PAITHANI WEAVE

Heirloom weave Paithani with history of over 2000 years old, holds a precious place in the trousseau of a bride. The gorgeous Golden Brocade, popularly known as Paithani… exuberates royalty and dignity beyond measure.

The weaver very meticulously creates the Paithani weave through a careful hand, foot, and eye synchronization – a process that could take him somewhere from a month to two years. The groundwork of the loom, which takes a whole day, is probably the most difficult part of the weaving process, as this helps regulate the design, color, and finer details of the finished product. The raw silk threads are dyed using natural dyes got from vegetables, minerals, plants, and rocks. They are then moved to the reels, which are loaded onto the loom. A specific color thread is used in the warp and another color is used in weft during weaving giving the weave a dual (shot colour or dhupchav) shade effect.

The specialty of the Paithani weavers lies in their extra-weft mechanism of embroidery, where separate bamboo spindles are used for each colour of  the motif, without the use of any technical contrivance to aid them in formulating the design they manage to arrange the warp threads according to the complex motif and with the help of extra weft formulate the design in the weaving process. An interesting fact about this weave is that the right side as well as the reverse look exactly the same when woven by hands which would help one identify the handloom versus powerloom cheap versions.

Though Paithani weave often features buttis on the body, the highlight is always the border and pallu which uses silver and gold zari in luxurious amounts. The designs and motifs of birds, flowers and creepers are largely inspired by nature, giving the textile a sense of wholesomeness. These days, even Pichwai motifs are being woven by extremely skilled and limited weavers. Also moving on the with the traditional silk versions, numerous weavers have started weaving cotton versions of this exquisite weave making it an affordable weave for a larger audience. Also very few weavers would be willing to weave dupattas, thereby giving the pleasure of holding a heirloom weave to women who are not comfortable with our traditional sarees.