I had a great time with my friends in office. I used to go down every day after my lunch and that was my favorite place for clicking photos. We used to have a lot of fun together. I have a lot of memories of my office days. These photos popped up in my Google memories today. , and it made me remember of how it was. 

Here I am wearing a authentic Dhakai Jamdani, a purchase from a store of Dhaka during my last trip to Bangladesh.

Dhakai Jamdani is named after the city of Dhaka, one of most ancient textile weaving centers in Bangladesh,. Dhakai Jamdani from Bangladesh are the original and the finest sarees with the most elaborate workmanship. This is a supplementary weft technique of weaving, where the artistic motifs are produced by a non-structural weft, in addition to the standard weft that holds the warp threads together. The standard weft creates a fine, sheer fabric while the supplementary weft with thicker threads adds the intricate patterns to it. . The pattach work thus created is unparalleled. It is possible to create intricate designs with the supplementary weft. The designs can be floral, geometric or abstract. . There are many distinct patterns in this weave that are created by placing different points of the warp threads on different parts of the loom. The warp threads are divided into horizontal lines. The wefts are added at different parts of the horizontal lines. The patterns formed by this technique are referred to as the pattach.

It is one of the most time and labour-intensive forms of hand loom weaving, and is considered one of the finest varieties of the artistic textile of Bangladeshi weavers. The warp and weft, which are made of handspun cotton, demand exacting, painstakingly repetitive weaving. The textile is not dyed, and, because the warp is tighter than the weft, the fabric takes a shape of its own. , showing the weave, with a hard, bare hand-spun cotton warp and a soft, fine, handspun cotton weft. The finished product is soft; the fabric counts a single thread in thickness (dhar) of approximately five thousand spi (seven thousand spi is the highest quality). ”.

Now a days I see many brands selling Indian Jamdanis in the name of Dhakai Jamdani or simply Dhakai, some of them are not even handloom. There is no harm in selling those sarees, but it is unfair and unethical to misguide the customers and cheat them by selling wrong products. Authentic Dhakai Jamdanis are rarely available in India and available only in some genuine places. And the price is also quite high compared to the Indian ones because of its labour intensive technique. Dhakai Jamdani is never available in cheaper price. So gather some knowledge about the product before you purchase something from such sellers. . .  this will not just help us to get the right product but also helps the artisans community that are keeping the tradition alive.

Papiya Bhattacharjee

Entrepreneur, Perfluencer, Saree Enthusiast, Photographer, Traveler

To know more about her and her stories : https://www.instagram.com/papiyas.loom.story/