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Resham House
Issue No. 07 The Monsoon Issue Kolkata, since 2011

Resham House

The black jamdani Kalo, worn three ways. p. 08 Eleven looms in Phulia A weaver's day starts at five. p. 14 Rough on purpose Why matka silk has a slub. p. 22
A woman in a pistachio Chanderi saree reading the morning paper on a Kolkata pavement
Nine sarees ₹6,200 to ₹48,000, in the shopping pages. p. 40

On the cover: pistachio Chanderi from the archive, with the Tuesday paper. Photographed on Rashbehari Avenue. In this issue, the same weave in haldi, ₹9,800.

In this issue

Contents

  1. 04 From the studio Why we publish issues and not collections
  2. 08 Kalo The black jamdani, worn three ways
  3. 12 Five weaves Where this issue was woven, and by whom
  4. 14 Eleven looms in Phulia A day with the jamdani weavers of Nadia
  5. 22 Rough on purpose Matka silk, and the slub you are meant to feel
  6. 30 Rain frames Six photographs from a wet August in Kolkata
  7. 40 The shopping pages Nine sarees, ₹6,200 to ₹48,000

From the studio

We stopped making collections in 2023.

A collection asks you to buy everything at once and forget it by the next one. A handloom saree does not work that way. The Kalo jamdani on page eight took twenty one days to weave. The Dhakai on page sixteen took ninety four, and two people.

So twice a year we publish an issue instead: a handful of sarees, the weavers who made them, and the places they come from. When a piece sells out we do not rush a repeat. It goes back on the loom list and comes back when it comes back.

This is the monsoon issue. Everything in it can be worn in the rain, and most of it looks better damp.

The studio, Lake Terrace, Kolkata

The editor of Resham House, in a Sambalpuri ikat saree, resting her chin on her hand
The editor at the Lake Terrace studio in August. She wears the Rani Sambalpuri ikat, ₹32,000.
The editor in a rani pink Sambalpuri ikat silk saree with a peacock blue border
The same saree, in colour.
04Resham House

Fashion, p. 08

Kalo

The black jamdani from Phulia, worn three ways. Photographed against a white sheet in the studio, because black cotton hides nothing there.

A model in a black jamdani saree with bone motifs, head tilted back, against a white studio wall

On this page: Kalo Jamdani saree, 100s cotton with bone butis, ₹18,500; blouse piece in the same weave. Below: the same saree, pallu thrown over the right shoulder. Opposite: at the window, with the blouse tied at the back.
Shop the story

The black jamdani saree seen from behind, pallu hanging over the shoulder
The black jamdani worn at a window with sheer curtains, seen from behind

“The black is the hardest. Every mistake in the white shows, and you cannot unpick a jamdani.”

Rina, 34, weaver, Phulia. She wove this one.
Issue 07, Monsoon 202609

Departments, p. 12

Five weaves in this issue

  1. 01 Jamdani Phulia and Dhatrigram, Nadia Motifs laid in by hand, one weft at a time 2 sarees
  2. 02 Matka Malda and Murshidabad Hand-spun from pierced cocoons, with a slub you can feel 2 sarees
  3. 03 Tussar Bishnupur, Bankura Wild silk in its own colour, gold to biscuit 2 sarees
  4. 04 Chanderi Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh Silk warp, cotton weft, light enough to read through 1 saree
  5. 05 Ikat Pochampally and Sambalpur Tied and dyed before the loom, so the edges blur 2 sarees
12Resham House
A weaver at a pit loom, the white warp threads running toward the camera, in black and white
The pit loom at the Basak house, Phulia. The warp is 5.5 metres of 100s cotton, and it sits a foot below the floor.

Reportage, p. 14

Eleven looms in Phulia

Two hours north of Kolkata, on the Hooghly, a town that still weaves by counting. We spent a week there in July.

The first loom starts at five, before the heat. By seven you can hear all eleven from the road, a dry double knock, shuttle and beater, that carries further than you expect. The jamdani weavers of Phulia came here from Tangail after 1947 and brought the knock with them.

