Uppada and Jamdani sarees for Ugadi

March-April 2009

An exhibtion of exquisite weaves

daram in the press...
The Hindu Downtown, Hyderabad, , Thursday, February 19, 2009
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Hues of reds, blues and greens confuse the wary customer ever as her hand rests on the green coloured sari with a brilliant border. In continuation with its efforts to encourage handloom clothes, city based Daram, associate of Dastkar Andhra brings to Hyderabad a range of traditional Kanjeevaram and Chettinad cotton and silk sarees. Kanjeevaram cotton saris are available here from Rs. 400 onwards

Brought to Hyderabad by Santanalakshmi Pure Silks and Cottons, the exhibition which is on till February 23 (now extended to March 1) aims to revive traditional patterns and layouts such as 'Thalamapoo pettu', Kasakasa Kattam', 'Priyangata', 'Kandagi' and 'Vyraoosi'.

While the Chettinad cottons start from Rs. 500 upwards, the silks are available from Rs. 1000 upwards and the Kanjeevaram silk sarees are priced from Rs. 3000 upwards. Apart from this the store also offers handmade leather slippers from Rs. 350 upwards and organic food from Timbaktu in Andhra

Nayaranpet cotton saris and Gadwal saris too are available at the Daram showroom located in Begumpet. For more more details call 040-27765503.

A new range of kurtis

Coming in February

dāram brings to Hyderabad a traditional range of Kanjeevaram Sarees, contemporary kurtis for women & a range of garments for men this February.

I) 10th to 19th February

Traditional Kanjeevaram and Chettinad cotton and silk sarees of Tamil Nadu from Santanalakshmi pure silks and cottons, Bangalore.

1. Thalampoo pettu - Cotton body and silk border traditional sarees
2. Kasakasa kattam - Check cotton and silk cotton sarees
3. Priyangata - Check cotton sarees
4. Kandangi - Striped cotton sarees
5. Vyraoosi - Striped cotton sarees

Mango border, Kanjeevaram saree

Kanjeevaram saree


II) 13th February onwards

A new range of cotton handloom kurtis in different styles & cuts, weaves and block prints for the summer.

III) 21st February onwards

Shirts and kurtas for men for summer. Also introducing knee length kurtas in cotton handlooms
Dates: 21st February onwards

Maheshwari Sarees from REHWA

from Jan 8-12, 2009
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also

Gadwal and Narayanpet sarees in natural dyes and contemporary designs.
Dates: 1st to 15th January



Gadwal sarees

July 2008 - 1st anniversary celebrations of dāram

dāram celebrated its first anniversary on the 2nd of July with a day full of programs and activities. here are some pictures:

bablu ganguly of the Timbaktu Collective launched timbaktu organic's organic foods in daram. timbaktu organic products are now available for the first time in Hyderabad

bablu ganguly speaks to those gathered for the evening's program

a display of the various products from timbaktu organic

there was a cooking demonstration, followed by snacks made of millets and other products from timbaktu organic

friends, wellwishers and partners of daram who had gathered for the occassion

the evening concluded with an enthralling carnatic music concert by Sangeeta Shivkumar

Kurtas in Gold (Khari) prints

This January...

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SAREES FOR SANKRANTHI

SAREES FOR SANKRANTHI

dāram brings to Hyderabad a special range of sarees from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh for Sankranthi.

1) TRADITIONAL KANTHA and contemporary hand block printed sarees from Weavers Studio, Kolkata, West Bengal
Dates: 1st to 7th January

2) GADWAL and NARAYANPET sarees in natural dyes and contemporary designs.
Dates: 1st to 15th January

Gadwal sarees

3) MAHESHWARI sarees, dupattas, stoles and ready to stitch salwar kurta sets from REHWA SOCIETY, Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh
Dates: 8th to 12th January

Maheshwari saris

Naik Estate, ICICI Bank Lane, Beside Airport Lane, Begumpet, Hyderabad – 500016
Tel: +91 40 27765503. Fax: +91 40 27892905. Email: daram.da@gmail.com

Strengthening traditional weavers and small farmers

Food and clothing is generally believed to reflect the culture and state of any civilization. Therefore, the nature of production and consumption of these two categories is crucial to assess the health of the society. The challenge is not to increase productive capacity through increasing technical excellence which in today’s parameters is only speed and quantity but to look at technical excellence which is human and environment friendly.

Given the current crisis in agriculture, there have been large-scale migrations of youth out of villages. This correlates to the rising number of migrant workers in construction work, which is emerging as the largest urban livelihood. A movement upwards is still possible for those with access to formal education in the urban economy. There is no place for upward mobility for the migrants with scarce resources. The task before society is to rejuvenate the rural economy by supporting small farmers and traditional weavers.

Handloom weaving, till now seen as a craft based, cottage industry still employs a large number of rural families, second only to agriculture. But the perception of the industry only as a traditional craft has masked the trajectory of a large number of weavers who have, over the last ten years used it to achieve a reasonable livelihood, and moved their next generation into mainstream livelihoods. While urban India struggles to manage a growing populations’ infrastructure needs, the vulnerability of a fast changing polarized society is still a challenge that neither policy nor the market has been able to address.

It is our belief that handloom offers a hope to our villages, if it can be established as a viable livelihood for the next generation which faces threat of large-scale migrations into urban slums.