Chennai based Weaving Studio Is All Set To Promote Creativity Pan India

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Chennai based Weaving Studio Is All Set To Promote Creativity Pan India

A lady is busy weaving with her portable loom at her dentist’s waiting room. This is a direct result of enthusiasm being promoted in the field of weaving by a Chennai-based Studio by name Shuttles and Needles.

Shuttles and Needles Studio and Academy is the brain child of textile engineer Naresh Ramasubramaniam and veteran designer Kalyani Pramod. The duo put their heads together to make weaving a passion & hobby across age groups and across economic and social strata.

Naresh decided to take a plunge to initiate the rank and file of the Chennai populace in weaving as a passion. In a telephonic conversation with Venkatesh Raghavan, Special Correspondent Textile Excellence he said, “Weaving is a very creative and fulfilling task. We want people to pursue this task with passion. It is very meditative, engaging and a lot of fun with creativity. It can be a good family activity too. This will serve as vocational guidance too”.

“When you have the right tools which are simple to use, it is easy to pick up any craft. Shuttles & Needles sells a wide range of hand weaving looms right from small ‘laptop’ sized looms to computer operated hand looms,” he disclosed.

“The looms are practically maintenance free and are used even in design studios and export houses for design and sample development. We also sell the looms to fashion colleges and textile colleges across the country,” he added.

Touching on how kids respond to his pet initiative, he said, “Ideally, a kid in fifth or sixth standard catches up very fast. It’s their learning age and they are able to get the intricacies of weaving right in next to no time. They are keen to pick up new things and they are also good when it comes to innovative designs.”

When queried about usage of Wifi, Naresh said, “The computer designed weaving is a bit advanced and it is very good for the designers and design studios for sample development. Computer aided design and replicating these patterns with the help of a weaving kit that is portable comes easy for those who are already exposed to technology.”

Naresh also affirmed that he wanted his joint initiative with Kalyani to revolutionize the thought process in Chennai and make people from across strata of life to participate in a big way. “The response has been very heartening. People are keen as it’s an easy to pick up blend of mathematics and arts. They can pursue weaving work whenever they get free time. We are able to make a decent contribution to the fashion design studios and export houses that are always on the lookout for fresh thinking and innovations in the field of weaving,” he said.

Talking about expansion, Naresh said, “We have had an excellent encouragement from Bangalore and New Delhi to start our Studios. Next in line are Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad. We are currently fine tuning the module we have initiated in Chennai. Once the fine-tuning is complete, we will replicate this model pan India in a big way. Though our focus is on passion and hobby, I am confident this will generate enough employment and economic activity for Indian households. What’s more? It provides great satisfaction too. Practicing a creative art is always a rewarding experience.”

Naresh and Kalyani also stressed that the looms they provide for weaving were user-friendly and easy to maintain, saying, “The maintenance cost is nil. Our products have met the test of endurance. In short we are providing a portable hobby kit that can take you to dizzy heights of commercial success too.”

The looms are sold online too through their website www.shuttlesandneedles.com