginal

and small farmers representing the

majority. The farmer’s unawareness of

mulberry’s potential for socio-economic

development may be related to their

access to media. While the majority regularly

access radio or television, even if

not in their own home, lots of farmers are

unaware of digital resources, farm management

platforms or agricultural periodicals

which offer guidance on multiple

topics related to sericulture, such as the

use of silkworm hybrids or cultivation

methods. This is where agricultural officers

come into play to support and refer

them to it in the first place.

While social events such as professional

meetings between farmers, field

visits, or exhibitions are not established

between sericulturists, they often are

part of the milk cooperative society. Specifically,

female farmers and artisans of

any other home-based craft, e.g. weaving,

engage in rearing a cow or sometimes a

goat. Out of 8-10l daily milk yield (cow),

only one or two will be consumed by the

household, and the rest will be introduced

into the official milk supply chain, which

generates up to 100.000 rupees yearly and

supports the flexibility of working from

home and female empowerment.

76 77

Cow on Dhandapani farm. Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

Female farmers and artisans account

for 60% of the total labour

force in all sericulture-related

activities and perform them in addition

to those related to the household

and children. While men carry out tasks

which are considered skilled labour, such

as applying fertiliser to the mulberry

field, ploughing, and harvesting mulberry

shoots, women undertake activities

considered less skilled, such as picking

and sizing the mulberry leaves from the

shoots, feeding, rearing and mounting

the silkworms, cleaning the shelves and

weeding the mulberry field even though

they require substantial knowledge and

experience.

Studies have shown that female farmers

need more recognition for their part

in the business and proper individual remuneration

for financial independence.

The deed of the land is often on the men,

which causes women difficulty accessing

land, financial support, and extension as

they lack the collateral to become independent

farmers or grow. Nevertheless,

this will not be the case for every farm,

and income is still split between all members

as it is a family business.

The role of female artisans is emphasised

once again, moving further down in

the supply chain when it comes to picking

the cocoons from the nets and bamboo

trays for reeling. While overseen by a

male farmer, picking is exclusively undertaken

by women of a varied age group. As

such, it requires less skill and knowledge

but empowers women with low access to

education to take up flexible employment

of eight hours that allows them to complete

their household work while earning

an independent income.

When it comes to reeling, women also

play an important role, no matter the type

of used machinery, from domestic reeling

basins to multi-end-reeling machines.

The latter still provides employment for

an average of 10 to 12 people. The visited

farm even had a female owner. As a

factory worker, she saw her family and

relatives’ success, which has driven her

to enter the business since it provides a

good income. While silkworm rearing is

something sericulture farmers undertake

in addition to agriculture, reeling is a fulltime

job that creates a daily workload of

up to eight hours while still giving women

the flexibility of enjoying up to 100 days

of cultural holidays and festivals as well

as being able to attend to children and

household, according to the owner. While

they are also responsible for monitoring

the facilities, including the water and machine

temperatures, their main task is to

support the machine in picking up the

filament of the cocoons within the tray

in addition to automatic registration. The

reeling process alone creates around 2250

man-days of work, which is substantial

and guarantees employment and, therefore,

poverty alleviation as well as social

equity and female empowerment.

78 79

Upper half: Malar Silk Yarns - manufacturer of silk yarns. Top right: Owner Priya Top left: Female artisan guiding the filament onto the wheels and pulleys.

Bottom left: Ramya farm. Female farmers explaining the instars and moults of the silkworm cycle. Bottom right: Karthi farm. Female artisans picking cocoons from the nets. / All: Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Village Islampur. Famous for its silk weavers, specifically Matka and Ketya silk (from hatched Tasar cocoons). Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

WEAVING

The artisan economy behind

weaving clusters is just as fragmented

and informal as that

of sericulture. That is the case whether

the artisan cluster is weaving silk or any

material, as mentioned in the beginning.

Those who mainly focus on silk and intricate

jacquard weaving may have a slightly

higher monthly income, which is, to some

extent, reflected in their living condition.

However, besides that, the organisational

structures and living conditions of homebased

weavers in the rural countryside of

India are essentially similar. Therefore,

the following presentation of the economic

conditions and artisan economy will be,

to a significant extent, valid for the general

Indian handloom industry.

In rural villages and weaving clusters,

loomless weavers work in studios like

Five P’s and Loom to Luxury’s or cooperatives.

Home-based weavers who own their

loom are often under contract with a master

weaver or agent that provides them

with raw material on an order-to-order

basis and then sells the sarees or fabrics

to traders and intermediaries. Master

weavers take orders and communicate

with clients and brands such as Anuprerna,

allocating the work to weavers within

their cluster. They are also more experienced.

Some weavers are independent

and directly sell to wholesalers on the

market, although this is very uncommon.

Due to the hierarchical system of weavers,

master weavers, agents, and brands,

power imbalances cause master weavers,

intermediaries and people higher up in

the supply chain to be in a much better

economic position, which will be reflected

later in the magazine.

Depending on the level of urbanity,

these rural villages and clusters are dotted

with huts and colourfully decorated

brick houses blended with signs of small

businesses such as food traders, medicine

shops or cafes in between. While some

villages are surrounded by green landscapes

and blossoming flowers and trees,

others have a more urban character with

the exciting hustle and bustle of an Indian

village where you can hear the looms running

and the odd motorbike and bicycle

pass by. There are some schools, mostly

primary and high schools. In these villages,

people still call themselves by profession,

for example, carpenter, farmer or

weaver, with the latter accounting for 50%

of the community in rural home-based

weaving clusters.

80 81

82 83

Village Islampur. Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

84 85

Village Chanduli. Famous for its Jamdani weavers - an emboirdery like weaving technique - mostly on cotton, however, some also weave silk. East Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

86 87

Village Salar. Famous for its silk weavers, specifically plain Mulberry. Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

Most families live in multi-generational

joint dwellings.

The exact layout of the

house varies from region to region. In

both Kanchipuram, Arani, and Varanasi,

two-storey brick houses with concrete

floors, several handlooms on the ground

floor, and a private living area on the upper

floor are commonly expected to be

found. Their workspaces can also be located

next to their home in a single dwelling

designated for weaving. In another

region, such as West Bengal, living and

working spaces seem more open, with a

front garden or small patio area leading

to a communal space where artisans cook,

eat and socialise. While connected to the

communal area, the handlooms will often

be in a separate location on the property,

similar to the small individual rooms and

living spaces where artisans retire in the

evening.

Despite their different layouts, integrating

living and working spaces in a

minimal footprint results in a congested

working environment for the majority of

home-based artisans. It often lacks ventilation

and natural light, making the weaving

process even more tiring, especially in

summer. It can also cause health issues in

sight, aspiration, and back problems due

to the physically demanding nature of

weaving, the lack of ergonomic seating,

and continuous poor posture while sitting

in the loom. Tuberculosis is a widespread

disease among weavers since they constantly

breathe in poorly ventilated air

filled with textile fibres.

Basic amenities such as water, electricity,

and sanitation can be inconsistent depending

on the region, affecting the overall

living standards. Most home-based

artisans have a separate outside toilet at

the back of their home, but often, there is

no actual bathing facility. In some homes,

cooking happened on small exterior fire

cookers in communal spaces, where rainwater

is collected and drank. Most homes

are fitted with loose electricity cables and

satellite dishes, providing them with access

to the internet, which they use daily,

most notably to communicate and organise

their work. Nevertheless, electrically

powered home appliances are not widely

used, with clothes being washed in baskets

or bins. Their living spaces are often

too small to fit more than their bed. With

minimal furnishing, their clothes hang

over walls or lines, and spiritual or personal

items are kept on the inbuilt shelves

of their brick houses, which are covered

with tins and tiles. While this describes

the general home of a home-based artisan,

due to the diversity of the clusters

all over India, others may have a slightly

different environment, depending on the

artisan’s status.

88 89

Top: Home of handloom weaver in Onnupuram (close to Kanchipuram), Arani district in Tamil Nadu. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

Bottom: Village Salar. Home of weaver. Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

90 91

Village and home of warping artisan in Chanduli. East Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Due to strong bonds in the community,

families help each other

out by swapping furniture

and offering second-hand books for their

children to use at school. This also showcases

the importance of craft for an artisan’s

sense of belonging to a community.

If they wear traditional gowns, they are

mostly made from cotton or rejected fabric,

as the sad reality is that most artisans

cannot afford the produce of their hands,

an intricate saree or elegant dress made

from silk. Some artisans partially also wear

Westernized clothes such as simple shirts

or undershirts. But even the few resources

they have, they share unequivocally, offering

water, food, and pastries to whom

they welcome in their home – such a sentiment

of profound kindness and hospitality.

“Yeah, he just saying

that it was hard to survive at his

childhood because they didn't

have enough food to eat. They

are so poor, so eventually he had

to, join the work. He had to leave

the study because, so he can, you

know, earn money to help his

family. So it was quite hard life

at that time.” [translated]

Jamdani Artisan

Artisans started to learn their craft

from a very early age by watching their

elders or senior craftsmen for many years

before becoming a weaver themselves.

Some began learning as early as three

years old, while others started at eight or

nine. A few were not introduced until their

teens or early twenties. This shows that

those who began working at a young age

did not have time to complete their education,

with the majority having a primary

school certificate and some being illiterate.

Even though this craft is passed on from

generation to generation and is considered

a family tradition, the reality is that young

weavers who follow in their forefathers’

food steps often do so out of necessity to

provide for the family and contribute to

the family income.

When thinking about their young years,

many weavers expressed the desire to leave

the state to look for work in a different industry

with higher economic prospects, as

weaving is not a very respected industry

with irregular work. (see righthand side)

Eventually, however, they stayed back due

to a lack of opportunities or their family’s

unwillingness to let them go. Nevertheless,

as such, the craft has the potential to significantly

contribute to poverty alleviation

as a source of income in rural areas with a

lack of industry and other sources of employment.

