All India Handloom
All India Handloom
Objective: to organize and develop markets within India and overseas for handloom goods produced by its members. To achieve this objective, All India Handloom runs a chain of retail stores in most of the important cities in India - They have around 1100.
Families in small northern villages coordinate their skills to produce woven and decorated articles. On a wooden loom, made by the village carpenter, the senior members of the family weave the cloth. The women of the household, assisted by the children, who roll and separate threads, do the stitching and knotting.
The superb cotton rugs have been woven "since time immemorial" especially for use in the palaces of Rajasthan. Around the start of the 20th century the style was popularized when the enlightened ruler of Bikaner decreed that prison inmates should be given technical training "with view to provide source a of livelihood for the prisoners after getting relieved from the jail, and maintain law and order in the society by reducing mischievous jobs by the people". The simple loom used to weave the rugs made them an ideal choice for this program.
Since then, different neo-classical designs reflecting old themes have flourished, and in the past few decades, the rugs, known locally as Punja Dhurries, have achieved great popularity throughout India and overseas.
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