Every State Government Can Adopt A 100+ Craft Store Model In Each State To Save India's Fine Art Of Weaving

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Every State Government Can Adopt A 100+ Craft Store Model In Each State To Save India's Fine Art Of Weaving

Designer Soumitra Mondal today has single-handedly employed more than 500 weavers and craftsmen to reach out to the world with his designer label 'Marg'. Just making garments fashion week ready is faux pas for this designer, who is also called the 'Charkha man'. His intent is to weave timeless textiles and then style them to suit the runway.

The hard truth of the handloom industry is the insignificant weavers…

Yes, they are genuinely neglected, and only used for work. There are ways to motivate them, garner them and of course show them a way ahead. But they refuse to work too. Why? Because the next generation is not ready to take up weaving, inspite of possessing skills because they are scared that they will starve.

You are not just a designer but a teacher?

I hate to call myself a designer in the first place. I am a developer. Give me any piece of material and I can develop something from the same. I seek utility in everything and believe art for the sake of art is of no use. I teach my 5 year old to imbibe the same principles. He can make, draw, and stitch anything he likes. But he has to explain what he does. I believe defining the purpose is the first step in achieving something good. And yes I am a teacher too, not the conventional one but someone who can bring practical work into the classroom.

Explain your teaching tryst.

I am presently teaching weavers at the State Design Facility Centre. Even though I was requested to teach for three hours in every class, I refused and made sure we have shorter sessions but that is effective in every way. No syllabus can guarantee that, all I do is talk to them. It is majorly conversation and hardly anything else.

Your approach towards weavers is different. Propose a model to secure a better future for them.

There are 29 states in India. If each state government realises their responsibility and gathers together their respective state crafts and weavers to thereby dutifully invests on a retail model, we can easily have almost 5875 stores in no time. If private handloom concerns can have around 200 plus stores all over India, then achieving a similar dream for the government will not be difficult. Adapting to a 100 plus craft store model in each state individually will permit the government to push khadi ahead all over India uniformly.

Why do you think the government is not taking up such an initiative?

We have to first understand that unlike individuals, the government operates through their own protocol which is thoroughly a non-profit making format. Owing to this, the government handloom initiatives are unable to make a profit due to the non availability of proper designers or design visionaries. Therefore on the one hand the private concerns are getting better by employing the creative best and can invest their profits to contribute growth, and on the other hand the existing government initiatives are shrinking down operations.

Would you say we are still stuck within the traditional framework?

Yes we are. I say if your design does not reflect time, then it is not fashion. And going by this notion we can easily see that imbibing tradition there has been no contemporary timely bent in the strictly government handloom structures. The collections do not focus on the present trends. There is no functionality attached to these collections.

Whenever the tag of functionality gets attached the product value increases beyond affordability and gets a designer tag. Whatever is affordable is shabby.

I would want to clear a few things here. Firstly craftsmanship is a rarity in the present era where machines rule. Number of handlooms and weavers are decreasing every day. In this background, when the government is unable to invest and yield quality in this market, the only saviours are we designers and the private handloom concerns. Thus, when we invest our money in the market on the one hand we have to circulate money to ensure our weavers and their families are happy. On the other hand we have to not only focus on the present collection but ensure we have ample resources to give a head start to the next collection. Putting every calculation together, making profits on the collections are a necessity not a luxury and therefore even if we want, we cannot make handlooms affordable in the sense you all understand.