This prevents urban migration

to cities and provides artisans with a livelihood.

92 93

Jamdani Artisan for Anuprerna. Jamdani is an embroidery like weaving technique. Chanduli, East Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

94 95

Home of Jamdani artisan in Chanduli. East Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

In these clusters and villages, artisans

are experts in one specific

field, for example, graph development

or weaving, but may lack skills

in other crafts required to design and

produce a textile. Therefore, they rely

on each other, collaborating to make the

final product step by step. Besides weaving,

they engage in agriculture, which

goes hand in hand with their craft. They

often have their own fields, specifically in

West Bengal, but they also work in those

of neighbours or community members to

supplement their income. July and August

would be months in which they generally

focus on agriculture, whereas in November

and December, weaving takes over. It

is a seasonal and fluid change. The set-up

and machinery used for both weaving

and agriculture and the lack or minimal

use of fertilisers in farming or chemical

treatment in animal husbandry highlight

both crafts’ environmental sustainability

and circularity. While some jacquard

looms are fitted with small motors to facilitate

the lifting process, the majority

are entirely manual, not requiring any

outside energy source. This also applies

to preparatory processes such as warping

and manual winding. Note that a motor

does not make this loom an automatic

powerloom, as every motion still happens

manually. The motor is a form of support

to facilitate the shedding process with

less impact on the weaver’s shoulder and

body. While a significant part of the crops

and animals reared in the village are sold,

some are also consumed by the artisans in

the villages.

96 97

Mulberry weaver doing agricultural work (left). Farm animals (right). Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd..

Regarding their craft, gender

is an essential aspect of labour

division. While men

mainly take up considered skilled

labour like weaving, women wind the

weft yarns and support with loom setup,

besides being primarily responsible

for household chores and raising

the children, who are also introduced

to the craft early on with small tasks.

While this may be true for a significant

share of weaving communities,

others do have female weavers, even

though they are in the minority, specifically

regarding silk. This showcases

yet again the importance of

the craft for social equity and female

empowerment. Weavers learn weaving

by starting with easier fabrics like

cotton, which are sturdier. Once they

master these, they move on to more

delicate fabrics like cotton silk blends

before switching to silk and intricate

jacquard weaves. Due to the gendered

division of labour, female artisans

are sometimes underprivileged in

terms of time and access to continuous

training. Nevertheless, as a family,

they create a product with love and

skilled craftsmanship, as ManoRanjan

said, and women, independent of

their educational level, can contribute

to the family income.

98 99

Female artisans winding weft yarn of various materials for the handloom. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd..

100 101

Female artisan winding mulberry silk yarn (left) and in the household (right). Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

102 103

Artisan Family having dinner. Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

Mulberry weavers enjoying a coffee break. Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

“(…) there’s no holiday

for him, not to take rest. So, he

has to work every day (…) the

only time they get rest is, when

(…) [there is]a festival like Durga

Puja, Kali Puja, like Hindu festivals.

So that time, they get to rest

for a few days, 3 or 4 days, maybe

in Durga Puja. So that’s how it

goes.” [translated]

Matka Artisan

While home-based artisans

enjoy the freedom of

working from the comfort

of their homes or in a unit close by and

the flexibility to organise their schedules

independently, they have little idle time,

often working under significant pressure.

They start work between 5-7 am and

weave for a few hours before breaking

fast at around 10. After rejoining work,

they continue until after noon before

resting for some hours, often due to the

heat at midday. Between 3 and 4 pm, they

return to their loom and sometimes work

until 8 or 10 pm. On less busy days, they

might finish early, around 6 pm.

Nevertheless, home-based artisans

often work seven days a week. They do not

have time to pursue a hobby or any other

activity besides working and having a

family life. Sometimes, they meet friends

in a cafe or at home to socialise and celebrate

cultural festivals. According to one

artisan, this lifestyle may sometimes depress

them when the work pressure is too

much.

“Except festivals, they

have to work daily. There is no

holiday for them like Sunday we

have in corporate life, they don’t

have anything like that. But

when there’s no work, (…) then

they get to spend time for different

things, (…).” [translated]

Warping Artisan

104 105

106 107

Mulberry artisans. Left: Female artisan winding. Right: Male weaver. Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

“Work is more than that

he gets money from this job. It

is not quite enough money in

this profession and according

to their work pressure.” [translated]

Matka Artisan

The compensation they receive

for their work often does not

reflect the effort and labour that

arti-sans put into each product. Their

income depends on the type of silk and

material, the intricacy of the weaving

pattern, their skill level and their place in

the ecosystem of weavers, master weavers

and middlemen. The master weaver

from Onnupuram, a small village near

Arani, started with al-most no money in

his pocket and ended up a millionaire.

As a child, he was unable to complete

primary school as he lost his father at

the age of seven and left school after 2nd

grade.

Even though he still struggles with

reading and writing, he worked his way

up from being a weaver to eventually having

200 handlooms under his wing whose

work he markets and sells. Even master

weavers who are not as successful as

him have an average monthly income of

30.000 rupees. Ef-fectively, every weaver

can become a master weaver if they accumulate

enough experience and knowledge

of all processes that are relevant to

set up a loom, such as warping, weft winding,

draw-ing and denting to guide their

subordinate weavers in need and have

enough liquidity to invest into raw materials

and to pay the weavers’ conversion

charges. Their work and purchasing power

ulti-mately lead to considerably higher

living standards. However, such stories of

a prosperous artisan life do not epitomise

most weavers.

Rural home-based weavers make

around 7.000 to 10.000 rupees a month

on a piece rate salary, which means they

receive wages, called conversion charges,

whenever they finish one saree or fab-ric.

Depending on the intricacy, this can take

anywhere between a week and months.

Converted to euros, their monthly wages

amount to 75-110€.

Weavers tend to earn a little more than

artisans engaged in preparatory crafts like

warping. During periods of high workload

and pressure, a single weaver often needs

help to complete their work. As a result,

other weavers from the community step

in to help, despite only receiving payment

for a one-person job, meaning they must

divide the salary among themselves. Generally,

artisan families consider their income

a family income to which everyone

contributes according to their responsi-bilities,

in contrast to a job they would

take up individually. Therefore, companies

like Anuprerna, who specifically

work with home-based artisans, ask them

what they feel is the right price for their

work. Nevertheless, even Anuprerna cannot

raise the artisan’s salary significantly

in one village as this will lead to disparities

and divisiveness between them, eventually

influencing the ecosystem. Hence,

income slowly needs to increase for all

members of the community.

108 109

Matka weaver for Anuprerna - rethreading a slipped out thread. Islampur, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt

110 111

Ketya silk weaver for Anuprerna - inserting new weft yarn in the handloom’s shuttle. Islampur, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt

Artisan preparing a warp for the handloom. Islampur, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Photograph by Maria Weigt

Handlooms and artisans at Five P. Chennimalai, Erode district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Employed Artisans who work in

weaving studios or artisan enterprises

enjoy somewhat better

working conditions since their equipment

and looms are installed in a spacious area

with plenty of light, freedom of movement

and ventilation. Five P looks for artisans

in a three to four-kilometre radius

of the cluster in Chennimalai, where they

are based initially, by spreading the word

among people who already work for them

and visiting the communities themselves.

Their employees constitute 60% women

and 40% men, with male and female

weavers and support staff who wind the

yarn and prepare the loom. This shows

the difference in gender ratios to slightly

more rural areas in India and Five Ps mission

for gender equality.

Except for master weavers who are

experts in every field from loom set up

to weaving, artisans generally master one

skill, which is why community weaving

studios offer them the opportunity to

come together in one place and support

each other under the guidance of four to

five master weavers present every day

and ready to step in. Home-based artisans

often have to contact more experienced

or skilled fellow masters when facing a

problem with their equipment or a particular

process that costs them money and

comes out of their pay checks. In Five P’s

studio, a quality manager provides the information

needed for winding and loom

set-up according to the design requirements

of the buyer while jointly performing

quality control checks together with

the artisans for weaving faults or imperfections

which the artisan will often spot

and correct themselves as well as before

bulk production.

The basic salary at Five P ranges between

10.000 to 15.000 depending on the

skill level and design difficulty. Everyone

receives that salary whether they come 20

days or 15 days a month, as artisans often

work on a call basis, specifically weavers

who come once their loom is set for them.

One of Five P’s master weavers interviewed

for this magazine seemed content

and confirmed that together with additional

financial incentives and bonuses

Five P provides, the salary is sufficient

to cover him and his family. They receive

bonuses and incentives on a daily, annual,

and order basis.

While anyone from 60 years of age is

entitled to governmental pension benefits,

Five P also makes a small pension

payment to employees who have been

with the company for at least three years.

The weavers will eventually decide for

themselves when they want to retire.

Some will work well into their 70s before

they no longer wish to pursue the craft

as they still depend on their family or

savings to survive, with the government

pension scheme being insufficient for all

daily needs. Depending on the artisan’s

skills and desires, they can weave only

plain fabrics or easy designs to experience

less exertion. This also applies to all

other artisans skilled in the preparatory

processes.

112 113

Jitendra Kumar, the founder of

Loom to Luxury, collaborates with

home-based artisans and those

who mainly work in his studio on the outskirts

of Varanasi in Ayodhapur. To avoid

market disruption, like Anuprerna, in addition

to a base salary of approximately

15.000 rupees, which comes down to 400-

600 rupees a day, he provides non-monetary

benefits, sometimes also in the

form of a reward for good work, such as

paying the children’s education fee or

household bills, providing food including

rice, wheat, or dal and offering assistance

with insurance, governmental policies,

and health issues. For him, it is a red flag

if his weavers only earn 12.000 or 13.000

rupees a month, at which point he tries to

investigate what the reason for that could

be, for example, a personal situation or

health issues as he sees his weavers as his

family.

