Weaving an online debut

Gopal and Garima Saini

For weavers, loom is the language they understand best. If they have a story, they tell it through threads. The struggle, though, has always been about being heard. This was exacerbated during last year's lockdown, following the Coronavirus infection outbreak.

Santosh Kewat, who lives in the small town of Maheshwar, in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, remembers how his 10 looms fell silent. The "seths" who used to give them bulk orders for their stores, had shut shop. This put the brakes on their finances, which though a paltry sum of R10,000-15,000 each month, ensured that the joint family had food on their table. "Reams of material were lying unused at home, and there was no money to keep our looms running," shares Santosh, in a telephonic interview.

The Kewats are second-generation weavers. Santosh's mother Kusumbai Kewat started learning the Maheswari weave, whose earliest known patron was 18th century warrior queen Ahilyabai Holkar, around 50 years ago.

Like his siblings, Santosh started working on the loom when he was 10. "This is all that my family knows," he adds. "The government gave us free gehu and chawal, but you can't survive on that alone." With three children to provide for, Santosh was growing impatient. "We had to take a loan of R7,000 to pay my children's school fees."

Sharda Gautam

This is when his 17-year-old daughter Kalyani struck upon an idea. "In school, some friends told me about Instagram, and how I could use it to promote our sarees," says Kalyani. Though Santosh has been part of the handloom industry for 30 years, he never did business. "We have always been reliant on our sethjis for work, but even they had to sell their existing stock." At the insistence of his children, he bought a second-hand Samsung smartphone. Meanwhile, Kalyani took tips from friends, watched YouTube tutorials and browsed through Instagram saree handles to understand how it all works.

On August 6 last year, Kalyani started @santoshi_handloom, named after her mother. Not only was this the first time that the Kewats had attached a brand name to their designs, it was also the start of a new journey. One of the earliest posts was an appeal: "Hello, my name is Santoshi Kewat. We have no money to eat… please help us buy our goods, so that I can save my family and our employees." Today, with nearly 1,000-plus followers, the Kewats are picking up, even if slowly. Their weaves, inspired from motifs of flowers and leaves found on the walls of temples of Maheshwar, and the river Narmada that flows through the region, have found buyers across the country. "We have already sold 30 sarees online," says Santosh. "Because of this, we are now able to keep at least two looms working at any given time."

Even as the Centre championed the cause of local weavers, artisans, and craftsmen all through last year with its #Vocal4Handmade hashtag, some of its decisions, including scrapping of the all India handloom and handicraft boards, were seen as a betrayal. Interestingly, social media served as a lifeline for many. The challenges, however, were manifold.

Around two years ago, long before the pandemic became part of our daily vocabulary, Antaran, a key intervention of the Tata Trusts' Craft-based Livelihood Programme, which was initiated to bring seminal changes in craft development, saw merit in introducing industry veterans to social media. During that time, Antaran reached out to several craftsmen and weavers, educating them on business acumen, marketing, photography skills, social media and digital expertise to become entrepreneurs and sustain their livelihood independent of anyone. The programme had only begun to make some headway when the lockdown was announced. "In the beginning of the year, all the artisans working with Antaran were busy with production. We were hoping to showcase these creations at exhibitions in April and May. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. It took us about a week to figure out [how we could support them]. Following discussions with them, we realised that they didn't want donations.

They wanted us to help them directly connect with markets. So, we went back to our database, and did a reach-out, appealing to previous patrons to buy directly from them," says Sharda Gautam, head of crafts, Tata Trusts. Works of the weavers and artisans, along with their phone numbers, were made available on Antaran's website. The photographs were taken by the weavers themselves. "While we had already begun their digital education, the pandemic became a litmus test to apply this knowledge," feels Gautam. Some of them who already had an Instagram and Facebook presence, but were not very active, now started using it to interact with buyers.

Itishree Sur, an artisan entrepreneur from Gopalpur, Odisha, who specialises in weaving handspun tussar sarees with the distinctive Kumbha temple border, is one among them. Sur started her page @itishreesur in June last year, three months after the outbreak in India.

Born into a family of weavers in the Fakirpur village of Gopalpur, Sur has been involved in various pre-loom activities such as hand-reeling tussar yarn and setting up of loom for weaving, since childhood. In 2002, she was married into another family of tussar weavers. It was then that she was encouraged to pick up weaving again. She and her husband together started managing their small business of handcrafted tussar sarees and dupattas. The pandemic, she says, hit home. "When I connected with Antaran in 2019, I had not even heard about social media. When the lockdown happened, I was just about learning how to improve my technique. It was a very hard time for us," she recalls. Her training began over a series of video calls. "They taught me how to take photographs using a smartphone, and upload them on social media, and ways in which I could connect with customers over email and WhatsApp," says Sur. These days, she even does video calls with customers, and has become more confident about running her brand. Since the lockdown began, Sur has sold sarees and dupattas worth nearly R12 lakh, with customers from as far as the US. "My husband and I manage the packaging and courier of the deliveries. We have to walk around 10 km, to reach the next best courier service. But, it's all part of the learning process. Now, I am not dependent on exhibitions alone to sell my work."

Vekuvolu Dozo from Nagaland has also scripted a similar success story. Dozo is a loin loom weaver. "In our community, all of us learn to weave at an early age. But, I took up weaving professionally only nine years ago."

