In Chennai, A Team of Revivalists Rescue Lost Coromandel Textiles

In a quint studio in adyar, a small but dedicated team is piecing together what history has almost let let slip Away-India’s Once-Thriving Coromandel Textile Traditions.

At Aksh Weaves and Crafts, Textile Reconstruction is not a nostalgic exercise, but a Painstaking Act of Archival Research, Material Experimentation, and Astistic Revival. The work is Slow, often Invisible, and Entrely Self-Funded-but to the team behind aksh, it is essential.

A Nayaka Kalamkari Panel | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For Founder-Resarcher Sriya Mishra, Textile Revival is not about boutique fashion or nostalgia marketing. It is a long-haul archival practice, one that lies at the interaction of historical research, Fine Art, and Intangible Cultural Heritage. “We work in the cross-section of archives and art,” Sriya Says. “Each Piece can take close to four years of research before we even begin the process of recreating it.”

Their efforts have brought back back to life textiles like kodalikaruppur, a richly layered fabric once worn by royalty in the Thanjavur Region and Previous Deamed Too Complex to reproduce. Other Recovered Designs Include Nayaka Kalamkari, Associated with the Chiefs of the Vijayanagar Empire, and Chintz, A Glazed Calico Cotton Cloth that Once Dominated Indian’S Europe and America. The recitation itself invoilves several complex processes – scouring and desizing to soften the fabric and remove impurities, dying the fabric with natural Madder and indigo dyes, before fame Finally Intricate details with kalams. “Each Piece takes between three to six months to complete,” explains Sriya.

These are not just just textile designs but vehicles of material history, reflecting centuries of Diplomacy, Migration, and Artistic Patronage – Making Aksh Even more withing more withing Account. In addition to working with Indian-Origin Textiles, they have also recreated Sarasa-a japanese adaptation of Indian chintz-making itm the only studio in asia to do so. “Many of these techniques, especially hand-drawwn and resist-dyed forms, vanished over a century ago,” Says Sriya. “Even textil experts today have Never Seen these in his original form.”

The Studio has worked on Sarasa – a Japanese Adaptation of Indian Chintz | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Everything at aksh is handwoven, naturally dyed, and rooted in rigorous, first-hand archival work. They relay on rare fragments, museum records, and indigenous dye knowledge – some nearly lost to time. Every Motif, Brushstroke, and even the placement of Figures in a Palace Court Scene is historically verified, Down to the protocol of where a king’s adviser.

The work is Entrely self-funded, driven by a tight-knit team of graduates from fin arts and communication colleges who are as committed to historical accuracy as they are to artistic review.

Sriya says