Museum for Patola- ancient tie & dye art

21 Feb '07

2 min read

Patan-based Salvi family, the only exponent of the 800-year-old legacy of Patola (textile dyeing art) have planned to set up a museum in Patan to preserve the intricate form of double Ikat weaving.

The family has acquired 1,600 sq yds of land near Rani-ki-vav in this small north Gujarat town.

Project is still in initial stages and will take a couple of years to come up, said Rohitbhai Salvi.

Museum would display samples of Ikat collected from Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, the US. These would be different types of Ikat weaving practiced in those countries, Rohitbhai informed.

Patola is practiced in other countries like Japan, Indonesia China and Iran but double Ikat is a specialty of Patan.

A double Ikat saree takes about 4-6 months to be woven and the design is alike on both the sides, so it can be worn both ways. The price starts from Rs90,000 and goes up to Rs5 lakh.

The dyeing procedure involves dyeing warp and weft silk threads that are tied separately with cotton thread on the portions already marked out according to the proposed design. Portion that is tied remain unexposed to colour while dyeing.

The Salvi family also plans to build a small residential complex near the museum where tourists and foreigners can stay, said Bharatbhai Salvi.

Longstanding feud between Salvi family settled in Patan and Rajkot have rejected attempts to patent this 'dyeing' technique.

A nationwide initiative launched by the Textiles Committee under its cluster development programme has launched an initiative to bring traditional products under intellectual property protection by registering them under Geographical Indications (GI) of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

The GI tag ensures protection of the product from unfair competition and counterfeit.

Rohitbhai informed that they would agree to patenting if Patan-based Salvi family is considered its sole exponents.

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