Reviving handloom weaving in Tamil Nadu
The Nurpu collective is helping to revive India's traditional art of handloom weaving. The profits sustain families who might otherwise migrate for work — and the handloomed clothes are both comfortable and eco-friendly.
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00:00 This fine cloth will be turned into sarees or shirts. It's made sustainably by weavers
00:10 who can earn living from their work.
00:14 In the past, the clatter of handlooms was a familiar sound in Chinimalai, a town near
00:19 Erode in Tamil Nadu. But then, the weavers migrated for work. Many became day labourers
00:25 in Tiruppur, an industrial city about two hours from here. But now, the handicraft
00:30 is being revived and new life is returning to the wooden looms.
00:37 We wanted to recover the art of weaving we knew as children. We founded the Noorupu Collective,
00:42 which aims to improve the situation of weavers here.
00:48 The 1010 Weavers Colony, as the name implies, once was home to about 1000 families who made
00:54 a living from their looms. Today, only about 60 are still here.
01:00 Sivagurunathan comes from an old weaving family. After studying in Chennai, he worked in the
01:06 IT industry, but in 2017, he decided to make a switch.
01:14 At first, Sivagurunathan spent his time travelling and learning everything he could about handloom
01:20 weaving. Since many of young people had migrated for work, it was mainly the older generation
01:25 who could tell him about the decline of the traditional handicraft.
01:33 Years ago, even construction workers would do weaving, working until 5.30 or 6 in the
01:38 evening for 60 rupees. And we weavers earned 80 rupees, a good wage, and were glad for
01:45 the work. But now construction workers get 1000 to 1500 rupees, while weavers are barely
01:50 surviving on 350 rupees.
01:56 Bala Subramaniam had also left for work. When he met Sivagurunathan, he decided to accompany
02:02 him on his travels and also learned about the traditional handicraft. Today, he returned
02:08 home again and is able to provide a good living for entire family with his loom.
02:19 If you buy a single handloom woven dhoti, it can feed 60 families. But if the garment
02:25 is machine-made, it's just 3 families. Behind every handloom product stands the livelihood
02:30 of 60 people.
02:34 Nirupu is doing a good business. The collective uses only organic cotton and they handle their
02:39 own marketing. Much of their handwoven cloth and clothing is sold online, to customers
02:45 who are happy to pay more for high-quality work. For the collective, though, this is
02:50 just the first step.
02:59 To take our art to the next level, we need to educate and train young minds. That's
03:04 why we launched the Nirupu Weaving Centre where children get training in handloom weaving.
03:10 That teaches them to understand and respect our traditional handicraft. When they understand
03:16 its benefits, they'll start to wear handloom clothing. And that, of course, would increase
03:23 demand and help further the development of handloom weaving.
03:46 (music)