A weaver in Anakaputhur near Chennai makes sarees out of alternate natural fibers.
Finding Shekhar’s house cum factory in Anakaputhur is not
difficult. Just a query about this “maker of sarees from banana fiber” is enough to get us specific directions, right down to the last turn. Tucked behind a few shops lies his dilapidated rented one-room factory-house and the only way to reach it is a narrow pathway with an open sewer running along. When we entered the asbestos-roofed room, Shekhar, the unconventional saree weaver was swinging cotton threads in a hand charkha.
Shekhar uses banana, jute, pineapple, flax, aloe vera, bamboo, reed grass etc to make sarees. “These raw materials are put in water and finally the fiber is extracted. This is a time consuming job when compared to normal weaving process. The recovered grass is made into yarn and dyed before making it run in the handlooms. Normally we mix silk and cotton along with the natural fibers,” he explains. Shekhar started making use of non-conventional fibers three years ago, even employing 24 fibers in a single saree. He used banana fibers widely. Recently he turned to aloe vera. The price ranges in the Rs 650-4500 bracket and varies as per the percentage of silk used.
Admiring some of his banana and aloe vera fiber creations, one realised they looked quite like ordinary silk sarees in beautiful colour combinations, though they weigh much lighter. In the last two years, he has sold two thousand banana sarees and 600 aloe vera sarees…
VIP patrons of his art include First Lady Pratibha Patil, and Kanimozhi, MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. “A saree has also been presented to Sonia madam, but I don’t know if she wears it,” adds Shekhar.
But, why the choice of these unconventional fibers?
Anakaputhur has been the hub of traditional handloom weavers, but like most other cottage industries, they lost their business to mechanisation. “Earlier, three thousand handlooms were running, but now just over three hundred remain. Many of our folks have opted for daily wages in construction jobs…
Finding Shekhar’s house cum factory in Anakaputhur is not
difficult. Just a query about this “maker of sarees from banana fiber” is enough to get us specific directions, right down to the last turn. Tucked behind a few shops lies his dilapidated rented one-room factory-house and the only way to reach it is a narrow pathway with an open sewer running along. When we entered the asbestos-roofed room, Shekhar, the unconventional saree weaver was swinging cotton threads in a hand charkha.Shekhar uses banana, jute, pineapple, flax, aloe vera, bamboo, reed grass etc to make sarees. “These raw materials are put in water and finally the fiber is extracted. This is a time consuming job when compared to normal weaving process. The recovered grass is made into yarn and dyed before making it run in the handlooms. Normally we mix silk and cotton along with the natural fibers,” he explains. Shekhar started making use of non-conventional fibers three years ago, even employing 24 fibers in a single saree. He used banana fibers widely. Recently he turned to aloe vera. The price ranges in the Rs 650-4500 bracket and varies as per the percentage of silk used.
Admiring some of his banana and aloe vera fiber creations, one realised they looked quite like ordinary silk sarees in beautiful colour combinations, though they weigh much lighter. In the last two years, he has sold two thousand banana sarees and 600 aloe vera sarees…
VIP patrons of his art include First Lady Pratibha Patil, and Kanimozhi, MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. “A saree has also been presented to Sonia madam, but I don’t know if she wears it,” adds Shekhar.
But, why the choice of these unconventional fibers?
Anakaputhur has been the hub of traditional handloom weavers, but like most other cottage industries, they lost their business to mechanisation. “Earlier, three thousand handlooms were running, but now just over three hundred remain. Many of our folks have opted for daily wages in construction jobs…
