From Naval Wives Welfare Association to working with rural women, how Kiran Singh revived Punjab’s traditional hand-woven Khes

As the wife of a naval officer, Kiran R Singh moved with her husband wherever he was posted. She worked with wives of navy personnel during her husband’s posting in Mumbai and Kochi and taught them how to embroider, crochet and make laces. 

“Being a member of the Naval Wives Welfare Association, we also taught them computers and candle making. Working with them made me realise that these women, though from a rural background, were very talented,” says Kiran, who studied at Lawrence School, Sanawar in Himachal Pradesh.

In 1999, her husband retired prematurely from the Navy and the couple returned to his ancestral village Balwar in Punjab’s Sangrur district. At that time, they had small kids. “We lived on our farm and our staff came from nearby villages. Their families were dependent only on agriculture and there was no other source of income. I would ask the women to show me the handicraft work they did at home during their free time.”

The women were excellent in crocheting and in 2004, Kiran started training them in embroidery to empower them with an additional source of income. “I taught them cross-stitch embroidery, gave them threads and a design drawn on paper so they could take the work home. I would give them embroidery work for tea linens and they would bring it back whenever they completed it,” she recollects.

Also Read: How Khamir is preserving the traditional crafts of Kachchh

While Kiran started with just four women, the number increased to 40 within a month. “This was the first generation of women earning from handicraft and their children also started picking up the art. School girls would do it during holidays,” Kiran says. 

Today, that small initiative to empower rural women through handcrafted items has metamorphosed into Balwaar (named after Balwar village), an enterprise reviving the artisanal heritage of Punjab through hand-woven durries, khes and embroidered home décor items.

Back when Kiran started, she would participate in one or two exhibitions in a year in Chandigarh with crochet shawls, embroidered cushions, handcrafted blankets etc.

Also Read: This Assam couple quit jobs to promote forest conservation through handlooms

Reviving Khes

While working on crafts, Kiran realised that Punjab’s traditional handmade Khes (a cotton bedspread) had almost gone out of use due to obsolete designs, and the onslaught of power looms. 

Khes is a thick cloth woven on handloom. Women in Punjab have been weaving khes as part of their wedding trousseau for hundreds of years. 

The bride takes ‘bistar’ or ‘bistro’ that includes a dhurrie, a woven charpoy, a cotton mattress, a thick ‘chetai’ and khes (either 11 or 21 or 51) which keep warm in winter and cool in summer.

“When I researched and asked people, I was shocked that khes was not being woven anymore. Earlier two to three women in each village were involved in weaving durries and khes.” Today, they are made in power looms, loosely woven with coarse yarn.

Also Read: Lajwanti Chabra: The woman who took Punjab’s folk embroidery Phulkari to the nooks & corners of India 

Kiran realised that the craft was on the verge of extinction and began to look for handloom weavers familiar with khes weaving. “Sometime in 2015, I found a weaver. Around the same time, I was visiting my friends in Kochi and one of them, Sangeeta Sen, is a designer from NID. I discussed khes with her and she came to Balwar,” says Kiran.

Along with Sangeeta, another of Kiran’s friends Priya RP Singh, a trainer, came and liked the work already being done at Balwaar. 

The duo trained 18 women in durrie weaving and then in khes weaving. 

“I found a woman who helped me set up the traditional pit loom and other processes. She trained another five women in 2017. In 2018, we worked on quality, yarn, weaving, and building up a stock and we were ready with a traditional product that was being forgotten in Punjab’s households,” Kiran says.

Also Read: Ten handloom weaving traditions of India

Five women were weaving khes on slow looms at Balwaar at that time and 15 were involved in weaving durries. Balwaar showcased its handwoven khes and other products at the Dastkaar Vasant Mela in 2020 and got a brilliant response, piquing the interest of big exporters and designers.

However, Covid stuck the next month and the work had to stop for a few weeks. The lockdown was not prolonged in rural areas. “We had a stock of yarn so these women could work and support their families when their men were out of work due to COVID,” she says.

Expansion and revival

With increasing demand for Khes, Kiran went to the Weaver Services Centre in Panipat, where she was guided to bigger looms on which weaving was quicker. “Women could make one khes in a day. I got a loom for every weaver for Rs30,000 each,” she says.

Subsequently, Kiran refurbished four looms which were lightweight to cut down costs. “As we set up and the women got trained, I received an order of 45 pieces from a woman setting up a business in New York. This was around October 2020,” Kiran says.

Since then, there has been no looking back. 

“The weavers now earn Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 per month. We have trained many women since then,” Kiran says.

Now, Balwaar has 29 looms. It sells handwoven Khes, durries, embroidered table linen and cushion covers and handcrafted charpoys, within India and also receives orders from overseas markets. While the charpoys are priced at Rs12,000, Khes start at Rs8,400 per piece while tea linen has a price tag of Rs5,000. 

Empowerment through girls’ education

Punjab’s traditional textile art is regaining its lost glory, thanks to Kiran’s efforts. Another major impact of Kiran’s return to her ancestral roots has been the education of girls.

Also Read: Sakhi for Girls' Education: 100% pass, zero dropouts among girls in Mumbai slums

“While working with women, I learned that they were not sending their daughters to school after class 8 as the private school for higher classes was in another village. My husband and I got their education sponsored through family and friends and put many children back into school,” she says.

Many of these girls are the first generation to attend college, pursue post-graduation and get a job. 

“When girls started studying, boys started going to school,” says Kiran with contentment.  

When higher education in private colleges became exorbitant, we helped them to get admission into government colleges. We sponsored the transport for them since these colleges were in nearby towns. Now, there is so much awareness that youngsters are going to universities, pursuing advanced courses and looking after themselves,” she says happily.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in business, financial, and socio-economic reporting)

Also Read: This IITian quit job to revive ecofriendly handwoven dhurries; brings artisans back to the 2000-year-old craft

Look up our YouTube Channel