Weaving history into sarees

The idea originated 45 years ago, when saree lovers in Bengaluru got together to form Vimor to sell old te­m­ple sarees. When these sarees weren't available anymore, they started documenting and re-creating them. While most of the pieces earlier were from the members' personal collections, over the years, patrons started bringing their old pieces for them to document, study and re-create. This Friday, in collaboration with ARTISANS', they will present three revived designs, all named after their original owners, including one from Maharashtra.

"What has always interested us is to keep the design alive irrespective of where they are from. So, instead of naming the revival sarees after the area they are from, we have named them after the original owner. We have revived a few Maharashtrian sarees. About four years ago, we recreated a customer's grandmother's shawl into a saree. We named it after her grandmother, Satyabhama. The original piece had gotten damaged. After we revived it, each of her daughters got the saree. The design and sentiment live on," Vipra Muddaya from Vimor, tells us.

Vipra Muddaya

On 18 October 18, 19, 11 am to 7 pm
At Artisans', 52-56, VB Gandhi Marg, Kala Ghoda.
Call 9820145397
Free

Anjali saree

It was first created for Mah­a­rashtrian Anjali Sow­bh­a­gy­avathi's wedding from an old Sowbhagyavathi sar­ee, which had a San­s­k­r­­­it blessing woven into it. It's been woven for each of Sowbhagyavathi's daughters today. The pattern is typical to the state.

Chimmy saree

This is named after Muddaya's late grandmother, Chimmy Nanjappa, who co-founded Vimor along with her daughter (Muddaya's mother) Pavithra Muddaya, in 1974 to sustain weaving communities through marketable designs. Based on the striped Ganga Jamuna sar­ee, Nanjappa's favourite as well as a classic pattern.

Kamala saree

The Kamaldevi saree was a coarse 40-year-old silk saree that was revived last year. "We were reminded of Kamaldevi Chattopadhyay, the freedom fighter who pioneered the grassroots crafts movement in India. She had been a huge supporter of our work. She owned one back then and is wearing variants in all her pictures," Muddaya shares.

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