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A fashionable collection to commemorate the Year of the Tiger

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AHandloom Project that threads the stripes of Tiger to celebrate National Handloom Day

By IANSlife

August 8, 2022 (IANSlife) "Chakradhara" is a collection that weaves together the tiger's stripes, its kinship with nature, and its commitment to sustainability while evoking the very best of Indian craftsmanship and culture. This project expresses a passion for tigers that has the potential to significantly improve Indian audiences' awareness of and still-evolving attitudes toward the preservation of the species, of nature, and of our forested regions.

With their distinctive handloom project "Chakradhara," Warp 'n Weft, a textile company that creates pure handloom Banarasi textiles, partners with WWF India to commemorate the Year of the Tiger and the conservation efforts to help the animal's flourishing population.

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Shraman Jha, Director-Marketing, Communications and Fundraising WWF India, said,“It is a unique partnership bringing together the two national heritages of India- handlooms and tigers together. Five decades of dedicated efforts to conserve tigers in India has brought out some significant results, a thriving population of big cats, the highest among all tiger range countries. We thank Warp ‘n Weft for conceptualising and weaving the banarasi handloom collection to celebrate the tiger.”

Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India with Mr Sunil Sethi, Chairman, FDCI and Sagrika Rai (the creator of the collection)
Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India with Mr Sunil Sethi, Chairman, FDCI and Sagrika Rai (the creator of the collection)

On National Handloom Day, threading and working with the Banarasi Handloom under the vision and passionate enterprise of the Founder, Ms Sagrika Rai, for the upliftment and promotion of this artisanal craftsmanship and empowerment of weavers in the industry. Emphasizing the relevance of the project 'Chakradhara', MsSagrika Rai, Founder & Creative Director, Warp ‘n Weft, said, “It is a strong, impactful collaboration between two ethical institutions. We pledge to contribute a part of the sales proceeds to WWF India, contributing to nature and wildlife conservation. We hope this handwoven project will further bring the deserved boost to tiger conservation and spread the word far and wide”.

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A wildlife enthusiast, Rai's husband, Dinkar Rai- took a picture of a tiger in Bandhavgarh National Reserve, which was used as the central basis for this project. Smitten by the beauty of the majestic Bengal Tiger, the team at Warp ‘n Weft created a tiger face graphed, loomed, and engineered to precision. After many iterations got close to the original photograph with the ethnic style of nakshikadhwa, a signaturetechnique of Banarasi Handloom weaving. The commitment to sustainability has remained paramount throughout this process, commissioning the grassroots master weavers from the historic handloom clusters of Varanasi with decades-long experience. The base texture of the fabric is a combination of natural yarns that harkens to the forest grasslands of India, ‘Chakradhara’, the lively meadows inside the Bandhavgarh National Reserve- taking inspiration from where the photo was taken.

 

 

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