Sally Holkar was married into the Maheshwar royalty with Richard Holkar when the Rehwa Society , a not-for-profit foundation, working with weavers in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh was established in 1979, as a weavers cooperative. It is known for its Maheshwar sarees, in silk and cotton. The weaving history at Maheshwar, dates back to Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar, the ruler of princely Indore State from 1765 to 1795. She brought in weavers from Surat in Gujarat and Mandu, Madhya Pradesh and established them at Maheshwar, to weave special nine-yard saris (Navvari saris) for the ladies of royal household, and turban fabric. Sally and Richard using a grant from the Indian Central Welfare Board, started with eight looms and eight women weavers from the local Meru community. It is situated within the Ahilya Fort at Maheshwar, on the banks of the Narmada River. Over the years the society has expanded to 250 weavers, most of them women and 110 looms. Sally Holkar managed the society till 2003, when we established Women Weave Charitable Trust, also based in Maheshwar.Thereafter, Mira Sagar who has worked with Rehwa for 20 years, remained the director of Rehwa Society, before starting her own line in 2012. Since the society is non-profit, the profits are used in employee welfare. A small colony of 45 houses has been built for the employees, which the weavers paid through their work. Besides a school till eighth standard and a creche has also been built. Designers in over twenty countries collaborate with WomenWeave Charitable Trust to create and market bespoke accessories woven by the delicate, skilled hands of over 100 women in Central India. Their products are unique. Many yarns are handspun from organic cottons, dyed with 100% natural dyes and loomed with the utmost care and attention. says Women Weave website . In 2013, Women Weave started The Handloom School. “The school will teach young weavers English, the use of smartphones for business, to employ alternative fibres, introduce them to fashion information online and to interact with buyers.” She calls it the Chak De of weaving. Like Shah Rukh Khan converted girls from across India into a winning team, the Handloom School hopes to do the same. “India is the repository of a World Heritage treasure… Nowhere else in the world is such amazing variety and quality of hand-woven cloth to be found at affordable prices.” She says that it is the women weavers who will save handlooms from extinction. “Handloom weaving is largely a home-based income-earning activity. I talked to weavers in Varanasi, Bangalore and Coimbatore, and heard how young men are leaving the looms for work that has higher status and is more remunerative. Women are sitting at the looms. This is a very big generalisation and it will be many years in the making, but does seem to be the trend. And if it is, the women should be ready to step up competently and carry on both the tradition and the income-earning at home. We will see what happens with time.” thehindu/features/magazine/sally-holkar-handloom-weaving/article6646264.ece en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehwa_Society
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 11:39:27 +0000
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