I was never interested in knowing about Artisans behind any designer outfit. We get crazy over any outfit worn by our celebrities, be it a saree or a gown but we never are interested in knowing the hard work behind creation of that dress.
More than a designer’s brand name, we have many other people working behind the screen in creation of these beautiful dresses, who never receive the fame they deserve for and finally credit goes to the brand owners.
Tahir Mujabar, is a name of one of the best handloom weavers we have in our country, who resides in the town of Chanderi Ashoknagar, a district of Madhya Pradesh who faced immense struggle in showcasing his work to the world. Handlooms take a lot of time in weaving, where it takes somewhere around 5 to 25 days in weaving a Handwoven Chanderi Saree.
One day he saw a pattern in a magazine, and thought to experiment with that. He designed a saree with a little improvisation, one with a wide zigzag woven border and an attractive zigzag zari pallu , which gave it very elegant and high society look . He sold that saree to a local wholesaler who sold it further to his luxury showroom clients across metros. His luck favored him this time, this saree was designed by his wife Afroza , and was named after her. People loved these sarees and patterns so much, soon Tahir’s family made the same saree in different colors due to increased demands and trend for the saree.
They also started selling “Afroza Chanderi Saree” on Artsy India, which is a promotion portal of local arts in MP and has helped this family in getting more than a Lakh followers on Facebook.
We all remember Vidya Balan wore the similar patter saree in an episode of Koffee with Karan in 2013 and Kareena Kapoor too wore one in the promotions of “3 Idiots”. Tahir has made over 1000 pieces of this saree in various colors ranging in between Rs. 6000 to Rs. 12500 in showrooms and online portals.
