Armadillo&Co in India – The Role of Women in Weaving

There are so many reasons why I admire Jodie's work with both Bholu and Armadillo&Co. The biggest though is the way both of these companies support, encourage and empower women to work outside of their 'traditional' fields. Today is another example of this with the creation of placemats, table-runners and rug samples on looms. - Jenny x

Normally weaving on looms is not a woman’s job, but with our placemats and table runners, we have developed the perfect job for them! A mini loom is how our samples, and smaller products are made. Just beautiful and so manageable.

The women also traditionally prepare the yarn. After it is dyed, it is delivered to the village to be spun into the perfect spool of yarn to then be fitted into a little wooden boat shaped tool called a shuttle.  Their spinning wheels are reminiscent of Mahatma Gandhi’s spinning wheels, which are made out of old bicycle parts.

Another weave, which is happily made by women is the Sahara weave. A detailed threaded style of weaving on a vertical loom. When we visited our Sahara weavers, we saw several families of women with the daughters and mothers all working side by side on the same rug.

Their fingers are a lot smaller and nimble than those of mens, which makes them more suited to the job. Our weavers have their looms in their homes, which makes it easy for them to keep the household and domestic responsibilities maintained and in more quiet times, they continue weaving.

- Jodie x