With 4.3 million people working in the handloom industry in India, the sector remains one of the biggest employers in the country. The Handloom School, an initiative of Women Weave, an organisation based at Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, works towards promoting and strengthening this rich traditional source of livelihood for a large section of the population.
The school trains young weavers from across India in traditional handloom skills, along with contemporary entrepreneurship and marketing know-how to enable them to earn better livelihoods. It is a residential programme where faculty members explain concepts of design, technology and management simply to students. The course culminates in a “Certificate in Design and Enterprise Management (CDEM)” with a specialisation in handloom. The recent batch that graduated comprised weavers from Ladakh, Assam and Maheshwar.
At the convocation ceremony held at their campus in Maheshwar in February-end this year, the students were handed their certificates in the presence of handloom and textile professionals such as fashion designer Sidhant Minocha, textile curator Mayank Mansingh Kaul, textile designer David Goldsmith, and Sally Holkar, the cofounder of Rewa, and founder of WomenWeave. Also present were a few alumni of the school, who had come from Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, Varanasi in Utttar Pradesh and Koraput in Odisha.
“The handloom school came into being to give a boost to this sector so that it flourishes as a successful professional choice for people,” said Sanra S, programme coordinator at the institute.
The school enables an ordinary weaver to attain the level of a master weaver, someone who is well-networked in the industry and has the skills to navigate a demanding market. Professional weavers aged between 18 and 36 years are admitted to the capsule programme that gives them an overview of all the skills required to excel as master weavers.
“Before I enrolled in this programme, I knew very little about shades and colour combinations,” revealed Shilpa Yadav, a student of the Handloom School from Maheshwar. “I have learned so many new processes and concepts here.”
