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Resham House
Issue 07, pp. 14 to 21The weavers' pages

Reportage

Who wove
this issue

Forty three weavers in five clusters. We have worked with the oldest of them since 2011, the year the studio opened on Lake Terrace with one almirah of jamdani.

A weaver at a pit loom, in black and white
Phulia, July. The knock of the beater is the loudest thing in the lane.
Weavers
43

In five clusters across four states.

Advance
50%

Paid when the warp goes on, the rest on delivery.

Paid within
7 days

Of a saree reaching the studio. Never on sale.

Per issue
9 to 14

Designs, in runs of four to twelve.

A woman wrapped in an ivory Dhakai jamdani, the border held across her body
The ivory Dhakai jamdani held open across the body

01 Nadia and Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal

Jamdani, Phulia and Dhatrigram

Our oldest cluster and the reason the studio exists. Three families, eleven pit looms, fine count cotton from Coimbatore and our own graph paper patterns, some of them older than the studio.

Looms
11
With us since
2011

“Two of us on one loom for the Dhakai. If one is ill, the saree waits.”

Subal, 61, Dhatrigram
Shop the jamdani
A smiling woman in a peacock matka silk saree with marigolds

02 West Bengal

Matka, Malda and Murshidabad

Matka yarn is spun by women at home, on the thigh, from cocoons the reeling units reject. We buy the yarn from a spinners’ group of twenty six and give it to eight looms in Murshidabad.

Looms
8
With us since
2015

“Machine yarn is smooth. Buyers ask for smooth. We tell them to wait for the second wash.”

Ayesha, 44, spinner, Malda
Shop the matka
A woman in an undyed kora tussar saree in front of a painted Kolkata wall
Close portrait in the kora tussar, painted wall behind

03 Bankura, West Bengal

Tussar, Bishnupur

Wild tussar from Jharkhand and Odisha, reeled and woven in Bishnupur, the temple town. We sell most of it undyed. The maroon on page 38 is the exception.

Looms
9
With us since
2013

“Kora is the colour of the forest where the worm ate. You do not need to dye it.”

Madhab, 52, Bishnupur
Shop the tussar
A woman in a haldi yellow Chanderi saree sitting under stone arches

04 Ashoknagar, Madhya Pradesh

Chanderi, Chanderi

Our only cluster outside the east. Silk warp, cotton weft, and a gold paar thrown by hand. We work through a weavers’ cooperative of forty looms and take six of them each season.

Looms
6
With us since
2018

“People think Chanderi is only for summer. In the rain it dries in an hour.”

Farida, 39, Chanderi
Shop the chanderi
A woman in an indigo ikat saree looking into the camera, holding the pallu
The indigo ikat worn at a painted door, with a book

05 Telangana and Odisha

Ikat, Pochampally and Bargarh

Double ikat in cotton from Pochampally, and Sambalpuri silk ikat from Bargarh. The yarn is tied and dyed in bundles before it goes on the loom, which is why the edges of every motif blur.

Looms
9
With us since
2020

“The pattern is made before the weaving. The loom only shows you if you were right.”

Ramulu, 47, Koyyalagudem
Shop the ikat

Back issues

Seven issues since 2023

  1. 01Monsoon 2023KoraSold through
  2. 02Winter 2023The red issueSold through
  3. 03Monsoon 2024IndigoSold through
  4. 04Winter 2024Wedding, without the goldSold through
  5. 05Monsoon 2025Chanderi and the rainSold through
  6. 06Winter 2025TussarSold through
  7. 07Monsoon 2026This issueOn sale
Issue 07, Monsoon 202621