Sethi, Yasmin
First Published, July 2012, Craft Revival Trust |
One of the major threats faced by Handloom weavers in Varanasi is competition from the Power loom. A majority of the cloth woven on the handloom is undistinguishable from the cloth woven on the Power loom. This has lead to a reduction in cost and value of the Handloom Varanasi Brocade. It had also lead to a reduction in the earnings of an average Handloom weaver. A mark to identify the Cloth and Saris woven on the Handloom will help preserve the brand value and the identity of Varanasi Handloom Brocades. It will provide an easy identifying mark for those who are willing to pay a premium for handloom. At the moment due to the difficulty in identifying handloom and powerloom brocades many consumers that are willing to pay the premium for a handloom sari are getting cheated. As a result the value and the willingness of the consumer to buy handloom is getting eroded. This has also resulted in lower wages and living conditions for the handloom weaver. Through an analysis of the process involved an effort has been made here to develop a system whereby a genuine handoom product can be distinguished from a poweloom one. Brocades are woven on Jacquard looms. In Varanasi two main brocade weaving handloom techniques are practiced, 'Karua' and 'Phakua'. In the karua technique the extra zari weft is interwoven with th... |