Reviving the lost art of Muslin: a Muslin artisans community

Abstract

Muslin, once the most spectacular fabric in the world, is now being revived to restore a piece of intangible cultural heritage and the national pride of a nation. Muslin of uncommonly delicate handspun yarn was handwoven in the Bengal region of South Asia and imported into Europe for much of the 17th and early 18th centuries. Dhaka muslin is an ultra-fine, ultra-soft fabric made from a potentially extinct species of fabric called ‘phuti carpas’, grown only along one stretch of the Meghna River. Unfortunately, during the British colonization, pressure from the East India Company and the rise of machine-made mass-product 'muslin' rolled off the newly invented power looms- slowly causing the fall of original muslin production. Soon after that, the rare cotton phuti carpas went extinct. The muslin trade at one time helped turn the Ganges delta and what is now Bangladesh into one of the most prosperous parts of the world, historians say. Now almost a decade later, the quest for reviving muslin is being initiated by Drik Gallery and the Bangladeshi government. The government initiative is a great boost for researchers who are working hard on finding the extinct phuti karpas which were only available along a small stretch of the Meghna River. Through extensive research and trials, it has been possible to find the raw material of muslin, Phuti Carpus, and cultivation of the plant. With the help of the Dhaka handloom board, a project has been proposed at Narayanganj, where an integrated community would be built that would benefit the muslin weavers as well as house weaving stations that would kickstart the commercial production of muslin cloth. This study focuses on learning about the lifestyle of muslin weavers and its rich history, as well as creating an integrated center that would be a part of the surrounding neighborhood. Furthermore, This paper discusses the proposal to design a platform for the weavers' community which would bring back hope in restoring the golden heritage of Bengal, and restore the worldwide recognition that it originally had so many years ago.