WORLD'S WEAVE

WHILE IKAT CONTINUES TO ENCHANT CONSUMERS AND DESIGNERS, ITS MAKERS ENDURE A GRIM REALITY

- SHREYA CHEEMA

FIRST, THE WASHED WARP thread is strung onto the backstrap loom placed on the ground, on which, with steady hands, a pattern is sketched. The thread is then tied with a string or straw so that certain sections resist the dye. Depending on the design, the tied thread is soaked in different dye baths; after which the bindings may be reorganised, and the thread is dyed again to form a different pattern. In the final stage, the bindings are removed, and the thread returns to the warp of the loom to be weaved.

“It is the complexity and mathematical precision of ikat that has always fascinated me. Even my diploma project at NID, Ahmedabad, was on the Telia Rumal of Chirala, Andhra Pradesh,” recounts fashion designer Rakesh Thakore, who, along with David Abraham, has proudly held the mantle for making ikat haute.

However, the atelier is not where Thakore’s love for the ancient weave developed. Instead, it was alongside the hunched artisans who toiled through the humidity and heat in the dim, tight spaces.