The warp
Fine mulberry silk, dyed in our own vats and wound onto the warp beam by hand. It sets the length of the saree and the discipline of the whole cloth.
Handwoven Banarasi silk, Sarai Mohana
Silk that carries the name of the hand that wove it.
Resham Naama is a weavers’ cooperative in Varanasi. We make Banarasi sarees on pit looms, in katan silk and real zari, at the pace the cloth asks for, and every saree leaves the loom with its weaver’s name woven into the pallu.
I. Our name
Resham and naama
Resham is silk, and a naama is a written account, the kind of chronicle that records a life one entry at a time. Every saree we weave is an account of its own: the weaver, the months on the loom and every crossing of warp and weft are written into the cloth, thread by thread.
The weft
Thrown by shuttle through the opened shed, pick after pick, and beaten into place with the reed. The weaver’s rhythm lives in the weft, and you can feel it in the hand of the finished cloth.
The zari
Real zari is fine silver wire, flattened and wound around a silk core, then gilded. It is laid in by hand as an extra weft, and that is what makes a motif rise from the ground like light on water.
II. The loom
Choose a warp, a weft and a motif, then watch the cloth come off the loom.
These are the decisions a master weaver talks through with every client. Pick the colours and the motif, and the loom weaves a hand-span of silk thread by thread. When the last pick is beaten in, the cloth is draped for a fitting and priced exactly as we would price it.
Katan silk, handloom
III. Winter lookbook
Six sarees from this season’s looms.
Each is woven to order in a length of 6.3 metres, with its blouse piece. Put any of them on the loom above to change a colour or the motif before you commission it.
IV. The craft
Five stages, and not one of them can be hurried.
A Banarasi saree passes through many pairs of hands before it reaches yours. Each stage below happens in the lanes around our studio, within walking distance of the loom where your saree will be woven.
- i
Naksha
The design is drawn square by square on graph paper by a naksha-maker, and every square decides whether a warp thread lifts or stays down.
- ii
Pattern cards
The naksha is punched into a chain of jacquard cards, one card for every pick of the motif, and laced above the pit loom.
- iii
Warp
Several thousand ends of silk are dyed, sized, stretched along the lane and drawn one by one through the heddles and the reed.
- iv
Weaving
The weaver throws the ground weft with the shuttle and lays in the zari by hand from small spools, often with a second weaver at the loom for the heaviest pieces.
- v
Finishing
The cloth is checked in daylight, pressed by hand and folded. The weaver’s name is already there, woven into the end of the pallu.
The reverse
The back of a saree tells you how it was woven.
Two sarees can look alike from the front and be made in very different ways. Turn the cloth over and the difference is plain to see, which is why we invite every client to do it before they buy.
Face
Kadwa
Each motif is woven with its own length of zari, turned back at the edge of the flower. Nothing crosses the back, nothing is cut, and the motif cannot pull loose. It is slow, and it is how we weave every buti.
Face
Fekwa
The zari is thrown from selvedge to selvedge and the floats between motifs are cut away by hand once the cloth is off the loom. It is quicker and lighter, and the cut ends show on the reverse.
A weaver’s vocabulary
- Katan
- Pure silk with the filaments twisted into a firm thread, woven plain. The classic ground of a Banarasi saree.
- Zari
- Metallic thread for brocade. Real zari is silver, flattened and wound around silk, then gilded, or left bright as silver zari against gold-toned silks.
- Kadwa
- Each motif woven separately with its own extra weft, so the reverse stays clean and nothing is cut.
- Fekwa
- Extra weft carried across the full width, with the floats between motifs cut away after weaving.
- Jangla
- A dense all-over jaal of creepers and flowers, named for the wild growth of the jungle.
- Meenakari
- Coloured silk extra weft set within zari motifs, borrowed in spirit from enamel work on gold.
- Tanchoi
- A weft-figured silk worked in several coloured wefts on a satin ground, usually without zari.
- Dhoop chhaon
- Sunshine and shade: warp and weft in different colours, so the silk turns from one to the other.
- Buti, buta, konia
- A small scattered motif, its larger cousin, and the corner motif where the border meets the pallu.
V. The cooperative
A fair price, divided in the open.
A handwoven Banarasi costs what it does because of time: weeks of a master weaver’s hands, silver in the zari, and silk dyed with patience. We publish how the price of every saree is shared, so you can see where your money goes before you spend it.
- The master weaver’s name, woven into the end of the pallu.
- A handwritten loom card stating the days the saree spent on the loom.
- Real silver zari, with a written note of its silver content.
- Free repairs to the weave for as long as the saree is worn.
How the price is shared
The same division applies to every saree we sell. Change the saree on the loom and the figures follow it.
Loom 3
Mohd. Irfan Ansari
Master weaver of kadwa buti, and the third generation of his family at the same pit loom.
Naksha room
Shabana Parveen
Naksha-maker and card-puncher. Every motif in this season’s lookbook passed across her graph paper first.
Loom 9
Ramesh Maurya
Weaves our jangla jaals and broad kinaris, the longest pieces on the cooperative’s looms.
VI. Visit and commission
Come to the looms, or ask us to weave your own.
See sarees on the loom and in daylight at our studio in Sarai Mohana, or join a video viewing from wherever you are. Commissions begin with a 30 per cent advance and a conversation with the weaver who will make your saree.
The Resham Naama studioSarai Mohana, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Viewings by appointment, Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm
Viewings by appointment, Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm