Indian Textile Products

C. R. Avenue, Kolkata, West Bengal

Carpet weaving on handlooms came into vogue during the last decade and is gaining popularity since the product is attractive and comparatively cheap. Unlike hand knotted and tufted carpets, the productivity of carpets on handlooms is high and free from allegations of child labour. Hathras in Uttar Pradesh is famous for the manufacture of these Chennile pile rugs. Among the handloom centers in North India producing floor coverings, Panipat is famous for durries and other heavy varieties where hand-spun yarns are increasingly used.

Handkotted pure silk Carpets are renowned for suppleness and softness and fine workmanship in the world. The material composition is 80% silk yarn and 20% cotton yarn with knottage 400 knots and above per square inch. Produced in Kashmir, these carpets display a fine workmanship and intricate designs of a kind. The designs vary from intricate motifs and patterns inspired from nature to hunting scenes, bird and animal motifs or thematic designs like historical romances.

Hand-knotted Gabbe Woollen Carpets portray a unique tradition of Tribal Design. The continuity of superb artistic tradition of Tribals have made these carpets a product of a living and thriving art. The raw material composition of these carpets is generally 75% wool and 25% cotton.

The handmade Tufted Woollen Carpets are produced with the help of tufting guns. A good quality fabric is used for a desired pile density and number of stitches per square inch. The variety of designs and colours used in these carpets make them a feast to one's eyes. Panipat is main carpet producing centre of Tufted Woollen Carpets.

Floor coverings have been made from textile fibers for more than five thousand years. India produces a wide range of handloom cotton floor coverings such as 'galichas', 'durries', druggets, prayer rugs, hooked rugs, 'gabbas' and 'namdas'. Among these hand-woven articles the durrie is the most common and is used not only as an ordinary floor covering but also for ceremonial occasions such as feasts and prayers. The rapid growth and progress of the floor covering industry in recent years has resulted in a large range of complex geometrical, floral, figurative patterns as well as traditional designs combined with ethnic motifs. With the recent American demand, durrie weaving has become a large industry in India. 90% of the durries available in European and American markets are woven in India. The states of Haryana and Punjab are noted for their production of picturesque cotton durries. Durrie weaving is still a sizable cottage Industry in the handloom centers in Haryana, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Pathankot. Other centers for durrie weaving are Bhavani in Tamilnadu, Amroha, Agra, Farrukhabad and Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, Bikaner in Rajasthan, Eluru, Adoni, Warrangal and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and Jagdalpur in Madhya Pradesh. '

Staple/Synthetic carpets are synthetic handknotted carpets with a feel of silk. These finely knotted carpets (256 knots per square inch) imbibe all the aesthetic characteristics of classical and contemporary designs and colours.