Weaving Stories

Bindu Gopal Rao explores Weaverstory, a luxury authentic Indian handloom store that uses khadi, linen, cotton, georgette, silks and blended yarns to create exquisite pieces of clothing...

- Bindu Gopal Rao

Co-founded by Nishant Malhotra on National Handloom day — August 8, 2015, Weaverstory was established to promote and preserve the dying art of Indian handlooms. The brand works on Tanchoi, Kadhwa, Cutwork, Kimkhab and Dumpaj among other patterns which have been given special attention. Each piece of clothing here tells the story of a weaver or an artist. The idea is that customers must understand and appreciate the intricacy and thought process behind each garment. Nishanth Malhotra tells us more in the following tête-à-tête.

WHEN AND WHY DID YOU START WEAVERSTORY?

In the Autumn of 2015, a master weaver was on the verge of quitting his ancestral profession. A resident of Varanasi, he and his brothers had always seen their father work on the loom weaving the famed Benarasi silk saris. It was a skill that he loved. But he was not earning enough. As we traversed through social media to find out responses for Benarasi silk saris, we realised that there was a raging demand by women for authentic handlooms. This led to the realisation that there was a possible mismatch of demand and supply. So we took it upon ourselves to help these weavers reach out to their end buyers. Weaverstory is our attempt to bring handcrafted products to the urban population. We aim to promote and preserve the art of Indian handlooms while focussing primarily on Benarasi weaves and reviving designs from museums and traditional forms with weavers.