Five years and counting! Yes, Earthy Hues has been successfully and exclusively dealing with Banana fibre products for the last 5 years. Many find it unbelievable that such beautiful and unique products can be made out of banana fibre. We are often asked what banana fibre is and how it’s made. Here’s hoping that this article would answer those questions.
A number of clusters (consisting of women artisans) in different villages (mainly in Karnataka) are involved in the making of banana fibre fabric. Once the fruits are harvested, the bark from the banana trees are collected from different villages and brought to the workshop. The variety of banana trees that are usually used for this purpose are Rasa Palay, Putta Palay and Nendran. However, the first two varieties are more frequently used. The bark turns into fibre in the hands of the highly experienced artisans.
The fibre is made into yarn using the spinning wheel. This yarn is then hand-woven or handloomed on the traditional loom to make the banana fibre fabric. Hence, this process needs no electricity consumption. At times, while looming, other natural fibres like river grass, hibiscus etc are used to give a different look and texture to the fabric. Mostly cotton threads of varied colours are used as warp.
Weaving/looming banana fibre fabric is time-consuming and needs a lot of skill. It’s easy to make numerous products in a day in a mechanized industry but, it takes many days of meticulous effort to create handmade and hand loomed banana fibre products. The entire process is extremely rigorous.
Earthy Hues is a design house which specializes in banana fibre products. The products are conceptualized and designed by the Earthy Hues team of Rekha Rajagopal and Maya Ajay. At Earthy Hues, banana fibre fabric is used with fabrics like silk, kalamkari, cotton, ikkat etc. to make the products look attractive and contemporary. The fabric for this purpose is sourced from different places and many a times, directly from the weavers.
Eco friendly, biodegradable products have been gaining wide acceptance in the recent times. Earthy Hues aims to create awareness regarding eco-friendly banana fibre products and in the process, find a market for these products.
We, at Earthy Hues cater to those who appreciate the hard work and aesthetics involved in creating banana fibre products. Extremely versatile and durable, the scope of banana fibre fabric is immense.
Earthy Hues products are available at
Online: . www.earthyhues.in • www.facebook.com/earthyhues/shop • www.sellfie.me/earthyhues • www.unfactory.in/marketplace/seller/profile/earthyhues Boutique:
• Cannanore, Inorbit Mall,Whitefield, Bangalore • Metamorphosis, Indiranagar, Bangalore • Ayurvedagram, Whitefield, Bangalore
