The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown has severely affected the handloom sector, which was already reeling under the impact of demonetisation and GST. For centuries, the handloom weaver has continued to work from home, offering the world the choice of a conscious living, which is sustainable, local and green. These weavers offer me the hope and the conviction to carry on my journey in the handmade sector
A design by Vriksh. Photos courtesy of Vriksh
Recently, I finally finished revamping our website vrikshdesigns.com, designing a new look with an e-commerce integration. While summarising a decade of my work into the new website and sifting through hundreds of photographs and videos with long hours of Google hangout calls and Zoom meets with my studio team — the process kept taking me back into the memory lanes of weaving-villages where I work, some of them from my early years in Odisha. Once every two months, I visit Odisha to meet with my team of handloom weavers. Over many rounds of tea, our conversations traverse across topics around work, inspirations for new design collections, family, politics, travel and life. Odisha is a goldmine of textiles and it may take a lifetime to discover all the hidden treasures in handlooms. Even today, almost each and every district in Odisha offers exquisite an...
