Visitors take a look at the handloom and handicraft products at Aaam Bagan grounds in Sakchi, Jamshedpur. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Jan. 8: Wearing intricately woven Benarasi brocades is every Indian women?s dream, but few perhaps get so carried away by the dream so as to extend the brocaded drapes over their beds and sofas and letter holders, too.

But Shaikh Javed, a craftsman from Vanarasi, did. And he has brought his gorgeous pieces of work to the steel city to exhibit at the National Art and Craft festival at the Aaam Bagan grounds in Sakchi, which started on January 7 and will be on till the 16th.

Among the numerous stalls stacked with beautiful handloom and handicraft wares, Javed?s stall does stand out, due to his unique concepts and designs.

Organised by several NGOs working under the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, this is the first time the festival was being organised in the steel city.

?We organise such festivals in various parts of the country from time to time, but this is the first time we have come to the steel city,? said Md Yahiya, a senior member of the organising committee.

What?s attractive about the fair is that there are others, like Javed, who have come from different regions with colourful, rich handlooms and handicrafts. Some, strictly traditional, some, like Javed, who have blended traditional art with contemporary ideas.

?This is one of the most contemporary experiments with the traditional benarasi, started about three years ago. But it?s for the first time that we have come here with these products,? said Javed, who has about 50 artisans working at his workshop in Varanasi, where they conceptualise and create the designs, with which they were most successfully wooing brocade lovers of the city.

But it?s not just the brocade, which is stealing the show. There are also elegant pashmina shawls, exquisite Kashmiri embroidered works, delicate chikankari from Lucknow, richly woven carpets and pure cotton upholstery drapes from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

Besides, there are also colourful, popular khuriya potteries from Uttar Pradesh, which continued to attract admirers and buyers all through the day.

For those who delight in gypsy fashion, Rajasthani colours and freak out on designs from far off regions, there?s a lot the fair has to offer.

?This is the first time we have brought these hand-painted crepe Jaipur skirts to Jamshedpur,? said Sandeep Jha, who has come all the way from Rajasthan with his bright, colourful collection.

There are also jute wall hangings from Bengal and brass artefacts with metal engravings from Muradabad in Uttar Pradesh, among others.