Fashion designer gives creative input to weavers | Thiruvananthapuram News

Thiruvananthapuram: Sanjana Jon, an international fashion designer based in New York, will extend her design skills to ATBM weavers in Balaramapuram through the Center for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA).
Sanjana held detailed discussions with C Suersh Kumar, secretary general, CISSA, and voluntarily expanded her creative input and network worldwide for the revival of the industry, thus ensuring a respectable income for traditional weavers. The ace designer is looking at celebrity styling at the upcoming Oscars maybe next March, which will be a golden opportunity to go national to international for Balaramapuram handloom.
“It is time for the Balaramapuram industry with all its ethnicities to get out of the shackles of conventional wisdom. Balaramapuram handloom sarees and other fabrics need to be rearranged to attract the attention of the international fashion world,” he said.
To make this happen, Sanjana will visit a weaving village in Balaramapuram within a month with her innovation to be combined with ATBM cloth to make it a sought-after work of art rather than a simple piece of cloth. Sanjana’s involvement in the handicrafts of Balaramapuram will inspire hundreds of little weavers, including the women who weave this extraordinary piece of art for generations, mostly from their homes. CISSA has laid out grand plans for the revival of the ailing industry to take it to the international level, ensuring better livelihoods and advanced intellectual input.
In collaboration with the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), they have devised an ambitious plan to revive the ailing ATBM weaving industry by forming a producing company with around 500 ATBM weavers in the backyard. The member craftsmen with one hand loom struggled to make a living from the odd profession for two centuries.
“Our association with Sanjana Jon is ready to take Balaramapuram weavers to new heights,” said C Suresh Kumar, secretary general, CISSA.