(From top) Artisans display their creations to visitors at the National Handloom expo. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 13: Weavers from different parts of the country have put up their creations on display at the National Handloom expo being held at Exhibition Ground here.

Sponsored by Development Commisionerate of Handlooms and organised by State Directorate of Handlooms, the fifth edition of this exhibition began on January 7. The handlooms in traditional and new patterns are already attracting a lot of people.

Pashmina silk and woollen shawls, stoles, dress materials and sarees from Jammu and Kashmir are in huge demand. Sambalpuri sarees, bomkai and ikkat sarees and dress materials and shawls have also attracted a lot of visitors.

“The stalls offer great variety since the weavers come from the interiors of the state. This huge variety is not usually not available at stores in the capital,” says Brinda Kanungo, a homemaker.

“The handlooms from Orissa are available with discounts. Also, the fabrics from other states are very beautiful. So I have brought a couple of sarees and dress materials from stalls of different states,” says Pratima Behera, a corporate employee.

The weavers also seem to be content about the business so far. “The sales for Orissa handlooms are very good this year,” said Manoranjan Samal, a sales executive at the Boyanika stall.

“Our products, mainly stoles and shawls, are really popular. We love participating in fairs in Orissa,” said Siddiqui, a weaver from Jammu.

Handlooms of silk, cotton and wool from states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bengal, Pondicherry, Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and others are on display.

“Hand woven, hand printed and embellished handlooms are available,” said officer-in-charge of the expo, Bijaya Prasanna Dwivedi.

“Over 99 stalls from 14 states have been set up. There is also provision for demonstration of loom operations by weavers,” he added.

The demonstration has been organised at a pavilion designed in the form of the famous Rajarani temple. Officials and members of the weavers’ service centre (WSC) have installed a huge traditional loom that is operated by weavers to display the method used to create handloom fabrics. The theme of the pavilion is ‘Tassar’ of Orissa. Various shades and bleached as well as non-bleached varieties of tassar are exhibited here along with award winning patterns and creations of weavers.

“The usual notion of consumers is that tassar fibres do not shine. But new varieties like tassar ketia, balkal and ghicha have defied this notion,” says T.K. Sarkhel, processing in-charge at WSC.

“It is amazing that so much work goes behind every handloom product. The weavers deserve recognition for such hard work,” said Ranjan Mishra, a college student.

Special free bus service on weekends and holidays has been arranged by the authorities for the expo that is on till January 30.