A jamdani motif is not printed or embroidered. It is laid into the cloth with a bamboo needle, one extra thread at a time, between throws of the shuttle. The pattern lives on a strip of graph paper pinned above the warp, or, for the older weavers, nowhere at all.

Resham House works with eleven looms here, all in three families. We pay per saree, agreed before the warp goes on, and half of it in advance. It is not generous. It is what the work costs, and we would rather sell fewer sarees than argue about it.

The Kalo on page eight came off Rina's loom in June. The Dhakai on page sixteen took her uncle and cousin three months, side by side on one loom, one on each half of the border.

The weavers' pages

My father kept the pattern in his head. I keep it on paper, and my daughter keeps it on her phone. The saree does not know the difference.

Nitai, 58, master weaver, Phulia
An old wooden loom strung with blue warp threads in a timber shed
A spare loom, strung for indigo. Nobody is allowed to sit at it until the monsoon breaks.
Hands holding a skein of indigo dyed cotton yarn wound on a stick
Indigo cotton for the Neel ikat, dyed in Koyyalagudem and posted to us in 20 kg bales.
Issue 07, Monsoon 202615
A model in a red matka silk saree and black gingham blouse, hand in her hair, among leaves

Fabric, p. 22

Rough on
purpose

Matka silk is spun from the cocoons that mulberry silk throws away: the ones the moth has already left. You cannot reel a pierced cocoon, so in Malda it is spun by hand, on a thigh, into a thick uneven yarn full of knots.

Those knots are the slub. It catches light the way raw cotton does, and it means the saree is heavier and warmer than it looks. We leave it in. A matka that feels smooth has usually been mixed with machine yarn.

Left: Sindoor Matka silk saree, ₹14,200, with our black gingham blouse. Right: Peacock Matka silk with antique zari, ₹16,800.
Shop the Sindoor  Shop the Peacock

Close view of a peacock matka silk saree with a gold choker and a marigold held at the shoulder
22Resham House

Portfolio, p. 30

Rain frames

Six photographs from a wet August. Nobody was asked to stand still.

A woman in a saree reading a newspaper, seen from behind, a white flower in her hair
i. Tuesday paper. Chanderi in pistachio, from the archive.
A woman in a striped tussar saree in a dark wood at dusk
ii. Tussar stripe, Rabindra Sarobar, 6.40 pm.
A woman in a mint saree leaning against a weathered brick arch
iii. Mint Chanderi with thread work. Sold out, back in Issue 08.
A woman in a maroon tussar saree with gold stripes against a stone wall
iv. Maroon Tussar with zari stripes, ₹22,500.
A woman in a yellow Chanderi saree standing under old stone arches
v. Haldi Chanderi under the arches, ₹9,800.
A woman in an indigo ikat saree sitting at a painted wooden door with a book
vi. Neel ikat at a painted door in Kalighat, ₹6,200.
30Resham House

The shopping pages, p. 40

Nine sarees

Everything in this issue, from a ₹6,200 ikat to a Dhakai jamdani that took two weavers three months. All prices include GST.

Ivory Dhakai Jamdani Saree, worn
02 Ivory Dhakai Jamdani Saree ₹48,000 Jamdani, Dhatrigram
Haldi Chanderi Silk Cotton Saree, worn
06 Haldi Chanderi Silk Cotton Saree ₹9,800 Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh
Maroon Tussar Saree with Zari Stripes, worn
08 Maroon Tussar Saree with Zari Stripes ₹22,500 Tussar, Bishnupur
Neel Pochampally Ikat Cotton Saree, worn
05 Neel Pochampally Ikat Cotton Saree ₹6,200 Ikat, Pochampally

“Buy one good saree a year, and have it for forty.”

See all nine sarees

Delivery across India in 3 to 7 days. Returns within 7 days of delivery. Cash on delivery up to ₹20,000.

Issue 07, Monsoon 202641