Six-yard silk wonder stretches up to 700 feet here

A 700-foot Kancheepuram silk saree is the highlight of Silk Utsav 2010 Bangalore, which began at the Gayathri Vihar in Palace Grounds, on Wednesday. The expo, which is on till October 26, will showcase designs from 125 different silk marketers and weavers from across the country.

The specialty of the longest silk saree is that it captures the pride of Pallava architecture, the Mahabalipuram shore temple lashed by sea waves, Arjuna’s penance, lions, elephants, deers, monkeys and celestial beings. Manufactured by Tirunelveli-based RmKV Silks, the pallu portion of the saree alone measures 60 feet. However, the saree is not for sale and is only for exhibition purposes.

“We want to popularise traditional silk sarees amongst the youngsters. With a creation like the longest saree, we hope to attract the people towards silk sarees,” said Sivakumar K, owner of RmKV Silks. 

Another interesting aspect of the silk saree is that it is completely hand-woven. The entire process took 10,000 man hours, six master weavers and 16 craftsmen. A total of Rs45 lakh was spent to weave the longest saree.

“We have already displayed it in Chennai, and I plan to donate the piece to a museum,” added Sivakumar.

The store also has several other attractions, including the use of one lakh colours in a single saree. Combining traditional techniques with technology in dyeing, the saree has been woven in different shades. 

“If a customer likes a saree of a particular shade, we can customise and tailor-make it to his/her specifications,” said Sivakumar.

Other varieties include the Varnajaalam collection, which has been inspired by Victor Vasarely, the originator of Optical Art Varnajaalam. It involves the application of optical art on to a silk saree. The saree is embellished with trendy motifs on a traditional background which makes it exquisite and contemporary for today’s youngsters, explained Sivakumar.

The Lino Light, another collection of hand-woven sarees with the specialty being its light weight has been designed keeping the preference of contemporary women.

“Our research shows that youngsters prefer wearing light-wear sarees. Keeping that in mind, we have made these sarees, which are light, airy and have the sheen of silk,” he said.

The sarees elicited a lot of curiosity, with many customers curious to have a glance at the longest saree which is claimed to be longer than the length of Brigade Road. A number of foreigners too, were seen having a look at the collections.

Dr TH Somashekar, director of Central Silk Board, said that they had encouraged small-time weavers to be part of the exhibition, so that they were exposed to the market.

Minister for energy Shobha Karandlaje, who inaugurated the expo, expressed her happiness over the wide range of collections which would attract more youngsters to silks.