One key element in our decision to visit India was the chance to witness first hand some of the many disciplines of handmade textiles produced in the country.

In our more general travel section of that trip we’ve described those in some detail so rather than post the same information, this page will provide links to the different destination pages that include those experiences and provide a few additional photos.

The bulk of those experiences can be found beginning with the description of our  Tamil Nadu Textile Breakaway tour organized by the Delhi company Engaging Journeys Private Limited under their Breakaway Tour brand. 

At the bottom of the page at the above link is a short video of some of our weaving experiences on this portion of the trip.

Tamil Nadu is not the only Indian state where hand loomed textiles, printing and embroidery exists but it is one of the better destinations to get exposure to a wide range of techniques.

Our first top in the state was Chennai. After a morning Food Walk through Adyar on our first day there we didn’t have to travel far to get the chance to observe the skill of the Qualamkars craftsmen at the Kalakshetra Foundation and its Handloom Weaving, Kalakmari & Block Printing Unit.

Beginning around the middle of our Chennai page you’ll find more detail on that visit.

From Chennai, we traveled to Kanchipuram; a well known destination for Silk Saris particularly for those to be used as wedding gowns.

In fact, travelers from all over the world travel to this small city for gowns that are not only woven from brightly colored mulberry silks but that also incorporate silver and gold threads into exquisite Lamé textiles.

For additional information have a look at our Kanchipuram page.

Our next weaving destination was the area of Tamil Nadu known as the Chettinad region. The Chettinad people were international traders and bankers who achieved huge wealth and an appreciation of fine arts and didn’t mind showing off a bit to their neighbors.

This encouraged the development and support for local artisans to create beautiful textiles, basket weaving, wood carving, tile making and other artistic trades. We witnessed some of those skills at the Sri Mahalakshmi Handloom Cotton Weaving Center in Kanadukathan.

You can read more about that visit towards the bottom our
Chettinad page.

From Chettinad we next traveled to Madurai and got the chance to learn about another textile that Tamil Nadu is known for: the Sungudi Sari (or Sungudi Saree if you prefer.)

We spent the afternoon with the artisan A.K. Ramesh and his wife R. Vasumathi, owners of Madurai Sungudi Saree listening to their stories about how this style of printing on cotton fabrics came to Madurai from Saurashtr in the state of Gujarat over 400 years ago.

In addition to the Sungudi Saris produced here, the couple and their staff are also making beautiful lost wax style batik prints.

You can read more about this style on our Madurai page.

The day after our visit to Madurai, we traveled to Dindigul and visited the Gandhigram Trust, a learning and production center created by Mahatma Gandhi to generate a local economic base in rural areas of India.

One primary vehicle for that base was the spinning, weaving and dyeing jobs generated in support of the production of Khadi (cotton) fabrics in defiance of British mandates during colonial times.

You can read more and see some additional photos of this process an our Dindigul page.

Prior to traveling to Tamil Nadu we visited Jaipur, the colorful capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is known by some as “The Pink City” a name coming from a color that was popular in the not only the interior but also the exterior of many of the most famous structures of the region.

Jaipur also has a strong history in several different block printing textiles as well as a fine reputation for carpet weaving.

We didn’t visit any of the village workshops in the area to see examples of printing techniques but we did enjoy a brief block printing demonstration and a much more in depth session on carpets making practices including the use of a blow torch to burn off stray threads at Channi Carpets & Textiles as shown in the photo to the left.

You can read more and see some additional photos of this process an our Jaipur page.