Vijayawada :
Kalamkari, the art of fabric printing which has won the hearts of people for generations for its unique patterns and colour combinations on cotton fabrics, has now found a new canvas – the linen cloth.
The Weavers Service Centre (WSC), which is instrumental in the adaptation of the age-old art, is all set to come up with a range of linen dress and other materials bearing beautiful Kalamkari designs.
The WSC, attached to the Ministry of Textiles, works for the development of handlooms. It has come up with the idea of printing Kalamkari designs on linen cloth primarily to take the art to new destinations and thus increase its market.
The WSC has roped in Jaya Shree Textiles of the Aditya Birla group and Pichuka Srinivas, a renowned Kalamkari printer from Pedana in Krishna district, in its efforts to give a new thrust to the old art.
“The WSC aims at developing new products and designs in the handloom sector. In the process, various ideas are tried out in designing patterns and evolving different colour and fabric combinations. In this case, we have tried to introduce linen fabric to Kalamkari printers who are traditionally habituated to printing on cotton cloth,” says Vishesh Nautiyal, deputy director of WSC, which comes under the office of development commissioner (Handlooms).
The samples have been satisfactory and the finished products will be exported to Europe soon as linen adorned with traditional Indian designs has generated a lot of interest there, he says.
Pichuka Srinivas, who has been exporting Kalamkari clothes to Europe and US for over a decade now, opines Kalamkari art on linen will create fresh appeal for the product.
“Our aim is to introduce a new fabric to Pedana Kalamkari artisans and provide them an alternative to the cotton fabric to experiment and explore their creative talents,” he says.
The linen fabric for now is being procured from the Jaya Shree Textiles in Chennai. However, two new looms are being set up at Pedana by Srinivas to weave the linen fabric locally.
The WSC is providing the know-how and other technical support to the artisans.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by J DeepthiMandan Reddy / August 27th, 2014