Reviving handloom weaving in Tamil Nadu

DW (English)

The Nurpu collective is helping to revive India's traditional art of handloom weaving. The profits sustain families who might otherwise migrate for work — and the handloomed clothes are both comfortable and eco-friendly.

Transcript

00:00 This fine cloth will be turned into sarees or shirts. It's made sustainably by weavers

00:10 who can earn living from their work.

00:14 In the past, the clatter of handlooms was a familiar sound in Chinimalai, a town near

00:19 Erode in Tamil Nadu. But then, the weavers migrated for work. Many became day labourers

00:25 in Tiruppur, an industrial city about two hours from here. But now, the handicraft

00:30 is being revived and new life is returning to the wooden looms.

00:37 We wanted to recover the art of weaving we knew as children. We founded the Noorupu Collective,

00:42 which aims to improve the situation of weavers here.

00:48 The 1010 Weavers Colony, as the name implies, once was home to about 1000 families who made

00:54 a living from their looms. Today, only about 60 are still here.

01:00 Sivagurunathan comes from an old weaving family. After studying in Chennai, he worked in the

01:06 IT industry, but in 2017, he decided to make a switch.

01:14 At first, Sivagurunathan spent his time travelling and learning everything he could about handloom

01:20 weaving. Since many of young people had migrated for work, it was mainly the older generation

01:25 who could tell him about the decline of the traditional handicraft.

01:33 Years ago, even construction workers would do weaving, working until 5.30 or 6 in the

01:38 evening for 60 rupees. And we weavers earned 80 rupees, a good wage, and were glad for

01:45 the work. But now construction workers get 1000 to 1500 rupees, while weavers are barely

01:50 surviving on 350 rupees.

01:56 Bala Subramaniam had also left for work. When he met Sivagurunathan, he decided to accompany

02:02 him on his travels and also learned about the traditional handicraft. Today, he returned

02:08 home again and is able to provide a good living for entire family with his loom.

02:19 If you buy a single handloom woven dhoti, it can feed 60 families. But if the garment

02:25 is machine-made, it's just 3 families. Behind every handloom product stands the livelihood

02:30 of 60 people.

02:34 Nirupu is doing a good business. The collective uses only organic cotton and they handle their

02:39 own marketing. Much of their handwoven cloth and clothing is sold online, to customers

02:45 who are happy to pay more for high-quality work. For the collective, though, this is

02:50 just the first step.

02:59 To take our art to the next level, we need to educate and train young minds. That's

03:04 why we launched the Nirupu Weaving Centre where children get training in handloom weaving.

03:10 That teaches them to understand and respect our traditional handicraft. When they understand

03:16 its benefits, they'll start to wear handloom clothing. And that, of course, would increase

03:23 demand and help further the development of handloom weaving.

03:46 (music)

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