Reviving Grass Mat Weaving with Electronic Jacquard Project at IIT Madras

Reviving the languishing handicrafts of grass mat weaving

Objective

• To establish 3 units of EJH grassmat weaving looms in West Bengal/Tamil Nadu/Kerala as Common Facility Centers (CFC), Train weavers to use EJH, Provide design support, Create market connect, Create a unique brand and promote it, Train local youth for entrepreneurship.

Description

• Ordinary grassmat weaving takes 10 to 20 days to weave. It is also physically challenging, Hence Electronic Jacquard (EJH) handloom introduced by RuTAG is used as a replacement, Advantages include comfort for weavers to use, sophisticated and fine designs, and weaving time reduced to 3 days.

Impact

• Benefits include: Savings per year per weaver (Rs. 1,00,000), Less time taken for weaving, Reduced labour cost, More number of mats per loom per annum.