The tie and dye ikat designs of Kolanupaka Bixapathi were also exhibited at Lakme Fashion Show in Paris which was conducted three weeks back.
Yadadri-Bhongir:
A sixty-year-old weaver Kolanupaka Bixapathi, who has created more than 1,000 designs for tie and dye ikat handlooms, is setting an example for other weavers by receiving higher prices for his products than his counterparts’. Innovative designing and dying methods have helped in fetching a good price for his clothes, nearly 30 per cent more than the price other weavers could get in the market.
Tie and dye ikat curtains prepared by Laxmipathi were used as door and window curtains at White House in US for five years. He received the order from Mumbai Export Company that supplied it to the US government.
Receiving inspiration, other weavers at Vellanki village of Ramannapet mandal in Yadadri-Bhongir district are also switching over to innovative methods to get the best price for their produce.
The tie and dye ikat designs of Kolanupaka Bixapathi were also exhibited at Lakme Fashion Show in Paris which was conducted three weeks back.
He also set up an exclusive shop of his designs in New Delhi which gets seven to eight foreign visitors daily.
Speaking to Telangana Today, Bixapathi said that he had set up Surya Textile in New Delhi in 2012 but had incurred a loss of Rs 80 lakh due to a fire accident in 2014. After a gap of four months, he renovated the shop with a lot of hardships. He has been getting orders from export companies as his tie and dye ikat designs have a high demand in foreign countries. He was surprised when a German woman, who visited his shop in New Delhi, told him that a piece of his design, which costs less than Rs 10,000 here, was selling in US at Rs 80,000.
Bixapathi, who has a habit of adopting the latest technology in the textile sector, also learnt to manufacture Jakat, used for weaving high cost saris and successfully complete an order of 200 Jakat boxes from a Chennai-based firm. Laxmipathy is trying to invent a machine for rubber rolling yarn in Ikat methods which is now made manually. He informed that he would use Aso Reactive Dies (Chemicals without Benzene) for preparation of the cloth as foreigners would also prefer it as it would not cause skin related problems.
Moggam weavers
Expressing happiness over the State’s initiatives to promote handloom sector, he felt that the initiatives have started showing results as weavers were reversing to moggams again.
He felt that there would always be demand for handlooms if the weavers ensure good design and quality in clothes. He stated that he migrated to Yallanki from Chandoor in the year 2008 due to problems of availability of workers. When I come to the village, the weavers were selling the bedsheets at Rs 100-150, which would not meet their daily requirements. He found that the weavers were using low-quality yarn. When he explained the local weavers that they can get better price by using quality yarn, the weavers’ works began fetching of Rs 600 per bedsheet, he added.
He suggested the government to conduct awareness programmes on new technologies and market trends for weavers as it would help them receive benefits.
source: http://www.telanganatoday.com / Telangana Today / Home> Telangana> Yadadri Bhongir / by Srinivas P / December 27th, 2017