Helping Kerala artisans weave a new life

In August 2018, floods ravaged the lives of Keralites and caused large-scale devastation to the state. It created a huge upheaval in the lives of handloom weavers in Chendamangalam, one of the weaving community hubs with GI tag in Kerala. In order to support the distressed weavers, a group of five like-minded individuals from the city started an initiative called Care 4 Chendamangalam (C4C).

The members of the initiative are Meera Mammen, Vice President-Welfare MRF, Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairman of Apollo Hospitals, Minnie Menon, jewellery designer, artist Thejomaye Menon, and Shekar Sitaraman, a hotelier. The five-member team visited the weaving village in Ernakulam district and studied the situation. “Chendamangalam is a weaver’s village on the outskirts of Ernakulam district. There are seven clusters with 600 weavers in the village. After visiting the place we realised the depth of the devastation — all the worksheds were damaged, stocks drenched, looms and yarns damaged beyond recognition. All they were left with was a sense of helplessness. A few designers from Kerala helped in restoring and repairing the looms and a few others helped the weavers sell their stock. But they needed more help,” says Meera Mammen.

Out of the seven clusters, C4C has picked one society, HWCS-648 that has 42 women weavers. Another shocking thing the team realised during one of their visits to Chendamangalam was that there are no weavers who are below the age of 45. “What will happen to the weaving community when the present set of weavers retires? This question made us sit and think. We have two objectives — first is to revive one of the clusters that we have adopted and the second is to train the next generation. A three-year road map has been planned to take the products pan India,” she adds.

As an initial step in supporting the weavers, C4C in association with The Crafts Council of India will be holding an exhibition of Kerala sarees at Kamala Crafts Shop, Egmore, from September 4 onwards. Gita Ram, the chairperson of the Crafts Council of India (CCI), says that mundu and kasavu sarees of Kerala have a wonderful texture when they are draped neatly. “Generally, women in Tamil Nadu don’t wear kasavu sarees and the demand is less here when compared to Kerala. Keeping the Chennai market in mind, the weavers have introduced colour sarees. This collection is called Colourful Revival,” says Gita.

With a mission to uplift and uphold Kerala’s weaving heritage, C4C has collaborated with Kochi-based designer Sreejith Jeevan. “The textile designs have been given GI tags in order to give importance to their uniqueness in Indian handloom sector. We cannot let it go just like that. With the help of Sreejith, the weavers have brought out 20 new designs that will be launched soon,” remarks Meera.