Nearing extinction: The Patola of Patan

 

The ikat weave is available throughout the world in many continents but the double ikat, in which the weft and the warp both are dyed is found only in Indonesia, Japan and of course, India.

In Patan, Gujarat, you find the patola of the most intricate kind. The dyes used to color the threads never fade, not even after 300 years. The process of dyeing itself takes more than 4-5 months. It can take 7-8 months for one sari to be produced highly because of the fact that even if two weavers work together, they cannot produce anything more than 9 inches a day. A design for a patola can be repeated only after a period of 150 years, that too, if it is executed cyclically. The Salvi clan in Patan is the only competent clan left to take this skill forward. Two brothers, Rohit and Bharat Salvi, are now the only ones that still weave the sari.

The pricing starts at around 1.5 lakh INR. And by the way, you cannot place an order for this on a whim because the waiting list is 6 years long to say the least.

 The patola made its ramp debut last year in designer Deepika Govind's  collection at the Lakme Fashion Week.