The silken feel of an elaborately intensive hand woven depiction of flora fauna, stylized elephants, motifs of flowers, jewels and abstracted geometrical patterns along with frolicking maidens dancing on the borders of the sari; all lauding the most beautiful textile craft form the world has ever known. This is the double Ikat craft form as practiced in Patan, a district in North Gujarat.
The tie and dye of the yarn itself, before the weave requires intensive voyage of creative discovery within the mind of the weaver and as each pattern unfolds on the loom it is akin to the birth of a single perfect pearl. The word Patola to the connoisseurs conjures up an image of the absolute finest in silk hand woven textile, a skill intensive labor of love involving the mysterious bond of creativity between the weaver and the very silken strands of threads that eventually germinate into a luxurious sari worth loosing a kingdom for.
The textile works of art emanating from a Patola loom are predominantly sari length and are amongst the most famous textile craft forms in the world today. The making of a Patolu is a creative process envisaged in the mind of the weaver as tie and dye work is undertaken both on the warp and the weft threads. Though earlier woven in Palanpur and Ahmedabad today the Patola or the singular Patolu are synonymous with the city of Patan in North Gujarat. During the making, specific dye extracts from natural sources are used and supervised by the master craftsmen himself.
Traditional Trivia
Patola, the woven fabric of a coarser variety was the prime element of export to Southeast Asia and the Dutch Indies. So engrained was the Patola as a ritualistic and royal symbol in the Malayan archipelago that it was called Mengikat there, a title later shortened by the Indonesians to Ikat which became the internationally accepted nomenclature for this weave form.
The origins of the Patola can be traced back to Gujarat’s Solanki royal family who invited weavers from Jalna, now in the state of Maharashtra to settle in Patan and explore the full potential of the weave construction. Here changes were also made on the existing looms requiring two people to operate it and the creativity of the Patola incorporated Gujarti sensibilities and design variations. It borrowed heavily from the geometrical yantric configurations of Solanki architecture such as the Udaymati Vav at Patan. Today, the Salvi family at Patan has kept alive the double ikat sheer poetry of the intermingling warp and weft of silken music that is the Patolu of covetous desire.
The history, skill and aura created by this amazing creation in silk has made it an item worth the wait as each sari is an individual work of art taking anything between three to six months to complete.
Community Involved
Salvi community is involved in creating this wondrous textile
Raw Materials Used
- Silk yarns
- Natural Dyes