“Here, you see, today I’m

wearing a nice pant just because

you are coming, honestly. (…)

Otherwise, I always come with

my shorts and T-shirts and work

with them as a labourer. This is

the mantra to work and success,

to understand their pain until

I uplift myself. (…) I promised

them one thing. You would take

care of my business; I will take

care of your families.”

Jitendra Kumar

114 115

Loom to Luxury home-based artisans working mainly with silk and other materials in the villages in the outskirts of Varanasi. All images courtesy of Sara Otto / Nest.

Top right: Female artisan performing cutwork on the back of the textile. Bottom right: Artisan performing street warping.

116 117

Loom to Luxury homebased artisans working mainly with silk and other materials in the villages in the outskirts of Varanasi. All images courtesy of Sara Otto / Nest.

While many weavers are content

and seem happy, proud of their

work and appreciative of the

re-sponsibility they carry, they do not want

their kids to follow in their footsteps because

of present living and working conditions specifically

for rural home-based weavers. Some

weavers even re-ported struggling to find a

wife since being married to a weaver means

hard work and often simple living conditions

for them.

If a weaving family has multiple children,

those who do well in an educational environment

contin-ue with higher education.

Meanwhile, as Panneerselvam recalls himself,

those children who strug-gle follow in

their family’s footsteps after the 10th standard.

That way, the family can rise above their

status while maintaining their craft tradition.

This formula is still practised today in

his village in Onnupuram. Nevertheless, he

eventually left his craft and became a university

professor teaching textile and handloom

engineering to fashion students. He also received

his PhD in a related subject. Lots of artisans

have sent their children for higher education.

One weaver reports that his son lives

in America and works as an IT engineer. Another

one’s children are currently completing

high school and a Master’s degree.

“He’s saying that he’s

making his son and daughter

educated so that they can get,

you know, good job. And, you

know, establish themselves in

their life. So that will be a proud

moment when they get, you

know, good jobs in good companies

or the corporate sector.

It will make him happy. It will

make him proud.” [translated]

Matka Artisan

Due to this trend, the future of the craft

is uncertain, as the age of weavers ranges

between 40 and 60 years, with only a small

number of weavers being in their late 20s or

early 30s. An artisan working with plain mulberry

fabrics from Salar in West Bengal says

that he will probably stop weaving at 50 and

mainly only support with warping or other

less strenuous and physically de-manding

activities until he is 70 and stops working altogether.

“The biggest risk is the next

generation not taking up the work.

(…) Because if you look at the average

age of a handloom weaver in

our cluster it is about 45. They can

weave for maybe another 20 years,

a maximum of 30 years. What happens

to handloom weaving after

that? We don’t know.”

ManoRanjan

“He doesn’t think that

the new generation should go

in that profession because there

is not lots of money to run the

family. You can’t go through a

luxury life from this profession.

There is not much of a scope in

this profession to go ahead. So

that’s his message to the new

generation, that they shouldn’t

go.” [translated]

Warping Artisan

118 119

Warping artisan for Anuprerna in Chanduli. East Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Toiletries .

120 121

Home of warping artisan for Anuprerna in Chanduli. East Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Kaveri River dam in Tamil Nadu. It is dry due to the significant heat. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

THE CRAFT’S

THREATS TO

PRESERVATION

SERICULTURE

Well, what is happening to

hand weaving and this

craft? After documenting

the values of the material culture and conveying

the stories of the artisans behind

the craft, this central question leads the

magazine back to its core theme of cultural

sustainability. It questions the extent

to which craft and traditional knowledge

embedded in a cultural economy, such as

the silk and handloom industry, are endangered

and must be preserved as the

fourth pillar of sustainability alongside

ecological and social aspects.

Regarding the agricultural side of the

industry, what stands out are the adverse

effects of climate change on sericulture in

India. Extreme events like flooding and

drought become more common, causing

severe damage to mulberry fields that significantly

impact the yield or even cause

irrevocable damage. These events can also

affect the infrastructure on which farmers

rely to transport their intermediate

products, e.g. silkworms to rearing sheds,

cocoons to picking and reeling units,

and raw silk to weavers. Due to global

warming, increased temperatures also

play a critical role. Heat slows down the

growing process of silkworms and makes

them more vulnerable to diseases. These

factors lead to a reduced cocoon quantity

and, eventually, quality and yield of silk.

This is further augmented by pesticides in

neighbouring farms, specifically used for

other crops, which cause air pollution and

disturb mulberry cultivation and silkworm

rearing. These shortfalls often hit

farmers hard as they lack insurance for

unforeseen circumstances. Due to constantly

changing weather patterns, soils

also showcase nutrient deficiency and

inadequate pH levels, possibly related to

a water shortage. Only around 40% of agricultural

households in Tamil Nadu have

access to irrigation.

Apart from environmental problems,

farmers lack direct access to markets to

sell their cocoons or raw silk. One reason

is that some may have insufficient information

about these trading points. Second,

transportation costs have risen significantly,

making it difficult for farmers

to travel to popular markets, often outside

reach, like Ramanagara, which is close to

Bengaluru and 8 hours away by car from

visited farming locations in Tamil Nadu.

This reinforces the influence of intermediaries.

While this may be rare in some

districts, middlemen interact with farmers

to buy the cocoons at a lower rate than

they would have gotten at the market,

which solves this issue of market access

122 123

but eventually leads to financial exploitation.

This is further advanced by a lack of

access to loans or delayed disbursement

of grants. A study has shown that agricultural

households with marginal or small

farm sizes up to 2 ha are in debt of 100-

200.000 rupees.

Additionally, the need for more access

to technology and the transfer of technical

knowledge to sericulturists considerably

affect international comparisons. Farmers

do not have enough knowledge about

improved sericulture methods, such as

hybridisation efforts, ways of rearing, or

mulberry cultivation. Apart from designated

and fully equipped Chawki rearing

centres, which are still in the minority,

farmers lack access to technology that

helps them maintain the proper humidity

and temperature when rearing small

silkworms (1st and 2nd instar) before

moving them to the shelves in the rearing

shed. This stage is critical for the quality

and quantity of cocoons. Deviations in the

environment and wrong treatment, for

example, in terms of feeding and transfer,

can have a negative impact.

Moreover, some farms still cook cocoons

in open pans and manually reel

them, reducing the quality of the raw

silk. While semi-automatic and automatic

reeling machines, similar to those

seen during the journey, are increasing in

number, they are not the standard all over

India. This is on top of the quality differences

that naturally occur due to the use

of hybrid silkworm species that withstand

tropical conditions yet still produce lower-quality

silk.

China, in comparison, has access to

advanced technology, leading to a higher

standard of industrialisation in cultivation,

reeling and weaving. On top of that,

they have around 790.000 hectares under

mulberry cultivation, whereas India only

offers 240.000 hectares. Effectively, China

has always been able to produce higher

quality silk more efficiently and in higher

numbers due to increased productivity.

For example, they can control the number

of twists in yarn production, achieve

brighter colours and provide higher uniformity

in the textile’s structure. In recent

years, this high-quality industrialised silk

has been imported to India at lower prices

than locally produced silk since India

could not satisfy the domestic demand

on its own. This has led to price dumping,

severe price fluctuations on cocoon markets,

and, at the end of the chain, lower

incomes for sericulturists.

However, farmers have experienced

a decrease in imports over the last four

years, specifically since the COVID-19

pandemic. The metric tons of raw silk

imported decreased by 50% between 2017

and 2020 to around 1800 metric tons. Even

though it had recovered to pre-Covid level

by 2022/23 to around 3900 metric tons, it

is declining again, with 2650 MT imported

in 2023/24. That would support the expansion

of domestic sericulture and, thus, the

creation of jobs, contributing to rural India’s

socio-economic development. Apart

from a brief dip during Covid, according

to this decrease in imports, the number

of farmers and artisans engaged in sericulture

has risen steadily from 8.6 million

in 2017/18 to just under 9.5 million in

2023/24. ManoRanjan believes that since

the end of the pandemic, Indian people

have been consuming more silk, which

may also be related to higher income levels

due to a growing economy.

While sericulture faces environmental

and technological challenges, the industry

is on an upward trajectory with significant

development potential. In contrast,

the handwoven silk sector is experiencing

a decline. Notably, many threats will, to a

substantial extent, also apply to the handloom

industry in general. However, some

challenges are unique to silk weaving

clusters, highlighting the specific vulnerabilities

of this traditional craft.

124 125

Storm and heat impacted mulberry field. Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Photograph by Maria Weigt.

WEAVING

When it comes to weaving and

related professions, one of the

central threats is the need for

a new generation of artisans, as ManoRanjan

previously mentioned. For one thing,

children experience first-hand how their

parents may struggle to provide for them

in terms of food, education and housing.

Therefore, a factory job with a daily salary

of 400-500 rupees, for which they become

immediately eligible once they turn 18 and

present a secondary school certificate, is

often more attractive than becoming an artisan.

Apart from that, according to Mano-

Ranjan, children from artisan families are

usually encouraged by their parents to pursue

higher education and work in a corporate

environment as they want to let handloom

weaving die with them.

Similar yet different in sentiment is the

experience of Manokaran and Panneerselvam,

both from weaving families in Onnupuram,

who initially pursued the craft together

with their fathers before eventually

leaving for higher education with both their

sons also being educated to an academic

level in computer science and engineering.

But in their days as a weaver, they started

with cotton and slowly switched to silk

since the remuneration was higher. The

rising raw material costs lead to higher

conversion charges since silk requires advanced

weaving skills, which both of them

were equipped with.