The loin loom is considered one of the oldest devices for weaving cloth and used extensively in Nagaland for weaving textiles. Also referred to as the blackstrap loom, it is used to create a continuous warp stretched between two parallel bamboos - one end tied to a post and the other end held by a strap worn around the weaver's lower back. The Naga motifs that Dozo specialises in, reflect everything from heroic tales of their ancestors, the environment to narratives inspired by their tradition. "While I live in an area that has decent network, many weavers did not. They didn't even know how to use social media. Since I had learnt how to use Instagram and WhatsApp to connect with buyers, a lot of villagers would come to me to help sell their products," says Dozo, who makes table runners, cushions, and placemats. "I actually got more orders during the lockdown, than before. We had requests coming from across India, as well as Canada, the UK and Germany." Though she has just about 460 followers on @vekuvoludozo, she has been able to build a strong network, selling goods worth nearly Rs 8 lakh.

Not everyone had the support and backing of non-profit organisations. Many, like Aminuddin Ansari, a master weaver from Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, had to fend for themselves. Ansari who runs a brand called Fankar, like Santosh, was encouraged to join WhatsApp and Instagram by his children. His family has been weaving Chanderi handloom sarees for three generations. Ansari says that Chanderi is home to nearly 5,000 looms, all of which were affected in the lockdown.

Weaving a saree takes anywhere between two weeks to about one-and-a-half months. "It all depends on the work, and how elaborate it is." In the beginning of the lockdown, when business had taken a hit, Ansari ensured that his weavers didn't suffer. "I told my karigars to continue their work. The one benefit that we had was that all our work would anyway happen from home, so they didn't really have to go anywhere. I would anyhow manage to pay them R500 a week, so that they could at least eat two square meals a day. It was important that my weavers didn't fall on hard times."

While Ansari focuses on the loom, his children and wife coordinate with online buyers, and ensure that the Instagram handle, @fankar_chanderi_handlooms, which boasts of over 2,000 followers, is constantly updated. "It has opened a new market for me." The online debut, says Ansari, has also helped buyers, who can now buy the sarees for nearly half the price, as there is no middleman benefiting from the sales.

The pandemic did not discriminate. Gopal Saini, a blue pottery artist from Jaipur, who is also a National award winner, explains why. Saini, who was awarded the coveted Shilp Guru Award by the Ministry of Textiles in 2016, has been invested in blue pottery painting ever since he pursued a PhD in the subject. He started his own studio by 1993. Since then, he has been focusing on honing the craft, and also acquainting students in India and abroad, with this delicate artistry. "Jaipur's blue pottery is very unique. We only work on silica, and use metallic colours. Over the years, I have tried to evolve the craft, and expand its use beyond pottery."

Since Saini has always been open to fresh ideas, he took a shine to online marketing quite early on. His work found support from homegrown tech-led artisanal handicrafts brand, Craft Maestros, founded by Akansha Dixit and Ajay Arjit Singh. "They continued to promote and sell my pieces through the lockdown, and ensured that my business wasn't affected. Yet, the early weeks were not easy, and for the first time, I felt a little lost. My daughter Garima, who has a Masters in International Business, had joined me, and I almost regretted making her part of this, because it was so unstable."

Fortunately, Garima, also an artist, helped him resurrect his work. Sometime before the pandemic, Garima started @ramgopalbluepottery, to familiarise people with the art form. "At the time, I would share stories, or post videos of dad working in his studio. We had not yet used it to sell products." Just before Diwali last year, a patron who visited their studio suggested that they use Instagram to take their brand forward. "It was at the back of my mind, and maybe her encouragement helped. So, I started putting up some of our pieces, and soon enough we were getting orders from everywhere." She, however, finds social media time-consuming. "If you are an artist, and have to manage your business on social media too, it's not going to be easy. Our work is very meticulous, and requires us to be working for hours together. On social media, you have to be available all the time, because customers expect a prompt response. I think that's the challenge, but we will eventually figure out how to strike a balance."

Gopal and Garima Saini

National award-winning artist Gopal Saini and daughter Garima specialise in Jaipur blue pottery, which is said to have its origins in Iran, and gradually spread through Delhi and Agra. The credit for the development of this art in Jaipur goes to its erstwhile ruler Sawai Ram Singh II (1835-1880)

To follow: @ramgopalbluepottery, Instagram

Itishree Sur

An artisan entrepreneur, she was born into a family of weavers in the Fakirpur village of Gopalpur town, Odisha. She specialises in weaving handspun tussar sarees with the distinctive Kumbha temple border

To follow: @itishreesur, Instagram

Vekuvola Dozo

The Nagaland weaver not only sold her own loom weaves online, but also that of other weavers from her village, who weren't acquainted with social media

To follow: @vekuvoludozo, Instagram

Aminuddin Ansari

A master weaver from Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, he ensured that his weavers continued to work through the lockdown, even though business had taken a hit

To follow: @fankar_chanderi_handlooms, Instagram

Santosh and Santoshi Kewat

The husband and wife are second-generation weavers from Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh. Santosh's mother Kusumbai Kewat started learning the Maheshwari weave, whose earliest known patron was 18th century warrior queen Ahilyabai Holkar, around 50 years ago

To follow: @santoshi_handloom, Instagram