When Tradition Evolves With A New Generation | The Story Of Banarasi Baithak

Voices for Local with Monisha Singh Katial

This episode of Voices for Local features Gayathri Iyer, discussing the evolution of her brand, Banarasi Baithak. The conversation explores

Key takeaways

• Banarasi Baithak utilizes an Instagram strategy featuring real people and family members rather than professional models to build relatability.
• Gayathri Iyer recommends using khada masala in malmal pouches to protect silk from insects and chalk to manage humidity.

Main topics

• Banarasi handloom preservation
• Family-run business dynamics

Notable quotes

Handmade work is priceless.

Conclusion

The episode provides a valuable look at how traditional artisans and e

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) You have now joined your mum's business and you're running it together. Yes. How easy or tough is it to work in a business that already has a well-established name and then you're working with your mother? Any mother-daughter relationship where you fight and Speaker 2 (0:14) you immediately make up as well. One moment I'm... We're fighting about something that we don't agree on, a design choice or something. And the next moment we are ready to talk about something completely different in a completely normal tone. Speaker 1 (0:29) How do you preserve these sarees? For me, it's something that you can pass down generations. Speaker 2 (0:34) Absolutely. Right? How Speaker 1 (0:36) do you preserve the Banarasi's? For the Speaker 2 (0:38) Keeh, you keep Khada Masala in a small Malmal pouch and you keep it as is in the almirah. But the easiest solution for humidity is chalk, class 4 chalk. You put it in your closet, it doesn't stain anything, it absorbs moisture and you can easily replace it with new chalk as soon as it's done. It works great. Speaker 1 (1:00) Youngsters today still consume and buy a lot of sarees because suddenly we see Banarsi fabric being transformed into modern silhouettes. Do you see yourself as Banarsi better? Diversify into that or would you stay rooted to your classic traditional ways of wearing a Banarsi? I Speaker 2 (1:20) think there's no harm in diversifying. Speaker 1 (1:23) If Speaker 2 (1:23) you're able to give it a modern twist, why not? Speaker 1 (1:26) Yeah. What Speaker 2 (1:27) you're also wanting to be able to see is what works for what design. Right. Which is very important. Of course. Speaker 1 (1:41) In the narrow lanes of Banaras where gold threads glimmer under the soft hums of looms, Banarsi Beithak was born. A tribute to the artistry, patience and poetry of Indian weavers. Founded by Sangeeta Iyer, the brand began her quiet pursuit to preserve the legacy of Banarsi craftsmanship and give artisans the respect the hands so deeply deserve. What started as a passion project soon became a cultural dialogue between the past and the present, the loom and the world. Today, that legacy finds a rhythm under Gayatri Iyer, who carries forward her mother's dream with a modern, soulful touch. Through her, Banarasi Bedhug has evolved into more than a brand. It's a living canvas where tradition meets innovation, where every sari tells a story. And every drape celebrates the enduring grace of Banaras. So thank you so much for choosing to be a part of Voices for Local Gayatri. I'm looking forward to our conversation. I'm Speaker 2 (2:44) looking forward to our conversation as well. Thank you so much for your very kind words for Banaras. Now Speaker 1 (2:51) tell me, you have now joined your mom's business and you're running it together. Speaker 2 (2:56) Yes. How Speaker 1 (2:57) easy or tough is it to work in a business that already has a well-established name? And then you're working with your mother. Very Speaker 2 (3:07) interesting question, I must say. I've worked with Banarasi Bethak essentially from its inception. Right. Speaker 1 (3:17) We Speaker 2 (3:17) were working together. It started off as a very interesting concept for us. Speaker 1 (3:24) My Speaker 2 (3:24) mother never at any point thought of it as an actual business or anything. It was basically... a little bit of a favor for friends because she's her family is from Banaras. Generationally, we're all from Banaras. So, she'd go and bring a lot of things to friends and everything because they wouldn't know what to ask for. When you go to Banaras, you wouldn't know how to ask for what you want because you don't know what there are so many. Speaker 1 (3:54) You really Speaker 2 (3:54) want, right? Because there are so many options, so many different kinds of. weaves and motifs. Exactly, there's more than 14 weaves in Banarasi's. Right. A lot of people don't know that. So, it's a lot of things that my mother saw growing up. Speaker 1 (4:08) She Speaker 2 (4:09) saw her grandparents wearing it, she saw her mother wearing it and describing fabrics in such a different way where When she was growing up she wouldn't see the same thing because machine woven things became a huge trend at the time. So you'd see a lot of difference in how a saree is perceived. Which is why a lot of sarees was, saree kind of slowly went out of fashion. Right. In a way because the material became thick. Speaker 2 (4:38) the importance and the delicacy of handwork was replaced by a machine which then completely changes your experience with the fabric. Right. Speaker 1 (4:49) Now I will not talk about the machine and handwork but first I want to know how is it to work with your mom? Speaker 2 (4:54) It is a lot of fun because we have a lot of ideas, Speaker 1 (5:00) very Speaker 2 (5:01) divergent ideas at times and because you Speaker 1 (5:04) are Speaker 2 (5:04) working with your mom you have regular fights. Yes. regular matches where you're contesting each other. But it's also like any mother-daughter relationship where you fight and you immediately make up as well. Speaker 1 (5:20) One Speaker 2 (5:20) moment we're fighting about something that we don't agree on, a design choice or something. And the next moment we are ready to talk about something completely different in Speaker 1 (5:30) a Speaker 2 (5:30) completely normal tone. So it's very interesting. I like it. I work from home. Speaker 1 (5:37) which Speaker 2 (5:37) is great because I am able to be available and also not great because I am very available. Speaker 1 (5:44) Right. So now coming back to, you know, you have worked for the brand since its inception. And like you said, there are 14 different kinds of weaves. Have you studied all of them? Speaker 2 (5:59) I will definitely say I'm still learning. Speaker 1 (6:03) My Speaker 2 (6:03) mother would also say that she's still learning. Each time we speak to the weavers, we learn something new. Because each weave has a very interesting story also that comes up. So far we know 14 weaves personally. Speaker 1 (6:16) But Speaker 2 (6:16) we don't know how many more there are, how many different stories there are behind every single weave. Speaker 2 (6:24) and how they came about to be as well. Right. There's different houses, there's... The gharana is what Speaker 1 (6:31) they call them, right? Yeah. In Speaker 2 (6:33) Benares as well, the weavers as well, there's no encroachment on each other's work either. There's very specific ones who would make animal figures, very specific ones who do... Iktara weave and you don't cross that boundary either. You have that silent agreement on areas working on a specific kind of weave where you don't betray each other either. And somehow you're all related. Over Speaker 1 (7:01) centuries everybody's working Speaker 2 (7:02) there. Speaker 1 (7:02) Centuries this legacy has been Speaker 2 (7:04) going on from Speaker 1 (7:04) one generation to the other, right? Now, you know, handmade work versus machine made work. Yeah. Machines make things faster than humans and it's cheaper. Definitely. But handmade work is priceless. Yes. Because it passes down generations, it can be treasured forever. Yeah. And... No two pieces can be the same. Speaker 2 (7:29) Right? Speaker 1 (7:30) But do you think that with machine work coming in, it has impacted the handmade weavers, their work, has it impacted them? I think there has Speaker 2 (7:42) definitely been an impact and I think that impact happened much before what we're considering right now. It's the past couple of decades actually that Speaker 2 (7:54) this we've seen this impact but now in fact