1 October 2026From the field1 min read
Thirty-eight days: the arithmetic of an Uppada jamdani
Two weavers, one loom, and a figure built thread by thread against the ground. Where thirty-eight days actually goes.
Read the note →Stories · Field Notes
Notes written on the road
Dispatches from cluster visits, written within days of coming home while the dye is still under the fingernails. Dated and placed, because a note is a record of one visit — the library holds what stays true.
5 notes, newest first
1 October 2026From the field1 min read
Handloom or powerloom: five things to look for
A powerloom saree can pass for handloom in a photograph. In your hands it cannot. Five checks, none of which takes more than a few seconds.
Read the note →1 October 2026From the field2 min read
Two weeks at Bhoodan Pochampally
Ninety minutes east of Hyderabad, a whole town ties and dyes its yarn before it weaves a thread. A fortnight watching the arithmetic of double ikat.
Read the note →1 October 2026From the field1 min read
What the kupadam join actually does
Border and body are two different cloths. In a Gadwal they are locked together on the loom rather than stitched, and that one decision is why the saree outlives the wearer.
Read the note →30 August 2026From the field1 min read
Washing, folding, storing: living with a handloom saree
Handloom cloth wants less than you think. What to do, what to avoid, and the one habit that ruins more sarees than wear ever does.
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