WEAVER'S WORLD / DHARWAD / TEXTILES

WEAVER'S WORLD / DHARWAD / TEXTILES

Dharwad in Karnataka, India, has sparked interest in cotton creations of a new kind. The cotton yarn is itself coloured due to path breaking experiments that have developed these colour cottons. Grown without genetic modification, these cottons are available in natural colours of brown in light and dark shades and green. This has now made it possible to have cotton commercially on a large scale grown in these colours in other regions of India too where the soil would be favourable. Research is continued for other colours and improving the strength of the cotton and also the overall yield. USA and some countries in Europe are already growing such cotton for colour cotton fabrics.

The pure handloom cotton sarees from Dharwad are soft, fine variety cottons in several natural colours. The Dharwad cotton saree is known for its attractive border and appealing floral print designer pallu or end piece. The introduction of Kasuti the intricate embroidery of the royal courts in Karnataka for cotton fabrics stands out very nicely for the colours chosen, the thread work art and the complex stitching. In addition the borders are very appealing with plain multi-colour or temple design patterns chosen.