Weaving at Rehwa
| Photo Credit: Oskar Hallgrimsson
On a misty February afternoon, when the mammoth Jaipur Literature Festival was underway in another part of the city, I found designer Tahir Sultan busy working on a textile-based sculpture. We were at the boutique hotel, 28 Kothi, the venue for The Handloom School’s Threads of Tomorrow, a conclave where conversations centred around the world of handloom via fashion and art, as well as its patronage. Sultan’s Narmada in Motion was joined by three other artworks, including Morning Ritual by visual artist Rachana Devidayal. Crafted from Maheshwari silk, Sultan’s sculpture was an experiment in matting textile and structure — his interpretation of the river Narmada cascading down from Lord Shiva’s brow.
Tahir Sultan
“It is much harder to make than it looks,” he later admitted. Powered by the Maheshwar-based non-profit, WomenWeave, the baithaks (salons that encourage social discussions) brought together thought leaders and were moderated by Anuradha Singh of Nila House, Hema Shroff Patel of Amba and Srila Chatterji of the design gallery, 47-A. Topics ranged from the impact of textile art on the livelihoods of handloom weavers to the pros and cons of the fashion industry. But the biggest takeaway was how philanthropy via grants and loans could help craftsmen in a rapidly modernising world.
Yeshwant Rao Holkar, whose mother, Sally Holkar founded WomenWeave in 2000, and launched The Handloom School in 2013, said, “In the past decade, we’ve trained over 150 weavers. The goal is to make weaving not just a profession but an aspiration for future generations.” Yeshwant was born into a legacy of design and textiles. His ancestor, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar (the queen of Indore), was responsible for bringing various weaving communities to Maheshwar, a laid-back town in Madhya Pradesh that soon found its identity through Maheshwari silk, a textile synonymous with the region. Three centuries later, Yeshwant is at the helm of Rehwa Society, a weaving initiative his parents — Richard (Shivajirao Holkar) and Sally (Shalini Devi Holkar) — started in 1978 to revive Maheshwari silk.
“Rehwa is deeply personal,” Yeshwant said. “It’s about honouring Ahilyabai’s legacy while keeping this beautiful craft and its weavers thriving.” Efforts have been taken to document and study age-old crafts like Garbh Reshmi (the handwoven mulberry silk) and the cotton-on-cotton Maheshwari sari and keep these techniques alive.
Yeshwant Rao Holkar
| Photo Credit:
Takulia
Global game-changers
Sultan, whose concept store Makaan has become a popular address in Jaipur, observed that 2025 marks a shift in how fashion approaches textiles. “The conversations are increasingly not about trends but about their source, the technique, and the conditions in which they are woven. Textiles have always been more than just fabric,” he said. “They tell stories, carry history and shape culture.” With all the hype around Indian textiles now, people forget that they have been global game-changers for a long time, he went on to observe. “Take chintz [the glazed cotton fabric that originated in Golconda], which revolutionised British society, and jamavar shawls [the iconic Kashmiri weave], which the French coveted. Meanwhile, Japanese designers are still studying our dyeing and weaving techniques. Historically, we were ahead of the game in terms of design and quality,” he said.
A textile sculpture
Many Indian designers have successfully reflected the diversity of Indian textiles on a global stage. One of Sultan’s favourites was Dior’s embroidered tapestries, inspired by Madhvi and Manu Parekh’s paintings and created with the help of artisans at India’s Chanakya School of Craft for the spring/summer 2022 runway show at Paris Haute Couture Week. Another was the 2023 textile exhibition, Vayan, curated by Lekha Poddar, which showcased ‘the art of Indian brocades’ at Delhi’s Crafts Museum.
Rehwa’s delicate balance
So what does keeping an age-old craft alive in a rapidly evolving world take? Talking about the delicate balance between innovation and preservation and Rehwa’s success with Maheshwari, Yeshwant credited a big part of it to collaborations with “brilliant designers”. “We’ve been fortunate to work with talented names like Chelna Desai and, more recently, Mira Mehta. Mira developed a beautiful line of saris that are very subtle in design and colour palette but still distinctly Maheshwari.”
A weaver at Rehwa
| Photo Credit:
Oskar Hallgrimsson
Recognising that saris and turbans are now mostly occasion wear, they have adapted. “We’ve expanded Maheshwari textiles’ use to table linens, curtains, and upholstery,” Yeshwant said, adding that an upcycling programme has been introduced “to turn gently worn Maheshwari fabrics into hugely popular accessories”. At Ahilya Experiences, his luxury boutique hotel chain, Maheshwari fabrics extend to blinds, curtains, pillow covers, and kimonos in the rooms. Textile tours are also offered at Ahilya Fort, where visitors can experience Maheshwari weaving firsthand.
The architect turned freelance journalist writes about travel, culture and design.
Published – February 28, 2025 12:34 pm IST
