New Wave Paithani

The New Wave Paithani festival is an annual exhibition with a 30-year-old history. Every year the exhibition showcases a wide range of Paithani Sarees, other regional outfits, and accessories.

Paithani sarees dates back to the Satvahana Dynasty. Age old traditional handloom weaving patterns are kept alive today by specialist weavers who are settled in Yeola– hometown of traditional Paithani Sarees. To give a platform to these weavers, The New Wave Paithani was founded with a vision to create a direct market for Paithani Saris for weavers of Yeola and to bring together every sari lover with this timeless weave.

What we did/Solution

The New Wave Paithani has been continuously evolving from being just a saree exhibition to an event which is creating change in the paithani saree industry. “Make your own Paithani” was one such concept which was proposed and implemented, where the customers could design or suggest their preferable designs to the weavers and the organizers. New Wave Paithani managed to create a niche in the make for bespoke paithani sarees for the modern generation who wanted something different than their traditional grandmother’s sarees.

To educate the masses about Paithani’s importance, a documentary showcasing the art of weaving and how customers can differentiate between an original and a fake sari was screened during the festivals.

New Wave Paithani has always pushed for different and unique ideas like fashion show by underprivileged and differently-abled girls draped in various Paithani saris, live demonstration of how the saris are created was shared by a weaver from Yeola, art installation of the process of creation of saree from strands of cloth with the help of artist and textile designer Anuja Sane’s installation‘Imagination Decoded’, hand painted Caligraphy work on paithani sarees by noted artist Achuyt Palav and many such concepts were well received by the media and the masses.

Results

Make your own Paithani” generated hits on the website, also renewed public interest in Paithani sarees. “Make your Own Paithani” garnered coverages in prominent newspapers in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

Informative stories on the history of paithani and efforts of New Wave Paithani to keep the traditions alive were carried by leading print, online and electronic channels which reached out to the masses in the state.