From Banaras to Ambanis: The brocade and sarees at Radhika Merchant- Anant Ambani wedding

Banarasi brocade and sarees are part of the shopping list for the Radhika Merchant-Anant Ambani wedding.

Dhruv Kumar Pandey, the founder of Shiv Shakti Artisans Private Limited, Banaras told THE WEEK that 650 metres of brocade had been ordered for the pre-wedding festivities and 150 more have been delivered for the wedding.

Pandey works with weavers to add value to their products and to find new markets for them.

The earlier lot of brocade was used to fashion the bags which were gifted to the guests. “Banarasi brocade is immediately recognizable because of its distinctive use of bright colours. It cannot be replicated anywhere else,” said Pandey.

The weave has a GI tag.

The weaving of brocade is labour-intensive and an artisan cannot weave more than two metres of it in a day as it requires great care.

As the order had a short deadline of just 22 days, the fabric was woven on powerlooms.

The fabric was woven in the tanchoi technique and had 28 different motifs. This technique uses multiple colour threads to create layers of designs within the fabric itself. It took 20 weavers working for a month to complete the initial order.

“We only provided the fabric, the designing was done by others”, said Pandey.

For the wedding, Pandey has sent across 22 sarees. Of these, eight are light and airy chiffons while one is an organza that has real zari work on it. Real zari means threads of real silver have been used in its weave.

The weaves for the sarees include jangla- an all over profusion of creepers and flowers—and butis, which have solitary motifs spread throughout the body of the saree. Some of the sarees also have the laborious kadua weave in which the motifs are woven separately from the saree.

All of the above are intricate weaves that cannot be woven more than three to four inches in an eight-hour work shift.

“The organza saree, which is the most expensive, has multiple colours. All I can tell you for now is that the base is grey. More fabrics are on the way. I cannot say much as I have been told to maintain secrecy”, said Pandey.

This saree, which was picked by Nita Ambani took four months to be completed.