On a misty February afternoon, when the mammoth Jaipur Literature Festival was underway in one other half of the town, I discovered designer Tahir Sultan busy engaged on a textile-based sculpture. We have been at the boutique resort, 28 Kothi, the venue for The Handloom School’s Threads of Tomorrow, a conclave the place conversations centred world wide of handloom through style and artwork, in addition to its patronage. Sultan’s Narmada in Motion was joined by three different artworks, together with Morning Ritual by visible artist Rachana Devidayal. Crafted from Maheshwari silk, Sultan’s sculpture was an experiment in matting textile and construction — his interpretation of the river Narmada cascading down from Lord Shiva’s forehead.
Tahir Sultan
“It is much harder to make than it looks,” he later admitted. Powered by the Maheshwar-based non-profit, GirlsWeave, the baithaks (salons that encourage social discussions) introduced collectively thought leaders and have been moderated by Anuradha Singh of Nila House, Hema Shroff Patel of Amba and Srila Chatterji of the design gallery, 47-A. Topics ranged from the affect of textile artwork on the livelihoods of handloom weavers to the professionals and cons of the style business. But the largest takeaway was how philanthropy through grants and loans may assist craftsmen in a quickly modernising world.
Yeshwant Rao Holkar, whose mom, Sally Holkar based GirlsWeave in 2000, and launched The Handloom School in 2013, stated, “In the past decade, we’ve trained over 150 weavers. The goal is to make weaving not just a profession but an aspiration for future generations.” Yeshwant was born right into a legacy of design and textiles. His ancestor, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar (the queen of Indore), was accountable for bringing varied weaving communities to Maheshwar, a laid-back city in Madhya Pradesh that quickly discovered its identification via Maheshwari silk, a textile synonymous with the area. Three centuries later, Yeshwant is at the helm of Rehwa Society, a weaving initiative his mother and father — Richard (Shivajirao Holkar) and Sally (Shalini Devi Holkar) — began in 1978 to revive Maheshwari silk.
“Rehwa is deeply personal,” Yeshwant stated. “It’s about honouring Ahilyabai’s legacy while keeping this beautiful craft and its weavers thriving.” Efforts have been taken to doc and examine age-old crafts like Garbh Reshmi (the handwoven mulberry silk) and the cotton-on-cotton Maheshwari sari and hold these methods alive.
Yeshwant Rao Holkar
| Photo Credit:
Takulia
Global game-changers
Sultan, whose idea retailer Makaan has grow to be a well-liked handle in Jaipur, noticed that 2025 marks a shift in how style approaches textiles. “The conversations are increasingly not about trends but about their source, the technique, and the conditions in which they are woven. Textiles have always been more than just fabric,” he stated. “They tell stories, carry history and shape culture.” With all of the hype round Indian textiles now, folks neglect that they’ve been international game-changers for a very long time, he went on to look at. “Take chintz [the glazed cotton fabric that originated in Golconda], which revolutionised British society, and jamavar shawls [the iconic Kashmiri weave], which the French coveted. Meanwhile, Japanese designers are still studying our dyeing and weaving techniques. Historically, we were ahead of the game in terms of design and quality,” he stated.
A textile sculpture
Many Indian designers have efficiently mirrored the variety of Indian textiles on a worldwide stage. One of Sultan’s favourites was Dior’s embroidered tapestries, impressed by Madhvi and Manu Parekh’s work and created with the assistance of artisans at India’s Chanakya School of Craft for the spring/summer time 2022 runway present at Paris Haute Couture Week. Another was the 2023 textile exhibition, Vayan, curated by Lekha Poddar, which showcased ‘the art of Indian brocades’ at Delhi’s Crafts Museum.
Rehwa’s delicate steadiness
So what does retaining an age-old craft alive in a quickly evolving world take? Talking concerning the delicate steadiness between innovation and preservation and Rehwa’s success with Maheshwari, Yeshwant credited an enormous half of it to collaborations with “brilliant designers”. “We’ve been fortunate to work with talented names like Chelna Desai and, more recently, Mira Mehta. Mira developed a beautiful line of saris that are very subtle in design and colour palette but still distinctly Maheshwari.”
A weaver at Rehwa
| Photo Credit:
Oskar Hallgrimsson
Recognising that saris and turbans at the moment are principally event put on, they’ve tailored. “We’ve expanded Maheshwari textiles’ use to table linens, curtains, and upholstery,” Yeshwant stated, including that an upcycling programme has been launched (*28*). At Ahilya Experiences, his luxurious boutique resort chain, Maheshwari materials prolong to blinds, curtains, pillow covers, and kimonos within the rooms. Textile excursions are additionally supplied at Ahilya Fort, the place guests can expertise Maheshwari weaving firsthand.
The architect turned freelance journalist writes about journey, tradition and design.
Published – February 28, 2025 12:34 pm IST
