Jaya Jaitly, founder of Dastkari Haat Samiti, creator of the concept of Dilli Haat, and a tireless worker for the handloom and crafts people, in a brief conversation:
More than fashion designers, do we need textile designers to bring in the changes in
the design section of traditional textiles?
You hit the nail on the head. Textile designers and experts are needed to develop new textures, materials, weaves and patterns that suit the needs of their ‘silhouettes’ rather than rejecting existing fabrics because they do not suit a Western cut or are only used for ‘oriental’ or exotic looks.
What steps need to be taken to woo the youth to the handlooms? Also, are these clothes cost-effective?
I have developed many handlooms that are not expensive. Many times, the price addition is in the mark up for sales infrastructure, middleman’s profit or seller’s commission. Also, most people are not educated about the nature and value of handlooms. Ethnic can be made really fashionable by using organic cotton, natural dyes and sophisticated styling.
You have been working with handloom workers from other countries. How are they
different from our craftspeople?
African countries do more printing and dyeing than weaving. Their output is very local. Eygptian weavers took training from us. Thailand and Vietnam do highly developed work. They have learnt from us and taught us too. They are more sophisticated and fine-tuned in their market approach.
The government and the textile ministry formulate many steps to help the crafts
people. Does that help reach the bottom?
That is too vast a question to answer here. They do admit that benefits do not reach the poor because programmes are badly structured and dishonestly implemented by intermediaries. There is a renewed interest in the Ministry of Textiles to try new approaches to address old problems. Let’s hope it works.
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