Nevertheless, many weavers in Onnupuram

and Arani could not make that

switch due to their lack of skills, which was

less remunerative. In the 1980s, instead of

40 rupees for cotton, it was 60 rupees per

day for silk. Those weavers eventually left

the craft for the power loom, construction,

or agricultural industry, yet again shrinking

the number of already established

crafts people in their cluster. This is not an

isolated case since even experienced middle-aged

artisans working in the industry

today decide to leave their craft due to the

sometimes-unbearable working and living

conditions, which means that not only the

new generation is not following in their

forefathers’ footsteps but the current generation

is leaving their craft as well. This

also leads to the inevitable dispersion of

clusters, causing the remaining artisans

to commute more to seek work or work in

studios.

The hierarchical structures in weaving

clusters further exacerbate the financially

precarious situation of weavers. Artisans

depend on middlemen for order management

and receipt of their conversion

charges, as they have no direct access to

customers due to a lack of aggregation and

centralised distribution. All intermediaries

will have a margin of around 50% of the retail

price. Many weavers have voiced the desire

for the margin to be shared with them

or reduced without increasing the cost of

the silk product for the customer. That way,

they would experience fewer economic

straits. On top of that, the weavers usually

lack business and marketing skills or any

professional education, seeing that many

were unable to finish school, which, together

with the unavailability of direct customers

and financial inability to present at costly

fairs or craft markets, makes it difficult to

become independent, leaving them vulnerable

to exploitation by middlemen.

126 127

Female artisan and her child. Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

However, Manokaran and Panneerselvam

addressed yet another

threat. Their fathers and

grandfa-thers were weavers at a time when

there were up to 20 looms in one house –

almost like a weaving society. Throughout

industrialisation, however, the number of

handlooms drastically decreased to one or

two in one household, and only intricate

patterns like typical Kanchipuram brocade

sarees, if any, were still hand-loomed. Similarly,

the artisan in Salar remembers that in

his village, out of 40 weaving families, only

ten are left. Shortly after the turn of the millennium,

power looms were in-troduced to

the Indian market. Power looms are similar

to handlooms in their mode of operation,

with the difference that the weaving motions,

such as shedding, picking, and beating,

are complete-ly automatised with the

help of a motor instead of being initiated

manually.

While one artisan can only operate one

handloom, they can oversee three power

looms simultane-ously as they do not require

manual labour and only supervision.

A simple saree or fabric could be woven in

4 hours, whereas a comparable one would

take at least three to four days in handloom.

This is also reflected in the wages. For example,

a handloom weaver would receive a

salary of around 2000 rupees for a simple

Southern silk saree (varying based on region

and design). In con-trast, a power loom

copy would get them 600 rupees, eventually

leading to a higher monthly in-come

due to the lower required time and effort

difference. Power looms effectively lead

to lower production costs and economies

of scale with high product volumes in less

time, making handloom artisans unable to

compete and leaving them no bargaining

power.

Nevertheless, they cannot replicate the

detailed designs of brocade sarees such

as, for example, from Banaras, which are

known for their luxurious quality and

flowing texture with real gold Zari borders,

which require manual control over every

warp and weft thread. Still, weavers who

could not acquire the skills for weaving at

such an advanced and intricate level had to

leave their profes-sion looking for a more

stable job since handloom could not compete

with power loom regarding plain or

simple patterned silk fabrics and sarees

anymore and was slowly decreasing. Even

“But today, people want

everything proper and cheaper

than China. That is not possible.

So that's the thing that is happening

here. No brand wants to

pay you, take five more cents. It's

not even $0.05. Not even $0.01

they are able to pay because today

they also have to buy cheap.

They also have their stakeholders.

They have to. Their sales

are also less. They also have to

survive. And then there is competition

coming in from China,

Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand,

you name it. “

(1) ManoRanjan

“Even I am a handloom

technologist. I never say I want

to protect the handloom. No, I

want to protect the handloom

weaver. It is not that easy. Nowadays,

many handmade things

become machine-made. (…) It

doesn’t become a power loom.

It remains a handloom. But for

lifting, we use the machine to

facilitate the easy lifting. So that

way we have to approach.”

Dr. R.G.

Panneerselvam

“See consumers don’t (…)

suddenly go and start buying a

$500 luxury product. They start

by buying a $100 silk product

and then a $200 silk product

that could be made in machine.

Five years, ten years down the

line, they understand silk. They

understand the value of craftsmanship,

and their purchasing

power increases as they earn

more (…). And then you start

purchasing some artisan-based

handmade silk and things like

that.”

(2) ManoRanjan

though there are still artisans who weave

plain textiles, specifically looking to West

Bengal, their livelihood is even more endangered

with the introduction of even faster automatic

looms. ManoRanjan says (1): (to the

left)

Specifically talking about competition

from other countries, silk is increasingly

being replaced by synthetic materials such

as polyester from China or, in some cases,

viscose due to the rising price of raw materials

and declining demand. These materials

are then used to recreate saree designs on

power looms, which further contribute to

the degradation of the craft. Artificial silk is

much cheaper and more accessible for people

with fewer financial resources at their

disposal. Panneerselvam be-lieves that, to

some extent, this is also a positive development

as it gives people the chance to wear

similar motifs in traditional garment designs

in some form or shape. Also, the silk supply

chain is not sufficiently developed to cater to

all demands if no one were to wear artificial

alternatives any-more. He further argues: (to

the left)

However, while machine support can contribute

to the weaver’s health and well-being,

the takeover of power looms as a substitute

must still be considered a threat when discussing

the silk craft and handloom from the

overall perspective.

Additionally, consumers in India and

globally often struggle to tell the difference

between artificial and natural silk as well

as machine-woven and handwoven, which

is why they focus only on the style and not

the quality or the story behind the product,

showcasing the lack of consumer educa-tion.

ManoRanjan comments (2): (to the

left)

That said, the cost is different, and an

average Indian citizen often has a lower purchasing

power, which makes synthetic and

machine-woven alternatives more accessible.

A machine-woven polyes-ter saree retails for

around 3500 rupees, whereas a handcrafted

silk saree from Kanchipuram with-out a real

gold border retails for 12-13.000 rupees. Suppose

there is a demand for machine-made

synthetic reproductions. Suppliers will always

accommodate the customer’s wishes

and even sell power loom sarees as hand-woven

or synthetics as natural silk since they

cannot tell the difference anyway.

128 129

Powerloom weaving a saree. Mecheri, Salem district in Tamil Nadu. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

Mulberry artisans - weaver and his wife. Salar, Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

“So, speed was the worst

thing that was invented. Yes.

We needed speed but in which

form we needed speed? We need

productivity. But in which form

do we need the productivity? Do

we really need to produce more

clothes in this world? I think we

all should be asked this question

because this planet is full.”

Jitendra

This is further reinforced by

replacing cultural gowns and

dresses with Western wear,

specifically by the younger generation in

India. Kushi Sugandhi says that peers her

age in their early twenties normally do

not wear traditional sarees or lehengas on

a daily basis. So, suppose they do acquire

such garments for a wedding or a function.

In that case, the majority will not buy

something as ex-pensive as a handwoven

silk saree for one occasion unless they

understand the actual value of silk and

have an appreciation for handcraft like

Kushi.

Threats endangering the preservation

and survival of this craft, however,

originate not only in the domestic but

also in the international market, bringing

this magazine to the global impact of

Western consumption and capitalism on

a craft such as handwoven silk. Initially,

the craft was not centred on fabric as artisans

only wove silk sarees and traditional

garments, and some still exclusively do.

However, many artisan-focused enterprises,

such as Anuprerna and Five P, also

supply silk fabrics made from mulberry

and other types of silks. Loom to Luxury,

besides sarees, also weaves brocade

fabrics following the Varanasi tradition.

They all intend to promote and upskill the

artisans to weave fabrics while also offering

to pattern cut and produce clothes

from it to serve the internation-al market

and contribute to the preservation of the

craft.

However, working with Western

brands brings with it difficulties, which

also contribute signifi-cantly to making

the craft unattractive for local artisans

and ultimately to its extinction. Manual

pro-duction is not quantifiable in motions,

or shuttle throws per minute as the

body tires, and the weav-er will take a rest

to chat with his fellow weavers or interrupt

their work for household-related

is-sues. Machines, in comparison, work

continuously. Jitendra was concerned that

Western buyers assume that handcrafted

textiles can be produced within the

same timeframe, no matter the material.

As a result, they would give him 60 days

to complete a mass bulk order, which is

impossible. Completing all preparatory

processes would take him 20 days before

he could even start weaving. That would

still mean operating at total capacity and

without interruptions such as sickness

of weavers or an important cultural festival.

Similarly, at Five P, according to the

quality manager, a regular order of 1000

meters would be re-quested for completion

within one month. It would take the

artisans in the studio at least 12 – 15 days

to purchase and dye the yarn and set up

the loom. Since quality checks would

take around five days, the actual weaving

would have to be completed within ten

days, which is impossible as hand-loom

weavers could complete a maximum of 5

metres a day in the case of a plain design.

Even with all the weavers present, this is

an unrealistic target. Hence, a power loom

with 30-50m a day and an auto loom with

200-250 m daily would be the only viable

options.

Moreover, according to Jitendra,

handloom weaving cannot be managed

and measured by working with an Excel

sheet using a certain formula. He says

his weavers work in two phases, not accord-ing

to a watch. 6 to 12 is phase one,

and 12 to 6 is another. So, if the target is

set for the end of business, weavers will

bring the textiles between 5 and 6 o’clock.

The challenge for Jitendra, how-ever, lies

in the fact that the post office closes much

earlier and that he can often not make the

deliv-ery due to such developments. If

this were to happen on a Friday, it would

have caused an addi-tional delay over

the weekend and significant trouble with

Western buyers, as they always expect a

punctual delivery. Such an adherence to

a schedule is not possible due to cultural

differences in workplace management.

Explaining this to external stakeholders,

he often runs into walls.

This goes hand in hand with the expected

uniformity, quality, and different

understanding of design and colour preferences

in the global North and South.

