The artisans of the Gramin Hastkala Vikas Samiti (Rural Handicraft Development Samiti) from across the country have come to Bhopal to exhibit their ethnic weaves and traditional pure silk and cotton products before the start of the wedding and summer season, with the theme, ‘Silk and Cotton Fab of India’.
The exhibition-cum-sale is open from September 30 to October 8 from 10.30 am to 8:30 pm here at the Community Hall, Ravishankar Nagar. The Silk and Cotton handloom products on display have a range between Rs 500 and Rs 20,000 at the upper end for exclusive hand crafted sarees.
The Samiti founded by a group of artisans, designers, social activists, academics and environmentalists, attempts to promote exquisite traditional skill, cotton and creations of the weavers and encouraging them to be contemporary and economically relevant.
More than 100 designers and weavers are part of this year’s exhibition which includes gorgeous Uppadas, Banaras silks, Gadwals, Dharmavaram, Jamdanis, Jamawars and Sambalpuris. From saris, dress materials, items of silk & cotton saree, suit dress material, fashion jewelry, home furnishing designer clothes from each region of the country, the exhibition provided shoppers with a kaleidoscope of India’s color, diversity and talent.
Artisans from 14 handloom weaving States including Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat , Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and many designers from metros working in collaboration with the weavers are displaying more than 1,50,000 varieties of their work here. The organiser of Silk and Cotton Fab of India, Jayesh Kumar Gupta said that the main social objective of the handloom exhibition was to promote weavers and encourage and provide a market to the handloom industry.