Handlooms in Bhutan - A camaraderie of weaving

The artist has very little composition freedom. However, weaving which is considered a woman's prerogative is not bound by such rules. The freedom to experiment with colours, designs and methods has provided women an outlet for their artistic skill, which has found expressions in production of beautiful fabrics. Weaving for a bhutanese woman is akin to meditation rather than a tedious activity.
With a rich legacy of weaving handed down from one generation to the other, Bhutanese weavers have been able to preserve the centuries old craft in its traditional form. Weaving activities also includes dyeing. The dyes used are usually vegetables or mineral and are made by weaver themselves. Like the weaving techniques, the recipes for extracting dyes from indigenous plants or stones are closely guarded family secrets revealed only to the members of the family.
A woman weaver's chores are interwined with raising a family and farming. Her work place is either the front porch of the house or the dedicated weaving room. Working on the household loom, she weaves different kinds of fabric. Each of these has a name which describes combination of yarn, colours and pattern. One such fabric is called hingtham translated as 'heartwoven'. According to the traditions of a weaver's family, it is either used for her family or for religious purposes such as making robes for clay statues or wall hangings. Her ancestors would have woven the same patterns for her family and also for the lama.
But today, for augmenting the family income, she produces commercial Tsongtham fabric which is sold directly or through cooperatives in the open market.
At present 240 weavers from Bumthang supplement their household income by selling the fabrics produced by them to the tourist Shops. The intricate weaving and elaborate motifs of the fabrics are highly valued by connoisseurs of textiles, the world over.
A seasoned weaver from the very look of the fabric would identify the district from where it came. Eastern Bhutan, the home of Bhutan's most celebrated weavers, is the largest producers of hand looms. Several distinct patterns and designs have been evolved in this region. From Bumthang in Bhutan's central corridor come striped and plaid woolens known as Yathra. Merak and Sakten on the eastern border produce functional textiles like ropes and bags from yak hair and blankets and clothings from Sheep's wool. Raw wild silk imported from the bordering Indian states is woven in to fabrics with traditional intricate designs for Jackets an Kiras( female dress). Almost all patterns are woven by th e brocade technique, in which yarn is picked up with hand tools that leave thick calluses on the weaver's fingers.

Though all the tourist admire Bhutanese textiles,there are a  few who visit Bhutan only to have a first hand experience of the country's weaving culture One such person is Kay Flynn, an accomplished textile designer from Bend, Oregon. An avid weaver herself, she is interested in textiles of different parts of the world. In 2003, she spent 2 weeks in Bhutan visiting different weaving centres. One of the Queen's personal weaver taught her indigenous weaving techniques. So impressed by the country's weaving traditions, she came to the conclusion that the few ancient traditions that still exist on this planet might be better left intact.
" Weaving in the world outside Bhutan has gone very much high tech," said Kay. "While Bhutanese weavers use mainly backstrap  looms and some floor looms with harness for simple patterning, the modern world of weaving uses "compu - dobby' looms that interface with computers enabling the weavers to create pattern with the click of the mouse. These modern looms makes the weavers faster at their craft, but they cause demise of culture by diluting the traditions that were built over centuries. If the Bhutanese modernize the looms, they will lose the traditions of friends and family siting around gossiping, spinning, weaving and dyeing with the sounds of children playing nearby. I call it the camaraderie of weaving, the comfort of friendship produced by creating art together."
What Kay said is so true. If weavers in Bhutan take to modern looms, the world will lose the last vestige of a wonderful tradition. The people deserve the comforts of modernization  and winds of change are blowing in Bhutan. However, the Bhutanese weavers should maintain their textile heritage for the sake of future generations of Bhutanese women. Not for economic gain but for the 'camaraderie of weaving'