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Q&A: Where traditional craft meets modern lifestyle
Dastkar Andhra Marketing Association (DAMA)’s annual summer exhibition will be held from February 22 to 25 at the CP Art Centre. Latha Tummuru of the organisation that has been marketing handwoven products from clusters of craftspersons for the last 15 years says that the show is an attempt to bring back the original tradition of kalamkari
Chennai
Tell us about the collection
The exhibition includes sarees, yardage and dupattas. The patterns used are also traditional kalamkari designs — large floral motifs and the scales and proportions are unique to this kind of printing. The colours used are also natural dyes like red, yellow, green and black.
Kalamkari on khadi sounds unique. Has it been conceptualised to sync with the government’s effort to promote khadi?
Our association’s focus is handloom, apart from hand block printing. Kalamkari, much before the shift in looms, was done on khadi — this is the original tradition. We have tried to present that in this exhibition. Many have moved on to power-loom, but we have stuck to handloom.
Has awareness on handloom improved?
In the last few years, there has been awareness. However, the two main factors are price and maintenance. Let’s move them and look at aesthetics and what it has to offer. That’s why we work a lot on designs and colours so that they last longer. We come up with designs to help modern lifestyle meet traditional crafts.
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