‘The music of the wheel will be as balm to our soul’: sitting cross-legged at Nurpu Handloom Collective’s school at Chennimalai on a windy afternoon, these words by Gandhi come rushing to the mind. The school is home to two ancient teakwood frame looms, six wheel charkas, and six box charkas from Sabarmati ashram and Wardha. Here, anyone interested in the nuances of hand loom can learn to weave from weavers themselves.
C Sivagurunathan, who started the collective, settles behind the frame loom to show how a sari is woven. The design studio at Nurpu Handloom Collective| Photo Credit:Special arrangement The collective was inaugurated last month by writer B Jeyamohan and Santhosh Koulagi of Janapada Seva Trust in Melukote, Karnataka. It is Sivaguru’s dream of seven years, one that pushed him to give up a cushy IT job in Chennai.
Sivaguru, who is from a family of weavers, started an initiative in 2016 to give handloom weavers at Erode’s 1010 Colony a new lease of life. He encouraged them to start weaving again — most of them had given up the craft since power looms took over — and helped market their fabric. But in his heart, he wanted to start a handloom school that would teach children the craft that is being forgotten, even by the weavers themselves.
C Sivagurunathan, who started the collective| Photo Credit:Special arrangement Sivaguru, who works with weavers in Chennimalai, apart from Musiri in Tiruchi, gradually put together a syllabus over the years. He offer.