Usually, in India, garments are very colour-ful

and highly traditional. Without

the intervention of artisanal enterprises,

local craftspeople would design and

weave according to their traditional aesthetics

and understanding of colour and

motifs, which might not coincide with

Western ideas. Furthermore, as silk and

any other artisanal textiles are usually

hand dyed, changing circumstances like

the weather, a different artisan, or the

amount of water or colour might lead to

slight variations in the fabric of the same

order, which is unacceptable from a Western

perspective as they expect identical

products. The same goes for the density of

the fabric, as changes in the mood or personal

situation may influence the density

of the fabric woven over weeks in bulk

orders. Instead of appreciating every fabric

roll for its uniqueness and story, this

is criticised. Jitendra believes that in the

form of a garment, the fabric still serves

its purpose of protecting one’s body from

the outside world. Minor imperfections

do not affect its purpose.

“One day [the weaver] is

very frustrated and he is weaving

very tightly. So, you will start

to see the frustrations all on the

fabric. (…) You will see all are

very dense. And once he is in a

good mood you will see all are

even. You see the weavers (…)

textures of emotion.“

130 131

Jitendra

Dyer. West Bengal. Courtesy of Pintu Basak / Anuprerna Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

“The answer is the buyer,

you see. (…) They have to switch.

(…), because consumers want

something fresh. (…) Unfortunately,

the designers themselves

have to move on from silk to

cotton, cotton to wool, wool to

embroidery, and embroidery

to something else. So, the value

propositions of the cloth always

have to be different.”

Jitendra

Another point of particular importance

when working with

artisans is the continuity of

orders. How the fashion industry is organised

in the West implies publishing

seasonal collections based on in-spiration

or colour, which is different every

quarter. One season might be focused on

silk and in-spire the brands to work with

ethically and sustainably handcrafted

silk from India to further their corporate

responsibility, even though the Loom to

Luxury founder claims to have made the

experi-ence that brands only source a

small quantity from him for financial and

sustainability reasons and purchase the

bulk from power loom factories. However,

they forget to consider that next season,

all orders will be seized, and the focus will

shift to a different material. This leads to

an irregular in-come, which is highly

problematic as an entire family is often

dependent on this source of income and

cannot easily replace it if it dries up. Jitendra

comments: (to the left)

In Jitendra’s case, the domestic demand

for silk sarees kept his business afloat as it

was regular and continuous. But even that

has drastically decreased, causing him to

switch his business perspective from exclusively

silk to handweaving home textiles

made from cotton, at least for now,

to guarantee the survival of his artisans,

which is always his priority. Right now, he

is in severe debt, hoping he will be able

to save his business and the livelihoods of

his artisans. Anuprerna and Five P have

experienced similar issues of discontinuous

and irregular orders.

if the investment into realising standards

and personal protective equipment is not

worth the order payment.

Amit Singha, the founder of Anuprerna,

also mentions that Western brands that

purchase silk often cater to the premium

or luxury market and, therefore, only purchase

in small quantities, sometimes even

for one silk garment of the collection. This

inconsistent market makes it hard for

him to stock larger quantities. The regular

customers of Anuprerna are smaller and

newly founded brands with an integral

focus on sustainability and craftsmanship

to contribute to cultural sustainability

eventual-ly. These brands often also lack

the financial liquidity to mainly source

silk and start with hand-woven cotton,

which Anuprerna also offers. Even for the

average Indian consumer and brands, as

previously discussed, silk is expensive

and not in high demand, specifically for

plain fabrics, refer-ring to the industrialised

production of silk and the associated

lower costs.

In contrast, clusters, weaving brocade

and jacquard silk fabrics and sarees such

as those from Kan-chipuram and Varanasi,

have achieved to project their silk goods

as a luxury, which makes it easier for them

to survive as those are in higher demand

on the international market as well as on

the do-mestic market for functions and

weddings, according to Amit. Those clusters,

however, like Chen-nimalai, looking

to Five P, whose artisan-based production

is not projected as a luxury, struggle to

survive because consumers and brands

do not see the uniqueness, they see in other

clusters’ work even though the quality

is up to the same standard. ManoRanjan

says: (to the right)

“If you look at Europe,

there are still arts, artisans and

craft-based communities doing

work for luxury brands sitting

in Italy. Tailors, leather craftsmen

(…) and they are able to

preserve it, they are able to create

products out of it and market

it, promote it and showcase it in

a way that their culture, the history,

and the image of the product

is looked at as a luxury (…).

[Indian craft products]

should be projected as something

you cannot get anywhere.

This is a handmade product.

This is a luxury. This is indulgence.”

With discontinuous orders also comes

the issue of workplace standards. Mano-

Ranjan says that home-based workers

adhere to their understanding of health

and safety in their workplace in a way However, he suggests that Western

that is comfortable for them, for example,

brands do not uphold these same stand-

without wearing shoes or gloves ards when sourcing and showcasing arti-

when dyeing silk or the lack of a drainage sanal and handcrafted products from the

“So, basically, he’s saying

that he earned a lot with the

system. However, to be able to get international

orders, they would have to ad-

and a culture as rich. This is also reflect-

Global South, which has a history as old

handloom industry, and he built

here to Western standards of workplace ed in the lack of credit and transparency,

his own house, and he spent half

of his life happily. Now, due to

management. If brands were to provide as well as the high-margin and low-cost

the lack of work, whenever you

continuous work, artisans would invest principal brands apply when sourcing

get a chance to work, you work.

in a proper workplace and adhere to the their silk and other handwoven materi-als

Otherwise, he sits at home without

standards provided by the brands. How-

from India. Silk is not infrequently sold

work.” [translated]

ever, the nature of the trend-based fash-

for 700-1000 pounds on the European

ion industry in the West means irregular market without mentioning the artisans

Artisan at

orders, prompting the artisans to decline or Five P as the source of origin.

Loom to Luxury

132 133

ManoRanjan

Loom to Luxury studio handloom (top) and handwoven jacquard silk textile (bottom). Ayodhapur, Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh. Photographs by Maria Weigt.

FINAL

THOUGHTS

“There is a mango tree, right? If you need a mango, what will we do?

(…) We cannot pour water on the top. We have to pour water on

the root to get a mango. This industry [is in] the same situation. (…)

Everybody is talking on the top. We need to work on the grassroots.“

With this magazine coming to

an end, having documented

the material culture and

communicated its values and artisan

stories with the intent to platform India’s

silk and handloom heritage to a wider

audience, it is crucial to summarise this

writing journey once again in the context

of cultural sustainability to highlight for

the preservation of traditional craftsmanship.

This journey has revealed the sustainable

potential of both crafts. Sericulture,

silk, and handloom weaving, in general,

are sources of employment for millions of

artisans and contribute to poverty alleviation

and socio-economic development,

either as a supplementary or independent

income source, allowing artisans to

incorporate their inherited skills, given

the minimal employment opportunities

and industry coverage in rural areas of

India.

Furthermore, farmers and weavers

have a profound sense of belonging to a

Jitendra

community founded by strong familial

bonds between artisans in clusters and

villages as they depend on one another,

passing their profession and knowledge

from one generation to the next, with

their craft becoming part of their identity,

which they proudly share with the

outside. Apart from social bonding, both

crafts have the potential to help artisans

uplift themselves and change their social

standing and status, referring to master

weavers as well as silk farmers. Female

artisans at the forefront in sericulture and

performing essential supportive tasks in

weaving and allied activities manage a

gendered division of labour while trying

to contribute to a family or independent

income, supporting social equity and female

empowerment.

Lastly, both crafts are inherently environmentally

sustainable. Although an

animal-based fibre, silk is a natural biodegradable

material. While machine

support is standard, looking at reeling,

yarn production and motorised shed-

ding mechanisms added to handlooms for

the wellbeing of the weaver, they are traditionally

manual crafts that rely on minimal

external energy, with silk production being

1000 times more energy efficient than that

of PET-based fibres. Being slow village-based

crafts with small-scale production, they are

not depleting resources through mass production.

Their vertically implemented supply

chain using locally grown mulberry, reared

silkworms, and processed cocoons woven in

diverse handloom clusters of India and regenerative

practices like reusing waste materials

and avoiding chemicals and synthetic

fertilisers contribute to less air and soil pollution.

As such, these crafts are drivers and

enablers of sustainability. However, more

importantly, their material culture is what

sustains and leads to these advantageous social

and environmental impacts. In need of

preservation, it must be passed on to a new

generation, which thus justifies culture as

a fourth pillar of sustainability, as its slow

death and eventual extinction would lead to

the loss of its sustainable benefits originating

from the material culture itself.

This is where we are at today. At the magazine’s

beginning, I asked myself whether

tailoring is the only craft at stake facing globalisation

and industrialisation and whether,

in the foreseeable future, we as a society

will unlearn our ability to craft products by

hand.

While Indian sericulture may be more

impacted by global warming and extreme

weather events, it still cannot compete with

higher-technology-based industrialised

sericulture, considered of higher quality on

the worldwide market, setting the industry

standard and slowly moving away from

manual and handcrafted silk. Although it is

on a growth trajectory, with India importing

less silk from China, who is to say that in 50

years’ time, not everything will be mechanised?

Besides, silk, a naturally biodegradable

fibre, is slowly replaced with synthetics

made on power looms, which use more energy

and cause higher air and soil pollution.

Due to a lack of education in customers, unable

to tell the difference and the influence of

Westernized fashion on the local market, the

purchase of traditional natural silk garments

is decreasing.

Weaving is even more affected as the craft

is on the brink of extinction. Artisan leave

their craft due to a lack of bargaining power,

exploitation of middlemen, unbearable

living and working conditions, and children

not following in their forefathers’ footsteps,

driving them into poverty instead of alleviating

it. The industry has already started to die

and is slowly giving in, losing its sustainability

potential to industrialised mass production,

productivity, efficiency, uniformity, and

synthetics.

