A sari, saree or sharee is a women's garment from the Indian subcontinent that consists of an unstitched drape varying from 4.5 to 9 metres in length and 600 to 1,200 millimetres in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, covering a larger portion of the midriff. There are various styles of sari manufacture and draping, the most common being the Nivi style, which originated in the Deccan region. The sari is worn with a fitted bodice commonly called a choli and a petticoat called ghagra, parkar or ul-pavadai. In the modern Indian subcontinent, the sari is considered a cultural icon.
Khadi is a hand-woven natural fiber cloth originating from eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, mainly Eastern India, Northeastern India and Bangladesh, but is now broadly used throughout India and Pakistan.
Santosh Sivan is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and has to date completed 45 feature films and 41 documentaries. He is a founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC) and is the most awarded Director of Photography (DOP) in India. Santosh became the first Cinematographer in the Asia-Pacific region to join the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) membership. As a cinematographer, he has won five National Film Awards – including four for Best Feature Film Cinematography. As of 2014, he has received eleven National Film Awards, and twenty one international awards for his works. He was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian cinema in 2014.
A Banarasi sari is a sari made in Varanasi, an ancient city which is also called Benares (Banaras). The saris are among the finest saris in India and are known for their gold and silver brocade or zari, fine silk and opulent embroidery. The saris are made of finely woven silk and are decorated with intricate design, and, because of these engravings, are relatively heavy.
Meera Mehta is a weaver and textile designer, based in Mumbai, India. Textiles she has created have been displayed in museums and galleries around the world. Mehta is best known for her revival of the Paithani sari.
Silk in the Indian subcontinent is a luxury good. In India, about 97% of the raw mulberry silk is produced in the five Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir. Mysore and North Bangalore, the upcoming site of a US$20 million "Silk City", contribute to a majority of silk production. Another emerging silk producer is Tamil Nadu where mulberry cultivation is concentrated in Salem, Erode and Dharmapuri districts. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Gobichettipalayam, Tamil Nadu were the first locations to have automated silk reeling units.
A Sambalpuri sari is a traditional handwoven ikat or sari wherein the warp and the weft are tie-dyed before weaving. It is produced in the Bargarh, Sonepur, Sambalpur, Balangir district, Boudh District of Odisha. The sari is a traditional female garment in the Indian Subcontinent consisting of a strip of unstitched cloth ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles.
Jaipur Rugs is one of India's largest manufacturers of hand knotted rugs. Headquartered in Jaipur, India, the company's operations span across 20+ branches, 6 states and 600 villages in India with distribution to over 40 countries with its independent base of over 40,000 artisans. The company also has a large distribution base in Atlanta, United States.
Baluchar Sari or Baluchuri Sari is a type of sari, a garment worn by women across India and Bangladesh. This particular type of sari originated in Bengal and is known for depictions of mythological scenes on the pallu of the sari. It was mainly produced in Murshidabad but presently Bishnupur and its surrounding places of West Bengal is the only place where authentic Baluchuri saris are produced. It takes approximately one week to produce one such sari. The Baluchari Sari has been granted the status of geographical indication in India.
Tant sari is a traditional Bengali sari, originating from the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, and usually used by Bengali women. It is traditionally made by the weavers from almost all over Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam's Barak Valley, but typically few places like Dhaka, Tangail, Narayanganj of Bangladesh and Murshidabad, Nadia, Hooghly of West Bengal are famous for tant sari weaving. Tant sari are woven from cotton threads and distinguished by its lightness and transparency. It is considered to be the most comfortable sari for the hot and humid climate in the Indian subcontinent.
Gajam Anjaiah, an Indian master handloom designer, who is widely recognised in the handloom industry for his innovations and developments of Tie and Dye handloom products along with Telia Rumal technique of weaving based on Ikat tie-dye process. He received Padma Shri from Government of India under Art category in 2013. He is known for his excellence in traditional handloom design works, such as Puttapaka Sarees in Tie and dye skill, that is the traditional art of designing on paper and then transferring it on to cloth. His dedication to the Handloom Industry has kept the Indian tradition of weaving alive, brought livelihood to the weavers and gave exclusive/unique designed handloom products to the people in India.
Kailash Chandra Meher is an Indian artist, inventor, and social activist. He is a painter of contemporary modern art paintings and traditional Tussar Pattachitra paintings of Odisha. He was a recipient of the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.
Gajam Govardhana is an Indian master weaver, known for his mastery over the art of Ikkat dyeing of Telia Rumal tradition and for his handloom creations. The Government of India honoured him in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Handloom saris are a traditional textile art of Bangladesh and India. The production of handloom saris are important for economic development in rural India. Completion of a single sari takes two to three days of work. Several regions have their own traditions of handloom saris.
Kunja Bihari Meher was an Indian master craftsman and weaver from Odisha. Born in the Bargarh district, he is known for the Ikkat tradition of weaving, found in the Sambalpuri sarees of Odisha, and is credited with the development of Sambalpuri handloom industry. He was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri by the Government of India, in 1998. He won the National Award for Handicrafts of the National Centre for Textile Design in 2009. His son, Surendra Meher, is also a known weaver.
Chaturbhuj Meher is an Indian weaver, considered by many as one of the master weavers of the Tie-dye handloom tradition of Odisha. Born on 13 October 1935 at Sonepur in Odisha, he had formal education only up to school level but learned the traditional weaving craft to join Weavers' Service Centre as a Weaver. Vayan Vihar, a handloom factory and Handloom Research and Training Center, a research institute in Sonepur have been founded by him and he is known to have trained over 10,000 craftsmen.
Kotpad Handloom is a vegetable-dyed fabric woven by the tribal weavers of the Mirgan community of Kotpad village in Koraput district, Odisha, India. Cotton sarees with solid border and Pata Anchal, duppatta with typical Buties / motifs, Scolrfs on cotton, silk, handloom stoles, and dress materials are all dyed with organic dyes. The natural dye is manufactured from the aul tree grown in this area. The Kotpad tussar silk saree with tribal art and Kotpad handloom fabrics with natural color is its specialty.
Gobardhan Panika is an Indian master weaver of Kotpad handloom a traditional tribal craft. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2018, for his contributions to the art of weaving.
Smriti Morarka is an Indian social activist reviving handwoven cloth and improving mental health. In 2019 she was awarded the "Woman Power Award" Nari Shakti Puraskar by the President of India on International Women's Day in recognition of the example she has made.
Martand Singh was an Indian textile conservator, curator, and cultural historian who championed the revival of traditional Indian textiles, weaving and dyeing traditions. He served as the director of Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad and was one of the founder members, and former head, of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). He was a trustee of the Mehrangarh Museum in Jodhpur.
