In today’s technology driven age, a profession in restoration of old handloom and artifacts has become the need of the hour and has led to rise in the newage profession dedicated for restoration. Gandhi quoted that ‘The art that is machine made appeals only to eyes but the art of handloom appeals to heart first than eyes’.
The industry is driven by its heritage and legacy, so innovation and revival of textiles over handloom becomes more interesting. In this existing era of rampant automation and mechanisation of doing everything handmade articles has achieved luxury stature because it's rare.
Technology has made the world a global village hence the demand of handloom textile has gone up by multiple levels which makes restoration a very bright career option. To make a career in this field, all it requires is passion and determination to understand the nature of loom and yarn in order to revive the techniques of working and hence the textiles. So the prospect varies from your level of indulgence in process doing something that has not been done before.
With so many designers, business houses investing in handloom, the job prospects are very bright in industry. Working on ground level over looks gives you ample scope of establishing your own business where is sky is the limit. A degree in textile science does help in establishing your cords well with looms than learning them straightaway on the floor.
(The writer is Karan Arora, designer, brand of Karan Arora).