On Thursday, UNESCO released a list of 50 iconic and exclusive heritage textile crafts. There were textiles from Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, and Sambalpur in Odisha selected for the show. They include Toda embroidery and Sungadi, Himroo weaves, and Bandha tie and dye weaving.
Describes the complex and secret processes behind the production of traditional Indian textiles, discusses the reasons for their dwindling popularity, and discusses strategies for preserving them in Handmade for the 21st Century: Safeguarding Traditional Indian Textile.
South Asia faces a huge challenge in safeguarding its intangible cultural heritage due to a lack of proper inventories and documentation, according to UNESCO. These 50 textiles have been selected based on years of research, which has been compiled into a publication that aims to fill this gap.
Awadh Jamdani from Varanasi and Khes from Panipat are some iconic handcrafted textiles documented from north India. There is also Ilkal embroidery from Karnataka, Lambadi or Banjara embroidery from Thanjavur, as well as Sikalnayakanpet Kalamkari from Thanjavur.
There is also a place for the Kunbi weave from Goa, Mashru weaves from Gujarat, Patola from Gujarat, Himroo from Maharashtra and Garad-Koirial from West Bengal on the list of 50 iconic textiles.
