The Ministry of Textiles is going to organize “VIRAASAT’ – Celebrating Handloom Home Décor – Special Handloom Expo – at Handloom Haat, New Delhi from 20.01.2023 to 30.01.2023 to showcase the Home Décor products made by Handloom.
Meanwhile, nearly month-long exclusive handloom sari exhibition “VIRAASAT”- Celebrating 75 handwoven Saris of India’, concluded on Tuesday. The Ministry of Textiles organized the exhibition in which 160 participants from different parts of the country exhibited famous Handcrafted varieties of Saris.
The event celebrated both tradition as well as versatility of the Handloom Sector. The exhibition focused on the age-old tradition of Sari weaving by showcasing exclusive handloom weaves from different parts of the country in their full fervor.
The exhibition was organized in two phases from 16th to 30th December and 3rd to 17th January 2023 at Handloom Haat, Janpath, New Delhi in which famous Handcrafted varieties of Saris like Tie and Dye, Chikan embroidered Saris, Hand Block Saris, Kalamkari printed Saris, Ajrakh, Kantha and Phulkari, Jamdani, Ikat, Pochampally, Banaras Brocade, Tussar Silk (Champa), Baluchari, Bhagalpuri Sik, Tangail, Chanderi, Lalitpuri, Patola, Paithani, Tanchoi, Jangla, Kota Doria, Cutwork, Maheshwari, Bhujodi, Santipuri, Bomkai and several other varieties like Garad Korial, Khandua and Arni Silk Saris etc were showcased.
The Sari Festival was inaugurated by Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 16th December 2022, along with Hon’ble Minister of State Smt. Darshana Jardosh and other women parliamentarians.
Coinciding with the 75 years of Independence, “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” there was an exhibition-cum-sale of Handloom Saris by 75 handloom weavers. Also, a series of activities organized for the visiting public such as: Viraasat – Celebrating the heritage: Curated display of handloom saris, Viraasat-Ek Dharohar: Direct retail of saris by weavers, Viraasat Ke Dhage: Live loom demonstration, Viraasat–kal se kal tak : Workshops and talks on sari and sustainability, Viraasat–Nritya Sanskriti : Famous Folk dances of Indian culture and 5 F theme Pavilion – (Farm- Fibre-Factory- Fashion- Foreign).
For awareness of the general public and handloom connoisseurs, a publicity program was taken up to advertise this event through Print Media – Newspapers, Posters, invitation cards, Social Media, Cultural Program and Designers Workshops etc.
A social media campaign under a common hashtag #MySariMyPride was also launched to support handloom weavers.
The event has been a big hit, and along with impressive footfalls across age-groups, brought much needed attention to the sector and sales of handloom goods for the weavers.