Powering forward, for a contemporary aesthetic

The light-weight, ethereal Kota sari is a summer season favorite. Traditionally, the Kota doria cloth is handwoven on pit looms utilizing cotton and silk yarns to lead to a distinctive chequered sample. Textile historical past has it that the weave originated in Mysuru and was patronised by Maharao Singh Kishore, the ruler of Kota in Rajasthan. Pockets of weavers in Karnataka and Kaithoon, located close to Kota, in Rajasthan, adhere to the handloom methodology. However, most Kota doria saris and yardages now bought within the retail market are merchandise of the facility loom.

Gurugram-based Anjali Agrawal, a techie-turned-entrepreneur, who based the label Kota Doria Silk (kotadoriasilk.com) in 2014 with a capital of ₹25,000 and has seen it develop to an annual turnover of ₹4 crore, says it was inevitable to make use of the facility loom to make Kota doria inexpensive to middle-class consumers.

“There are very few handloom Kota weavers today and they are known for their expertise in weaving silk saris using silver and gold threads for zari. When I launched the business, I wanted the fabric to be affordable for day-to-day use for working women who prefer salwar suits to saris,” she says.

The label manufactures and sells cotton and silk Kota doria saris and swimsuit materials that incorporate methods of ajrakh, hand embroidery, Bagru and bagh prints, bandhej and lehriya tie and dye, and gota patti, amongst others. Contemporary digital prints on pastel-coloured materials additionally kind a chunk of the gathering.

Anjali is conscious that puritans won’t agree with the facility loom method, however factors out the innovation she has spearheaded, to provide the material a contemporary design aesthetic: “Buyers want variety and appreciate it when they see embroidery, Madhubani or Warli-inspired motifs, bagh or Bagru prints. Fabrics developed on power looms and screen printed involve fewer man hours and hence, are more affordable,” she causes. To draw a comparability, she says a hand-painted Madhubani dupatta would roughly value ₹3,000 whereas she will promote the identical at ₹500 to ₹600 if the design was screenprinted.

Having grown up in Kota she would put on salwar fits in Kota cloth: “Each time I went home on vacation, I would bring Kota fabric for my friends and colleagues. There were so many requests since the fabric was not widely available a few years ago. But how much can I bring back in my suitcases?” she remembers.

She began a Facebook web page in 2014 and inside days, had enquiries and orders. In 2015, Kota Doria Silk web site was launched and it now attracts 20 to 25 orders per day. “Before the launch, I met weavers in Kaithoon and other areas. I realised that we needed to innovate. We worked towards strengthening the fabric by changing the cotton-silk yarn ratio so that the fabric is compliant to the different techniques of printing and dyeing. Ajrakh on delicate Kota fabric is not easy. It involved more than a year of trials,” she says.

Anjali works with almost 75 craftspeople, of which 50% are ladies, and engages with 25 looms: “The craftspeople are from different regions, specialising in various print, paint and embroidery techniques.”

Plans are additionally afoot to launch shops in Chennai and Trivandrum. “We are foraying into menswear and working towards increasing the supply of home furnishings, since we get orders from Dubai and European markets,” says Anjali, including that she desires to introduce a part for handloom lovers later this yr.