Eventually, this is where the cultural

economy is lost and needs to be preserved to

sustain its environmental and social sustainability.

While many factors are rooted in the

domestic market, Western fashion professionals

can significantly influence whether

this craft can survive. When working with

artisans, instead of setting unachievable

standards of speed and uniformity, we need

to respect and understand the differences in

work culture and cherish each craft product’s

uniqueness and imperfections. By adapting

the way we design and consume clothes, we

can provoke change in our fashion industry

to move away from seasonal collections and

short-term supplier relationships to unique

and regular designs with continuous orders

and long-term business relations with artisans.

Furthermore, recognising the craft’s

impact on several livelihoods, appreciating

this circumstance and being driven by social

impact instead of monetary reasons and incentives

for cheaper, industrialised, and synthetic

alternatives can significantly support

the cultural economy. By giving credit and

being transparent about artisanal collaborations,

we can create awareness and show respect

towards their work. Eventually, we can

appreciate their culture and craft without

culturally appropriating and mispresenting

their origin. Only then can we achieve true

sustainability and, from a Western fashion

perspective, contribute to the preservation

of the silk heritage as well as the handloom

and crafts economy in general.

134 135

... & A PHOTO

STORY

Therefore, it was part of this

journey and project to acquire

handwoven silks, first

photographing and showcasing their

intricate weaves, beautiful colours, and

meaningful motifs, crediting their origin

and highlighting their traditional

way of drape to create awareness for the

craft. Second, they were converted into

garments that appreciate their origin

and meaning without culturally appropriating

their traditional way of dress.

Upcycling and converting sarees into

garments is a widespread tradition in

India, particularly for worn-out or older

sarees.

The handwoven sarees were acquired

in Kanchipuram by Prakash

Silks, a renowned silk studio and in

the famous Dilli Haat INA, an artisan

market in New Delhi, from a handloom

business called Parvez Creation from

Varanasi. Photographed in Strawberry

Hill House in Twickenham in the UK,

both have distinct features that reveal

their place of origin and were chosen

for the importance of red and green

in Indian culture. In collaboration

with a tailor from Munich named Tina

Meister, owner of her one-woman business

Meisterstück, these sarees were

transformed into dresses and pantsuits

inspired by the 1930s, a period famous

for silks, small motifs, and jacquard

weaves, a personal favourite as previously

mentioned and photographed

yet again in Schlosspark Nymphenburg

Munich.

Eventually, this should inspire readers

to learn more about crafts, their

social and environmental impact, and

the livelihoods that depend on them to

survive. From a global perspective, it

should also instil the desire to consume

less and more meaningfully, purchase

unique, handcrafted products, let their

story shine, and honour the artisans and

culture behind the craft—a way of promoting

culturally sustainable and slow

fashion consumption. Jitendra commented:

“Whenever people stop dreaming.

The craft will die.”

He believes that, deep down, every

human dreams of possessing and being

the best in material and comparative

societal terms. He argues that handcrafts

are the only source of achieving

that dream of uniqueness, quality, and

superiority, with mass production inhibiting

the achievement of this standard.

This is why handcraft should and

always will survive.

With that said, enjoy the photo story

and stay tuned for the next issue.

136 137

All photographs taken by Maria Weigt. With kind permission of Strawberry Hill Trust.

138 139

140 141

142 143

144 145

146 147

All photographs taken by Friedrich Loerke. With kind permission of Bavarian Palace Administration.

148 149

150 151

152 153

I

am struggling because I am honest. But one

thing I also know: I'm struggling today but my

foundation is very strong. In order to sustain

[my business], in order to serve my all, I always

raise the question: Are you stable? Because (…)

my business is not stable. (…) We got this many

orders, and two years [later] I don't have an order.

So, you see, like how much we have ups and

downs.

So yes, in order to save this industry, we need

consumers to understand why craft is important.

It's not just the community. It's a dream not of

the artisans, but of yours, you are making. Artisans

do not have a dream of wearing these fancy

dresses. Your dream we are catering to. And you

should understand; you have to respect that we

are working hard for you.

And (…) spread awareness among the children

and kids to understand [also in] (…) fashion

schools. Those are the youngsters (…) coming

for the internship. They are learning a few

techniques. They are doing the same things on

the power loom. These kids also have to understand:

it's a responsibility. When you come, it’s a

responsibility to take your own planet, your own

nation, your own family. Nobody comes from the

outside, (…). We all have to help, otherwise, there

is no solution to it. (…)

Even my dad always used to say the same: (…)

The size of a roti of a billionaire and the size of

your rotis remain the same. So why you are in a

hurry?

Jitendra

154 155

Tina Meister

THANK YOU

ManoRanjan

Amit Singha

Pintu Basak

Shree Bharathi

Jitendra Kumar

R.G. Panneerselvam &

N.S. Manokaran

Suresh

Sheetal Sugandhi

I

want to express my deepest

gratitude to everyone involved

in my research, whom I was fortunate

to meet during my trip to India.

In order of appearance, I want to name

and thank some individuals, artisans,

representatives, and brands.

First, I would like to thank Erodebased

Five P Venture India Private

Ltd and all its affiliates, representatives,

employees, and artisans. Special

thanks to ManoRanjan (CSO) and Shree

Bharathi Devarajan (CEO) for organising

the first week of the journey, centred

on sericulture, silkworm rearing,

and weaving, as well as Suresh, our interpreter

and travel guide, and Karthi,

the driver. I would also like to recognise

all farmers, artisans, and other individuals

I have met during my time in Tamil

Nadu, including but not limited to M.S.

Pattu Maaligai, weavers and representatives

of Fashion Point Handloom Park,

farms and farmers Dhandapani, Priya,

Kanthasamy, Karthi, and Ramya, representatives

of the sericulture department,

farmers of Rice Mill Thottam and

friends and family of all these people.

Furthermore, I would like to express

my gratitude to R.G. Panneerselvam

and N.S. Manokaran, based in Onnupuram,

Arani, who introduced me to

weavers of their village and explained

the mechanics and mathematics of

handloom and jacquard weaving while

also focussing on yarn manufacturing

and warping. I want to thank my study

colleague Nivashini, who connected me

with them.

Moreover, I want to thank Anuprerna

Artisan Alliance Pvt. Ltd in West

Bengal and all its affiliates, representatives,

employees and artisans. I wish

to acknowledge Amit Singha (CEO)

for organising my travels through the

state’s districts to see different handloom

artisan clusters and for supporting

me immensely when I got sick and

needed to stay at the hospital. This also

goes out to Pintu Basak, the interpreter

and travel guide whose photography is

featured in this magazine, and the two

drivers. Besides, I would like to include

Amit Singha’s family, who hosted my

husband and me.

In Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, I would

like to express my gratitude to Loom to

Luxury’s founder, Jitendra Kumar, and

all affiliates, representatives, employees

and artisans with his organisation. I

would also like to reach out to Nest and

its founder, Rebecca van Bergen, who

connected me with Jitendra and Sara

Otto, a compliance and research officer

at Nest whose photography is featured

in this magazine.

Additionally, I would like to mention

Sheetal Sugandhi, the owner and

founder of Sanskruti The Culture Boutique,

and her daughter Khushi, whom

I interviewed about cultural values and

regional weaving patterns and motifs.

Photographs of their boutique and

products are featured in this magazine.

Equally, I want to thank and recognise

my study colleagues, Priyanshi and

Khushi, who played an essential role in

completing the photoshoot showcased

at the end of this magazine.

I would also like to include the

enterprise Tilfi in Varanasi, which allowed

me to use their photography

to represent different weaving techniques

I could not capture while in

India.

Outside my research journey, I

would like to express my gratitude to

Tina Meister, the tailor I collaborated

with to transform and convert the sarees.

She put so much effort into every

stitch, recognising the importance of

the garments for my project.

Likewise, I would like to acknowledge

Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham,

UK, specifically Sabina, who

supported me during my photoshoot,

and the Bavarian Administration of

State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes for

allowing me to photograph on their

grounds.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone

at Kingston University London

who was involved in this project and

supported me in any way, including

my professor, Dr Sass Brown, and the

German Academic Exchange Services,

which partially funded this research.

On a personal note, I would like

to thank my husband, who accompanied

me to India and supported me

throughout this project.

Due to the limited size of the magazine,

it is not possible to show all the

photos of the participants here, but

their contribution to this magazine is

highly appreciated and was represented

by photos of their person or their

craft throughout the magazine.

157

Photograph taken by Maria Weigt. With kind permission of Strawberry Hill Trust.

159

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SILK’S HISTORY & CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

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pos=1&_sid=960a9dc48&_ss=r (Accessed: 16 August 2024).

Shri Devji Baba Textiles Private Limited (2022b) ‘The Legacy Of Banarasi Motifs And Patterns’, Singhania’s,, 5 March. Available

at: https://singhanias.in/blogs/singhanias-saree-journal/the-legacy-of-banarasi-motifs-and-patterns (Accessed: 14 August

2024).

Shri Devji Baba Textiles Private Limited (2023a) ‘A Complete Guide - Zari Silk Sarees Origin, Weaving Process, Types!’, Singhania’s,

23 May. Available at: https://singhanias.in/blogs/singhanias-saree-journal/a-complete-guide-zari-silk-sarees-origin-weaving-process-types?_pos=10&_sid=b5b48ac75&_ss=r


Shri Devji Baba Textiles Private Limited (2023b) ‘All You Need To Know About Kanjivaram Silk Saree’, Singhania’s, 25 January.

Available at: https://singhanias.in/blogs/singhanias-saree-journal/all-you-need-to-know-about-kanjivaram-silk-saree?_pos=3&_

sid=b5b48ac75&_ss=r (Accessed: 16 August 2024).

