Ever since I bought the cotton Durbarpet Border saree at Dindigul, I have always wanted it in Kanchi silk as it was originally made. I also wanted the Ganda Berunda motif in the Pallu … the Mysore Kingdom’s emblem is fascinating, a double headed eagle.
When Gopinath came home, I showed him the cotton durbarpet saree and asked if he could weave a silk one. He did get a beautiful black saree woven with this border, but someone bought it even before I could tell him that I wanted it :). Then he got a dark maroon coloured saree woven which was truly stunning.
I wore it for the first time at Bharatpur for our anniversary in 2022.
I wore it again for Raviraj’s son’s wedding recently in Chennai.
Just look at the skill of the weaver, and Gopinath who makes the design card. One of the professions where precision and creativity come together is weaving. If the design card is not punched correctly, the weaver cannot produce the design on the saree. And ofcourse if the weaver doesn’t move his/her legs 10000 times or more, this work of art cannot be produced.
Every handwoven saree is a unique piece because the same weaver using the same loom and even the same threads cannot weave identical sarees. The colour and design maybe the same, but the end product is unique.
These beautiful sarees don’t require any embellishment – just wear a well fitted blouse and the saree does the talking.
For buying Kanchi silk sarees with pure zari, please contact Gopinath @98946 65297. This young man is an Engineer who has gone back to his traditional family business of weaving silk sarees. Do encourage him and his team of weavers by buying these beautiful works of art !
#ILoveHandloom #VocalForLocal
This is a truly unique piece of art ! This link led me to your other interesting write-ups on Handloom and cotton saris. Really nice that you share this info. Our textile heritage and our weavers are precious! In the past several years I have tried to consciously move away from big box retail, to sourcing from authentic weaving communities. Even if the process takes a bit more time (many of them do not have basic e-commerce sites yet), the outcome is so satisfying! A weaver is a preserver of our culture and tradition, it is our Dharma to help them with this work 🙏 in whatever capacity we can.
Does Shri Gopinath undertake weaving with cotton as well?
Hi Deepa, Gopinath doesn’t do cotton sarees. He specialises in Kanchi silk. Can share the numbers of several cotton saree weavers. Just click on the “Saree Addict” category on my blog. Have shared a lot of phone numbers – Udupi revival sarees, Navya’s Choice (for Odisha cotton), Lala Ram Koli (for Chanderi), Kalpavastram (for amazing handwoven sarees from all over India), Ithy-Adee ( again sarees from everywhere) and ofcourse Cooptex has a fantastic collection. Try their organic cotton sarees.
Thank you 🙏 will check the Saree Addict section.