Handmade High

The three-day exhibition and sale this year has stocked up on pre-shrunk,cotton readymades for women from daram,and off-the-loom products from DAMA. Both daram and DARA are Dastkar’s sister organisations,and are critical in the two-pronged approach that they work with. The main focus area of this initiative is to afford the weavers a good market. “We work closely with the weavers and provide them help with technology and even design. Distribution is our other main area of work,which ultimately makes sure that these small-scale workers earn a decent monthly income,” explains Latha Tummuru of Dastkar Andhra. The exhibition usually makes the rounds of cities around February,but this year was delayed in Pune. “We couldn’t find a venue then,but even this season is a good time to come as people do a lot of festive shopping,” says Tummuru.

Today is the last day of their three-day outing,and the response so far has been as fabulous as ever. “We have been coming here for a decade now so the buyers know us and we have come to know many of them personally,” says Tummuru. The exhibition’s major pit stops are Pune,Mumbai,Chennai and Bengaluru. “In Mumbai,because of various reasons,the response hasn’t been great. It could be that people do not have the time to go to tailors to get the fabrics stitched. In Pune,there is more demand mainly because people here don’t get to see these materials otherwise,” she says.

In Pune,Dastkar has found a reliable market. “The saris and fabrics are especially good this year. The kurta range is limited,but the material itself is excellent,” says researcher Rina Evelyn,who was one of the early shoppers. “The saris have a good finish. I had never bought from them before,but had seen their exhibits in Bengaluru earlier.”

The exhibition is on from 10:30 am to 8 pm