Srivastava, A.L. and Dikshit, K.R. (2024) India - History, Map, Population, Economy, & Facts, Britannica. Available at: https://

www.britannica.com/place/India (Accessed: 27 July 2024).

The Indian Silk Export Promotion Council (2024a) History of Indian Silk, The Indian Silk Export Promotion Council. Available

at: http://www.theindiansilkexportpromotioncouncil.com/history-of-indian-silk.php (Accessed: 13 August 2024).

The Indian Silk Export Promotion Council (2024b) Silk Industry and Export in India, IBEF - India Brand Equity Foundation.

Available at: https://www.ibef.org/exports/indian-silk-industry# (Accessed: 17 August 2024).

THE RAW SILK INDUSTRY

Primary

Kumar, J. (2024) ‘Interview with Loom to Luxury CEO’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Ayodhapur, Uttar

Pradesh, 16th May.

Panneerselvam, R.G. (2024) ‘Seri 13 - Yarn & Warp’ [Audio Recording]. Recorded by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Onnupuram,

Tamil Nadu, 5th May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 1 - Rearing Shed’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu,

2nd May.


2nd May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 3 - Moriculture’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu,

2nd May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 4 - Cleaning Shed’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil

Nadu, 2nd May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 5 - Picking Cocoons’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil

Nadu, 2nd May.


Nadu, 2nd May.


Nadu, 2nd May.


Nadu, 2nd May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 9 - Reeling’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu, 2nd

May.


May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 11 - Silkworm Eggs & Chawki Rearing’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur

District, Tamil Nadu, 2nd May.


Secondary

Anuprerna Artisian Pvt. Ltd. (2024) Matka Peace Silk, Anuprerna. Available at: https://anuprerna.com//story-details/matkapeace-silk/16308


162 163

Berdu, J. (2021) ‘Silk, sustainability and circular economy’, Journal of Silk, 58(Special Issue), pp. 45–47.

CDFA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) (no date) Silk - Materials Index, CFDA. Available at: https://cfda.com/resources/

materials/detail/silk (Accessed: 23 August 2024).

Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute (2018) Rearing of Mulberry Silkworm - Erode, Tamil Nadu, SILKS Sericulture

Information Linkages And Knowledge System. Available at: https://silks.csb.gov.in/erode/rearing-of-mulberry-silkworm/ (Accessed:

24 June 2024).

Central Silk Board (2024) Sericultural Statistics in India - A Glance. Bengaluru: Central Silk Board. Available at: http://csb.gov.

in/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Sericulture-Statistics-of-India-A-Glance.pdf (Accessed: 19 August 2024).

Central Silk Technological Research Institute - Central Silk Board (2018) Processing of Mulberry Cocoons - Erode, Tamil Nadu,

SILKS Sericulture Information Linkages And Knowledge System. Available at: https://silks.csb.gov.in/erode/processing-of-mulberry-cocoons/


Department of Sericulture, Government of Tamil Nadu (no date) About Sericulture, Department of Sericulture - Tamil Nadu.

Available at: https://tnsericulture.tn.gov.in/aboutsericulture (Accessed: 2 August 2024).

Greg (no date) What is Denier?, OFS (Online Fabric Store). Available at: https://onlinefabricstorewordpress.azurewebsites.net/

what-is-denier/ (Accessed: 30 August 2024).

International Sericultural Commission - United Nations Reg. No. 10418 (no date) Silk Industry - Statistics, International

Sericultural Commission - United Nations Reg. No. 10418. Available at: https://inserco.org/en/statistics (Accessed: 17 August

2024).

Kanchan, S.G. and Hebbar, C.K. (2024) ‘The Silk Industry: India’s Role In The Global Landscape And Financial Decision-Making

Dynamics’, EPRA International Journal of Research & Development (IJRD), 9(6), pp. 395–401.

Mahesha, H.B. (2021) ‘Silkworm Seed Technology’ [Lecture Presentation]. University of Mysore. Available at: https://hbmahesh.

weebly.com/uploads/3/4/2/2/3422804/silkworm_seed_technology.pdf (Accessed: 29 July 2024).

Mahesha, H.B. (no date a) ‘Classification of Silkworms based on Voltinism’ [Lecture Material]. University of Mysore. Available

at: https://hbmahesh.weebly.com/uploads/3/4/2/2/3422804/2._classification_of_silkworms.pdf (Accessed: 1 August 2024).

Mahesha, H.B. (no date b) ‘Life Cycle of silkworm Bombyx mori’ [Lecture Material]. University of Mysore. Available at: https://

hbmahesh.weebly.com/uploads/3/4/2/2/3422804/life_cycle_and_morphology_of_bombyx_mori._word.pdf (Accessed: 29 July

2024).

Manimegalai, S., Murugesh, K.A. and Aruna, R. (2023) ‘Performance of Hybrids of Silkworm, Bombyx mori L. in Different Districts

of Tamil Nadu’, Madras Agricultural Journal, 110(10–12), p. [no pagination].

Patil, N.G., Sheikh, N. and Pochhi, R. (2021) ‘Farmer Friendly Matlab Based Silkworm Eggs Counting System’, EPRA International

Journal of Research and Development (IJRD), 6(7), pp. 60–63.

Ramana, D.V. (1987) Economics of sericulture and silk industry in India. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publications.

Rhysley Private Limited (2023) ‘Beauty of Silk: Different Types of Silk in India’, Trendy Talks - Inspiration for your Wardrobe

Journey, 14 September. Available at: https://www.mehar.xyz/india/blog/beauty-of-silk-different-types-of-silk-in-india (Accessed: 25

January 2024).

Singh, H. and Kumar, N.S. (2010) ‘On the Breeding of Bivoltine Breeds of the Silkworm, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae),

Tolerant to High Temperature and High Humidity Conditions of the Tropics’, Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, 2010(Article

ID:892452), pp. 1–15.

The Indian Silk Export Promotion Council (2024) Silk Industry and Export in India, IBEF - India Brand Equity Foundation.

Available at: https://www.ibef.org/exports/indian-silk-industry# (Accessed: 17 August 2024).

Tulsi Silks (2022) ‘12 Different types of Silk and Sarees made from them’, TULSI SILKS, 25 November. Available at: https://tulsisilks.co.in/blogs/12-different-types-of-silk-and-sarees-made-from-them

(Accessed: 25 January 2024).

Vishwanath, L. (2021) Silk Industry in India: The Story Behind the Sheen of the Indian Queen of Textiles, teri - The Energy and

Resources Institute - Creating Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Future. Available at: https://www.teriin.org/article/silk-industry-india-story-behind-sheen-indian-queen-textiles


SILK DYEING & WEAVING

Primary

Five P Quality Manager et. al. (2024) ‘D&W 2 - Primary & Secondary Processes’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage

Threads. Chennimalai, Tamil Nadu, 3rd May.

Five P Quality Manager et. al. (2024) ‘D&W 3 - Primary & Secondary Processes’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage

Threads. Chennimalai Tamil Nadu, 3rd May.

Kumar, J. (2024) ‘D&W 7 - Punch Card Making’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Ayodhapur, Uttar

Pradesh, 16th May

Manokaran, N.S., Panneerselvam, R.G. (2024a) ‘D&W 4 - Jacquard Weaving’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage

Threads. Onnupuram, Tamil Nadu, 5th May

Manokaran, N.S., Panneerselvam, R.G. (2024b) ‘D&W 5 - Jacquard Weaving’ [Audio Recording]. Recorded by Maria Weigt for

Heritage Threads. Onnupuram, Tamil Nadu, 5th May.

Manokaran, N.S., Panneerselvam, R.G. (2024c) ‘D&W 6 - Jacquard Weaving’ [Audio Recording]. Recorded by Maria Weigt for

Heritage Threads. Onnupuram, Tamil Nadu, 5th May.

Panneerselvam, R.G. (2024) ‘Seri 13 - Yarn & Warp’ [Audio Recording]. Recorded by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Onnupuram,

Tamil Nadu, 5th May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘D&W 1 - Dyeing’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu, 3rd

May.


Secondary

Anonymous Author (2013) ‘Punch Card Making’, Charlie’s Banarasi Sari, 11 December. Available at: https://charliebanarasisari.

wordpress.com/2013/12/11/punch-card-making/ (Accessed: 4 August 2024).

Anuprerna Artisan Pvt. Ltd. (2024) ‘Handloom: A Testament to Craftsmanship and Tradition’, Anuprerna Blog, 18 June. Available

at: https://blog.anuprerna.com/blog-details/handloom-a-testament-to-craftsmanship-and-tradition/50323 (Accessed: 2 August

2024).

Anuprerna Artisian Pvt. Ltd. (2024) Natural Sustainable Custom Dyeing, Anuprerna. Available at: https://anuprerna.com/content/wholesale/natural-sustainable-custom-dyeing/59105


Bradley Ross, C. (2014) Understanding Weaving: What Are Looms?, LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/

pulse/20141030195455-49457671-understanding-weaving-what-are-looms/ (Accessed: 2 August 2024).

Goyal, N. et al. (2017) Handloom Weaving. Noida: National Institute of Open Schooling. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/

document/670120706/Handloom-Weaving (Accessed: 8 July 2024).

Kuppuram, N. et al. (2019) Ánandha Lahari - a wave of happiness. Bengaluru: National Institute of Fashion Technology. Available

at: https://issuu.com/rashmikaprasad4/docs/cluster_final2__1__compressed (Accessed: 2 August 2024).

Muralidhar, B.A. (no datea) ‘Basic Weaves’, in Textile Manufacturing and Testing. no place: [Online e-book]. Available at: https://

ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/hsp08/chapter/basic-weaves/ (Accessed: 3 August 2024).

Muralidhar, B.A. (no dateb) ‘Dobby Weaving’, in Textile Manufacturing and Testing. no place: [Online e-book]. Available at:

https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/hsp08/chapter/dobby-weaving/ (Accessed: 3 August 2024).

