Reviving the age-old handlooms

RaMa, a sustainable fashion label, attempts to bring together handloom clusters from all over the country

Hyderabad: Handloom weaving is one of the richest and most vibrant aspects of the Indian cultural heritage, yet one of the most endangered craft forms. Taking the vigour of the craft globally, RaMa, a sustainable fashion label, attempts to bring together handloom clusters from all over the country.

Started by Rajeswari Mavuri, the fashion label curates one-of-a-kind clusters from different parts of the country and designs the fabrics through re-imagined stories of folklore, mysteries and life.

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“Since childhood, I’ve been travelling to various Indian States and had been working with handlooms and weavers, which piqued my interest in the Indian handloom and handicraft industry,” said Rajeswari, who had studied Master’s in fashion retailing in the University of Manchester, UK. “Future looks gloomy for the weaving industry. These craft-forms may go extinct in the next five to ten years and we can only find them in books and museums, so we have to start preserving our culture,” the 30-year-old stated.

The fabric for the first collection of the label is sourced from two clusters in Bengal — hand-spun yarn ‘Khadi’, which is woven using traditional wooden pit loom and muslin. Called ‘Amar Amor’, the collection is an effort of 200 weavers across the country in the course of three months. Rabindranath Tagore’s female characters in his works served as a major source of inspiration for this collection.

“Tagore has spoken about women empowerment, education and freedom a 100 years ago and this collection reflects his vision. These are the stories of extraordinary women with ordinary flaws — those are real and relatable,” Rajeswari added.

Describing the work process, Rajeswari said that it took a great deal of research into fabrics, weavers, and techniques in order to spin authentic clothes with natural colouring and no use of synthetics. “I’m someone who believes in sustainable clothing. Synthetic clothes have a lot of micro plastics and are harmful not only for our skins but also for the environment. No chemicals or mixed dyes are used in the process,” she says.

While the collection ‘Amar Amor’ is up at the website, www.labelrama.com, the second collection from the label RaMa, sourced from Andhra Pradesh’s ‘Pedana Kalamkari block printing’ inspired by ‘Padam and Javali’ — Telugu poetry is also ready to be out soon. Currently, the orders are taken through WhatsApp and Instagram.