Bamboo works, silk stoles display culture of north-eastern states

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 23

The handicrafts from seven north-eastern states of the country are on display for city lovers with a taste for handlooms from the north east.

The exhibition, which started on March 17, has been showcasing the cultural goods of the North East and has on offer everything from Meghalaya bamboo work to waistcoats of the Miri tribe, Assamese Nuni Silk and Mulberry Silk stoles with ethnic hand embroideries as well as loads of bamboo artworks, furniture and masks to choose from. With 30 stalls, the exhibition will go on until March 26.

Kim Shona (47), an entrepreneur from Guwahati, who sits at her stall offering woollen and cotton waistcoats, flaunts a big banner bearing her name as a Limca Book of Records holder in 2014. Showing a video on youtube in which she stitches a woollen scarf at lightning speed, Kim says, “I started knitting at the age of five. My mother taught me. Our technique is different, not the usual knitting style.”

Born at Manipur, she moved to Guwahati after her wedding, where her name flourished as she was famous being the fastest knitter around. In 2014, she received the Fastest Knitter honour from the Limca Book of Records.

“I can sew little socks for kids within 15 minutes, a woollen blouse in two hours and an entire sweater in six hours. It makes me feel proud and with my husband’s support, I have been expanding the business taking it to many other places. It was at my son’s insistence that my video was uploaded on youtube and it has added impetus to my work,” Kim adds.

At a stall nearby, Nong Seig sells cane and bamboo artifacts made from Meghalayan bamboo. Primarily used as decorative items, his stall features decorative bamboo pitchers, cup-plates, wall hangings among other items. Starting out in 1995, Nong Seig, now based in Guwahati, has been reaching out across other states with her husband.

Apart from this, embroidered shawls and stoles from Nagaland, Assam, among other states also remain a rage. A special attraction of the exhibition remains the Nuni Silk, Tusser Silk shawls and stoles worth Rs 4,500 and Mulberry Silk stoles worth Rs 2,500. The hand woven shawls feature ethnic embroidery done by hands in the traditional north eastern styles.