Parulben

Namaste! My name is Parulben Siju and I live in a very small village called "Avadhnagar" on Bhuj-Bhachau Highway. I live along with my mother, father, 2 brothers, their wives, 2 sisters, 3 nephews and 1 niece. I am 23 years old and have studied upto 10th standard.

Since 2018, I am weaving . My elder brother is a weaver and watching him weaving, I always wanted to weave myself but girls generally don't weave in my community besides I also have more household duties everyday. However I got wonderful opportunity to learn weaving from my elder sister Rasilaben and brother in law Hareshbhai Manodhiya who are members of "United Artisans of Kutch"

Once I stayed with them for about 3 weeks and during that period I learned basics of handloom weaving. It took me more than 2 years to learn each and every step of hand loom weaving.

Now I'm fully independent and confident weaver. Now whatever designs/motifs I'm given, I could weave comfortably and also learning to create some new designs/motifs myself.

Right now I'm weaving Organic Cotton Stoles on my current loom. Previously I have woven various fabrics using wool, silk and regular cotton yarns. In near future I'm intending to weave Shawls. I'm thankful to my sister and brother in law for this invaluable gift of teaching me hand loom weaving and I'm so proud to be among a few women weavers of Kutch and now a member of "United Artisans of Kutch"

Some years ago, it was my hobby and now my profession. I wish to inspire some other young girls in my community to learn traditional weaving along with household duties so that they can also contribute to their families financially as well.

My dream is to go abroad someday as a weaver.

Thank you,

Parulben.