Textiles

Silk – The Magic Yarn

Silk, the name itself stands for luxury, and elegance. Silks have always been woven into the history and culture of India. India is home to different varieties of silks – each with a distinct texture and weave. Let’s take a look at the different varieties.

Banarasi Silk

Benaras, a city by the banks of the Ganges, is famous for its rich brocades. These saris have rich intricately woven motifs of flowers, leaves, birds etc on soft backgrounds. They have intricate borders and heavy pallus. A glittering weave of gold and silver threads known, as the kinkab is also famous.

Ikats of Orissa:

Ikats are the tie and dye weaves of Orissa made by using the yarn resist method for both warp and weft. The effect is a defused design with an overall pattern. Both mulberry and tusar silks are used in the weaving of these.

Patolas

Both warp and weft are dyed by dye resistant methods. When the fabric is woven, the design, mainly birds,flowers or animals, appears in bright colours.

Bandej

The finely woven fabric is knotted tightly and dyed to achieve a distinct design. Bright colours are used. The bandhnis of Kutch are unmatched for their intricate designs and colours.

Tanjoi

The Tanjoi brocade was named after the three Parse brothers called choi who learnt this art in China and introduced it to Surat. The choi brocade is usually dark satin weave in ground colour embellished with motifs of flowers, creepers, birds etc.

Temple Silks

South India is the leading silk producing area of the county known for its famous silk weaving enclaves like Kancheepuram, Dharmavaram, Arni etc.While Kanjeevaram is known for its heavy silk sarees of bright colours with silver or gold zari works, the centers like Bangalore and Mysore are known for their excellent printed silks.