KERELA HANDLOOM

The coastal district of Calicut, traditionally known as Kozhikode is located in the northern part of kerala. The Malayalam term Kozhikode means, fortified Palace, the Calico is derived form the name Calicut.
The British, the Portuguese and the French, have traded with this small coastal town since the 15th century, one of the main products, was the cotton, handloom fabrics that this little town produced. During the 19th century the British nourished the handloom industry ,and the weavers ,learned new techniques from them ,Weaving factories ,were set up in calicut ,the word calico derives from the name of the town Calicut ,as this fabric was unique to this area ,and was renowned for its fineness of yarns ,the fabrics ,were normally worn by the royalty. The main communities engaged in this craft are Saliyas and devangas. One thing in common that the crafts of kerala have is that they have been perfected through the dedicated hands of the crafts men

Before the introduction of mechanized means of spinning in the early 19th century , Indian cottons were hand spun, and hand woven, it was called Khadi,Fabrics that use mill mill-spun yarn but which are hand woven are known as handloom

Handlooms uniquely retain the ability to customize and improvise small scale fabrics, such as furnishings, like rugs, mats etc and at the same time can also do extremely fine light weight fabrics .thus the customer’s tastes, their originality and individual fabric design is retained and not mass produced
Nift Chennai, works with the Kozhikode cluster, with weavers from the districts of Quilandy, Vadakkara and Kozhikodethat of the gulf countries, such as kuwait and Oman, where these are exported to in large quantity.

URU BOAT

Uru or dhow as it is popularly called is being manufactures in India for centuries .it is recognized world over .but none of the recognition or acknowledgement falls for India or kerala or the small village of Beypore where it is being done since ages, the craft is being recognized as that of the gulf countries, such as Kuwait and Oman, where these are exported to in large quantities.
the uru was traditionally an Arabian vessel/ship used by Arab traders, The early URU were gigantic vessels created meticulously by nailing together well planed planks of timber, with a team of fifty men taking at least four years to complete a vessel.
The show piece uru of today, originated from scale models of larger vessels serving as samples of the models, gradually these samples gained recognition as show items because of their intricate aesthetics. The Uru is also known as PAYUMARA KAPPAL, since it sails according to the direction of the wind.
The different kinds of uru are The BAGGARAH, Al BADAN, SOHAR, THE SHU’I, SNV SHABAB OMAN, SWEN Al SAMBUQ, etc
The primary material used is timber, which is abundant in this coastal village; the main wood is Teak Wood.

There is a need to innovate the designs and probably ,give it an Indian characteristic, and aesthetics ,so that it is appealing to a wider international ,as well as domestic market .and make this craft also be associated with Indian soil.