Banarasi Sarees: How The Panaya Is Carrying Varanasi’s Looms Forward
Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 1: For more than five hundred years, the narrow lanes of Varanasi have echoed with the rhythmic clatter of handlooms. In small homes and family workshops along the Ganges, weavers sit for days, sometimes weeks, coaxing silk and gold thread into patterns their grandfathers once wove. The result is one of India’s most recognised textiles – the Banarasi saree. Few brands have stayed as close to this original process as The Panaya, which works directly with weaving families in Varanasi rather than mass-market suppliers.This is not a quick craft. A single saree can take anywhere from fifteen days to six months to complete, depending on the intricacy of its design. Understanding what goes into that time, and how a brand like The Panaya fits ...