Panaji: Traditional Goa Sari Kunbi gets a new rent a few years ago after being promoted on the road by a leading Goan fashion designer Wendell Rodricks.
Now, pudesan cotton products, red-and-white are woven by a group of experts from the craft, textile and coir department at the art and cultural directorate in Patto as part of the training program for students crossing Goa.
Savita Mittar, a junior craftsman in the craft, textile and coir department, said it needed a full day to weave meters of sari and so far, he and his team had successfully completed four sari.
Their aim is to complete 10 sari weaving while teaching this unique craft student.
“The work is very thorough so that even if we make a mistake with one Utas, it takes 10-15 minutes to adjust the weaving tool.
Smooth, so that the work demands full of craftsmen,” he said.
So far, they have trained 32 students, with each group needed 10 hours of special training to study crafts.
Sometimes, forming a knipt brings students up to two days to learn.
Training participants are not directly permitted to use a handloom.
They, instead, are taught to rotate threads on the spinning wheels (chakra) and then trained in the diocal penggurufting technique.
“The aim is to make them ‘Atmanirbhar’, or Mandiri, while also helping to revive one of the dying goa art,” Mittar said.
Ramdas Gaude, another craftsman, said he had studied trading in just in recent years, after he began to train others.
“There is a demand for rare art and crafts, and exploring opportunities in this field for new students has a lot of scope now, especially because there is a scheme to support them,” he said.
Training currently uses machines installed in the art and cultural directorate to study art.
However, if they want to buy another handloom and machine involved in creating Kunbi Sari, staff are willing to help them claim subsidies through national banks for agriculture and rural development (Nabard).