Muralidhar, B.A. (no datec) ‘Jacquard Weaving’, in Textile Manufacturing and Testing. no place: [Online e-book]. Available at:

https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/hsp08/chapter/jacquard-weaving/ (Accessed: 10 August 2024).

No author (2019) Programming Patterns: The Story of the Jacquard Loom, Science + Industry Museum. Available at: https://

www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/jacquard-loom (Accessed: 4 August 2024).

Panneerselvam, R.G., Yuvaraj, D. and Rekha Bhanu, V. (2020) ‘Use of indigenous electronic jacquard in handloom for weaving

fashionable silk sarees’, Dogo Rangsang Research Journal, 10(7), pp. 84–89.

Rawat, K. et al. (2019) 6 Yard Story - Kanjeevaram Silks. Bengaluru: National Institute of Fashion Technology. Available at:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/63216641/kanjeevaram-silks-cluster-2019-nift (Accessed: 2 August 2024).

164 165

Sargunamani, D. (2011) Commercial silk dyeing method at Varanasi, F2F FIBRE2FASHION. Available at: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/5740/commercial-silk-dyeing-method-at-varanasi


Textiles Committee (no date) Course Material Under ISDS for JACQUARD Hand Loom Weaver (Frame Loom). New Delhi: Government

of India - Ministry of Textiles. Available at: https://textilescommittee.nic.in/sites/default/files/course-content/Jacquard%20

Handloom%20Weaver.pdf (Accessed: 2 August 2024).

Tilfi Brands Pvt. Ltd. (2024) Techniques & Patterns, Tilfi. Available at: https://www.tilfi.com/pages/techniques-patterns (Accessed:

14 August 2024).

THE ECONOMY & ARTISANS BEHIND THE CRAFT

A) SERICULTURE

Primary


4th May


2nd May.


2nd May.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘Seri 3 - Moriculture’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu,

2nd May.


Nadu, 2nd May.


Nadu, 2nd May.


Nadu, 2nd May.


May.


Secondary


Central Silk Board (2018) Sericulture, Central Silk Board - Ministry of Textiles - Govt of India. Available at: http://csb.gov.in/

silk-sericulture/sericulture/ (Accessed: 14 April 2024).

Central Silk Board (2024) Sericultural Statistics in India - A Glance. Bengaluru: Central Silk Board. Available at: http://csb.gov.

in/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Sericulture-Statistics-of-India-A-Glance.pdf (Accessed: 19 August 2024).

Ekka, V. and Bais, P. (2023) ‘Contribution of Sericulture in the Socio-economic Transformation of the Workers’, Asian Journal of

Applied Science and Technology, 7(2), pp. 217–224.

Eswarappa, K. (2013a) ‘Role of Sericulturists in the Development of a Village’, South Asian Survey, 20(1), pp. 114–136.

Eswarappa, K. (2013b) ‘Role of Women in Sericulture and Community Development: A Study from a South Indian Village’, SAGE

Open, 3(3), p. [no pagination].

Govindasamy, R. et al. (2023) ‘Socio-Economic Dimensions and Problems Faced by the Sericulture Farmers in Namakkal District,

Tamil Nadu’, International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, 4(9), pp. 1119–1123.

Khan Rohela, G. et al. (2020) ‘Mulberry (Morus spp.): An ideal plant for sustainable develop-ment’, Trees, Forests and People, 2,

p. Article ID: 100011.

Kumar R., V. et al. (2010) ‘Women Empowerment in Sericulture: A Current Scenario in Rural In-dia’, Asia-Pacific Journal of

Rural Development, 20(1), pp. 175–184.

Raju, M., Sannappa, B. and Manjunath, K.G. (2019) ‘Socio-Economic Status of Sericulture Farmers under Rainfed Condition in

Chamarajanagar District, Karnataka State’, International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience, 7(2), pp. 574–581.

Roy, C. et al. (2023) ‘Assessment of Socioeconomic Impact of Sericulture in Murshidabad: A Social Outreach Programme of

Rammohan College’, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 12(6), pp. 170–178.

Roy, C., Roy Mukherjee, S. and Ghosh, S. (2012) Sericulture as an Employment Generating Household Industry in West Bengal

(A Study on its Current Problems & Prospects). Darjeeling: University of North Bengal. Available at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.

de/43672/1/MPRA_paper_43672.pdf (Accessed: 9 August 2024).

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (2014) Sericulture: FAQs, TNADU AGRITECHPORTAL Sericulture. Available at: https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/sericulture/seri_faqs.html


B) WEAVING

Primary

Anonymous (2024a) ‘Interview with Artisan for Preparatory Loom Processes’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads.

Chanduli, West Bengal, 9th May.

Anonymous (2024b) ‘Interview with Fashion Point Handloom Park Weaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads.

Erode, Tamil Nadu, 3rd May.

Anonymous (2024c) ‘Interview with Five P Masterweaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Chennimalai,

Tamil Nadu, 3rd May.

Anonymous (2024d) ‘Interview with Five P Venture Quality Manager’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Chennimalai,


Anonymous (2024e) ‘Interview with Jamdani Weaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Chanduli, West Bengal,

9th May.

Anonymous (2024f) ‘Interview with Loom To Luxury Masterweaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Ayodhapur,

Uttar Pradesh, 16th May.

Anonymous (2024g) ‘Interview with Matka Weaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Islampur, West Bengal,

10th May.

Anonymous (2024h) ‘Interview with Mulberry Weaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Online, 11th

June.


Pradesh, 16th May.




4th May

Singha, A. (2024) ‘Interview Summary: Anuprerna CEO’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Online, 10th

June.


Secondary

Basole, A. (2015) ‘Authenticity, Innovation, and the Geographical Indication in an Artisanal Indus-try: The Case of the Banarasi

Sari’, The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 18(3–4), pp. 127–149.

Jamal, S., Hazarika, R. and Sen, A. (2020) ‘Household Morphology of Varanasi Weavers’, International Journal of Scientific &

Technology Research, 9(2), pp. 3783–3787.

Nupur, Ar. (2017) ‘Housing for Weavers - Varanasi’, International Journal on Emerging Technologies, 81(1), pp. 33–39.

166 167

Vijayalaxmi, J. and Arathy, K.C. (2022) ‘Critical evaluation of socio-cultural and climatic aspects in a traditional community: a

case study of Pillayarpalayam weavers’ cluster, Kanchipuram’, Built Heritage, 6(3), pp. 1–16.

THE CRAFT’S THREATS TO PRESERVATION

A) SERICULTURE

Secondary



4th May

Singha, A. (2024) ‘Interview Summary: Anuprerna CEO’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Online, 10th

June.

Sugandhi, K., Sugandhi, S. (2024) ‘Interview Summary: Sanskruti The Culture Boutique’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage

Threads. Online, 9th July & August.

Suresh et. al. (2024) ‘D&W 8 - Powerloom’ [Video]. Directed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu,

4th May.

Bharathi, D. (2016) ‘Sericulture Industry in India - A Source of Employment Generation’, Interna-tional Journal of Advanced

Engineering Research and Science, 3(10), pp. 144–147.

Central Silk Board (2024) Sericultural Statistics in India - A Glance. Bengaluru: Central Silk Board. Available at: http://csb.gov.in/

wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Sericulture-Statistics-of-India-A-Glance.pdf (Accessed: 19 August 2024).

Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (2024) Import of Silk and Silk Goods. Bengaluru: Central

Silk Board. Available at: http://csb.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Import-of-Silk-and-Silk-Goods.pdf (Accessed: 19 August

2024).

Gaikwad, N.S., More, S.S. and Munde, T.B. (2023) ‘Constraints perceived by farmers in adoption of sericulture technologies in

Solapur district of Maharashtra’, The Pharma Innovation, 12(1), pp. 420–422.

Govindasamy, R. et al. (2023) ‘Socio-Economic Dimensions and Problems Faced by the Sericul-ture Farmers in Namakkal District,

Tamil Nadu’, International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews, 4(9), pp. 1119–1123.

Panwar, S., Ikram, M. and Sharma, A.K. (2022) ‘Emerging Trends And Future Opportunities In Sericulture’, Journal of Survey in

Fisheries Sciences, 8(2), pp. 625–629.

State Planning Commission (SPC) (2022) Agricultural Households of Tamil Nadu - A Profile. Chennai: Government of Tamil

Nadu. Available at: https://spc.tn.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/agriHH_profile.pdf (Accessed: 19 August 2024).

Taufique, M. and Hoque, A. (2021) ‘Current Scenario of Sericulture Production in India: A Spatio- Temporal Analysis’, International

Research Journal of Education and Technology, 2(4), pp. 12–23.

University Grants Comission (no date) Problems and Prospects of Sericulture. Available at: https://ugcmoocs.inflibnet.ac.in/

assets/uploads/1/144/5010/et/40%20script%20-%20Problems%20and%20Prospects%20of%20Sericulture200303111103031717.pdf


A) WEAVING

Primary

Anonymous (2024a) ‘Interview with Artisan for Preparatory Loom Processes’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads.

Chanduli, West Bengal, 9th May.

Anonymous (2024d) ‘Interview with Five P Venture Quality Manager’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Chennimalai,


Anonymous (2024f) ‘Interview with Loom To Luxury Masterweaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Ayodhapur,

Uttar Pradesh, 16th May.

Anonymous (2024g) ‘Interview with Matka Weaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Islampur, West Bengal,

10th May.

Anonymous (2024h) ‘Interview with Mulberry Weaver’. Interviewed by Maria Weigt for Heritage Threads. Online, 11th

June.


Pradesh, 16th May.



168 169

Heritage Threads. Craft. Culture. Sustainability. Issue 1: India's Silk and Handloom Heritage

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