DESCRIPTION An effort was made to reengineer the non usable wooden charkha into spindle driven winding machine where the metal axle of wooden charkha was replaced by spindle whorl and converted into hand operated spindle driven winding... more

Long considered as an exotic weave, in the eyes of designer’s and consumers alike, Ikat in its Bandha avatar in Odisha has really grown into the gold standard. The design expertise and finesse of work here has rendered it as a veritable classic. And now designers are looking at it in a whole different light. Today it is used as a mainstream high fashion textile. But it has still a lot of ground to cover to become an indomitable force. Opportunities have also brought forth the challenges that need to be addressed first. For long, this weave had been seen as a heritage textile by the weavers, who pass on the knowhow from one generation to another, leaning closer to be used in classic style Indian attire like saris. Those who feel a little less adventurous are taking the design ethos of the fabric and turning it on its head. Engineered combinations of two or more motif/pattern styles come into play to shed the old-school single ideology weave. In recent memory, a lot of fashion shows by reputed designers were focused on Ikat.This paper will highlight the areas related to contemporary styling and how the traditional motif/pattern style are manupulated by different desiners throughout the world.Looking at the enourmus potential of Ikat application there is need to have an eye towards adressing the issue of productivity also by which we can asses the socioeconomic growth and able to provde better solutions to ikkat weavers community.
Key Words: Bandha,Ikat,Motif, Pattern,Weave,Community