"Malkha: weaving a vision" a talk by Uzramma at The Attic, 36, Regal Building, CP > 6:30pm on 19th February 2013
Time : 6:30 pm
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : The Attic, 36, Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110001
Landmark : On Parliament Street close to 'The Shop' showroom & next to the 'Kwality' restaurant
Venue Info : Events | About | Parking and Location | Regal Building Map
Metro : Nearest Metro Station - 'Rajiv Chowk' (Yellow Line and Blue Line)
Event Description : 'Malkha: weaving a vision' a talk by Uzramma.
Malkha fabrics are woven by skilled weaver families on handlooms in Indian villages from cotton grown by smallholder farmer families. The malkha process puts the intermediate stage of cotton spinning back in the village, making the entire textile chain from cotton to cloth village-based. The newly designed machines put sophisticated modern technology at the service of the village, on a human scale. They handle the delicate cotton fibres gently, avoiding the force and violence of conventional processing, keeping the springiness of the live fibres all the way into the cloth. That’s what gives malkha fabric its swing & drape. Malkha fabric is soft, it breathes, absorbs, holds colour, reflects its handmade heritage in its texture.
Based on archival research, intuition and the practical experience of Dastkar Andhra in handloom weaving, a small group of engineers & field activists brought the malkha idea to life, combining technology development with social process, aiming to remake the broken linkages between cotton farmers and weavers, initiating a series of small-scale, village based, field-to-fabric production chains.
The background of this talk is the history of the traditional cotton textile industry over millennia. India for at least 18 centuries was the acknowledged world leader in cotton textiles, making a breathtaking diversity of fabrics. With the entry of the British East India Company into production the chain of interdependence between cotton farmers and weavers was broken, losing with it the process of cotton textile production that had made India the world’s supplier of cotton cloth.
With the modern machinery introduced by the East India Company in the 19th century cotton had now to be grown for one standardized type of machine. Nature had to adapt to technology, rather than – as before - flexible technologies permitting a huge diversity of cotton varieties.
The malkha initiative aims to regain India’s traditional strength in cotton textiles.
UZRAMMA founded the Decentralized Cotton Yarn Trust in 2005 & the Malkha Marketing Trust in 2008 to promote producer-owned village based cotton textile production from field to fabric, linking cotton farming to handloom weaving and reviving village spinning.
From 1989 to 2005 Uzramma was active in Dastkar Andhra, a non-profit research consultancy for the cotton handloom industry which she founded in 1989. Dastkar Andhra is active in policy research, marketing of cotton handlooms, natural dyeing and technological research.
She has been a member of policy groups for the handloom industry constituted by the Government of India and has published articles on cotton handloom weaving and natural dyeing in various journals.
Related Events : Arts | Talks
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : The Attic, 36, Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110001
Landmark : On Parliament Street close to 'The Shop' showroom & next to the 'Kwality' restaurant
Venue Info : Events | About | Parking and Location | Regal Building Map
Metro : Nearest Metro Station - 'Rajiv Chowk' (Yellow Line and Blue Line)
Event Description : 'Malkha: weaving a vision' a talk by Uzramma.
Malkha fabrics are woven by skilled weaver families on handlooms in Indian villages from cotton grown by smallholder farmer families. The malkha process puts the intermediate stage of cotton spinning back in the village, making the entire textile chain from cotton to cloth village-based. The newly designed machines put sophisticated modern technology at the service of the village, on a human scale. They handle the delicate cotton fibres gently, avoiding the force and violence of conventional processing, keeping the springiness of the live fibres all the way into the cloth. That’s what gives malkha fabric its swing & drape. Malkha fabric is soft, it breathes, absorbs, holds colour, reflects its handmade heritage in its texture.
Based on archival research, intuition and the practical experience of Dastkar Andhra in handloom weaving, a small group of engineers & field activists brought the malkha idea to life, combining technology development with social process, aiming to remake the broken linkages between cotton farmers and weavers, initiating a series of small-scale, village based, field-to-fabric production chains.
The background of this talk is the history of the traditional cotton textile industry over millennia. India for at least 18 centuries was the acknowledged world leader in cotton textiles, making a breathtaking diversity of fabrics. With the entry of the British East India Company into production the chain of interdependence between cotton farmers and weavers was broken, losing with it the process of cotton textile production that had made India the world’s supplier of cotton cloth.
With the modern machinery introduced by the East India Company in the 19th century cotton had now to be grown for one standardized type of machine. Nature had to adapt to technology, rather than – as before - flexible technologies permitting a huge diversity of cotton varieties.
The malkha initiative aims to regain India’s traditional strength in cotton textiles.
UZRAMMA founded the Decentralized Cotton Yarn Trust in 2005 & the Malkha Marketing Trust in 2008 to promote producer-owned village based cotton textile production from field to fabric, linking cotton farming to handloom weaving and reviving village spinning.
From 1989 to 2005 Uzramma was active in Dastkar Andhra, a non-profit research consultancy for the cotton handloom industry which she founded in 1989. Dastkar Andhra is active in policy research, marketing of cotton handlooms, natural dyeing and technological research.
She has been a member of policy groups for the handloom industry constituted by the Government of India and has published articles on cotton handloom weaving and natural dyeing in various journals.
Related Events : Arts | Talks
"Malkha: weaving a vision" a talk by Uzramma at The Attic, 36, Regal Building, CP > 6:30pm on 19th February 2013
!["Malkha: weaving a vision" a talk by Uzramma at The Attic, 36, Regal Building, CP > 6:30pm on 19th February 2013]()
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
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