All rise in the courtroom!

A craft revival collective in Kerala that sustains artisans has designed a unique collection of handloom saris for lawyers

Since August 2018, when floods destroyed 273 looms in the North Paravur belt of Kerala, mainly in the weaving town of Chendamangalam, life has changed almost completely for Shyla NS.

The 50-year-old weaver and her artisan colleagues were both unfortunate and lucky at the same time in that month of that year. At first it seemed as though they had lost their livelihoods. But then journalist, fashion veteran and industry mentor Ramesh Menon arrived in his home state to document the effects of the floods and was so devastated by the destruction he saw that he set up a crafts revival organisation called Save The Loom the very next month. Soon, the artisans who had lost everything began not only to get it all back, but also get more and more work as Save The Loom started to reposition handmade textiles as true luxury and take it to an international market of craft connoisseurs.

“I LEARNT THE CRAFT FROM A MASTER WEAVER NEAR OUR HOUSE, BUT STOPPED WEAVING FOR 12 YEARS POST MARRIAGE.” –SHYLA NS

Ramesh Menon's Save The Loom has launched Vidhi, which makes handwoven cotton saris for women lawyers

‘The hand of God’

“After two decades at the front end of the business of fashion and having a bird’s-eye view of the grassroots, all my perceptions changed the day we walked into the weaving villages. I feel as though I was led by the hand of God to end up in Chendamangalam on the morning of 24 August, 2018,” Menon says, smiling. He smiles now, because Save The Loom is a success story. But then Menon had feared that India would lose its precious weavers if action wasn’t swift and efficient. By early September, he had set up Save The Loom and within 100 days (with no financial aid from the government), they had managed to restore all the damaged looms, even adding 44 more looms when, to Menon’s delight, weavers who had abandoned the craft returned.

About 96% of the weavers in the district are women. Shyla is one of them. “I learnt the craft from a master weaver near our house, when I was young, but after marriage, I stopped weaving for nearly 12 years,” she says. Her latest work is part of Save The Loom’s ‘Vidhi’ collection of 11 sari designs in luxurious handwoven cotton for lawyers who are constrained by the Bar Council of India to stick to only three colours in court, black, white and grey, with just a single pattern – stripes – permitted.

“Knowing that the collection is a tribute to women lawyers filled my heart with pride,” says Shyla.

Menon has now been in Chendamangalam for three years, having guided his organisation, the artisans it supports and the crafts it is reviving through one more series of floods and two waves of a ruthless pandemic. He is preparing for a possible third wave of Covid-19 and juggling his dreams with the harshest of realities. The onslaught has been interminable, but Menon and his small team which includes Alpi Boylla (formerly of the Fashion Design Council of India) and photographer Dinesh Madhavan are untiring.

‘Craft is the future’

Save The Loom has restored 265 charkhas and 110 khadi looms and shone the spotlight on khadi when it became the social partner of the Kochimuziris Biennale in 2018, setting up a beautiful concept space called One Zero Eight with a loom in-situ, its own art installation.

The 2018 edition of the biennale had as its theme ‘Possibilities for a Non-alienated Life’, a call for comradeship and community that spoke to Menon’s instincts. He spearheaded a special collection curated with Shani Himanshu of 11.11/eleven eleven called Colours of Resilience, inviting 21 fashion designers, including Rajesh Pratap Singh, Abraham & Thakore, Aneeth Arora, Karishma Shahani Khan and Gaurav Jai Gupta, to work with kora khadi from Kerala to create exclusive, limited-edition pieces.

“WE NEED TO BRING ASPIRATION AND SPACES THAT CREATE VALUE AND OFFER MODERN LIVING STANDARDS TO ATTRACT THE NEXT GENERATION TO WEAVING.”