As someone fairly new to the world of fashion, what has always surprised me is the power it holds to reinvent and resurrect itself in the face of tragedies. Displacing over one million people in August 2018, Kerala witnessed one of its most crippling natural calamity yet recorded. With all 14 districts in red alert, the GI-tagged handlooms of Chedamangalam too were severely annihilated.
The brainchild of dancer-actor Rima Kallingal, and designer Diya John, Neythe – Dance of the Weaves is a contemporary dance production inspired by the handloom weavers of Chedamangalam and their sacred process. What began as an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) project shot by photographer Ajay Menon documenting the weaving process, eventually evolved into something far more immersive. Reimagined by Kallingal and long time friend John in collaboration with Save The Loom – a non-profit organisation founded by sociopreneur Ramesh Menon, Neythe traces the fine rhythmic movements that transform a piece of thread to cloth.
Incorporating footage captured by Menon during his visits to looms, Neythe premiered before a packed audience in Kochi’s Fine Arts Society Hall in November 2023, transforming an idea that first existed as a series of eight NFT films into an immersive stage performance that honours the labour, resilience, and artistry of Kerala’s weaving communities. With performances all around the globe, winning the Best Play Award at the Bhaghdad International Theatre Festival remains a testament to the production’s artistic excellence.
At the Outset
Speaking about the collaboration, Salt Studio Founder Diya John notes that they had been working closely with the Chendamangalam weavers for the past couple of years, especially since the 2018 floods. “We were both, independently, being drawn into the same universe — the same hands, the same looms, the same stories,” says Mamangam Founder and Director Rima Kallingal on the collaboration.
Neythe first took root during the pandemic, through frequent visits to the Chedamangalam Weavers Cluster, where fragments of the choreography and sound were recorded by Menon amidst the looms. With the aim of capturing the innate rhythms of daily life within the weaving community, this immersive process allowed the looms to naturally shape the very language of the production.
“The effortless rhythm with which they sit down at the loom is because they have done this for years, and it is muscle memory now. And while their hands are moving, they might be thinking about the electricity bill or a child’s school admission the next morning. It is simultaneously art and daily labour for them. That duality became very central to how we built the piece,” pointed out Kallingal.
From the Designer’s Desk
With costumes reflecting the craft and legacy of the cluster, John explains how the collection reimagined heritage textiles and weaves in a more abstract and functional way through styling and layering. “Subtle colour pops and the unique placements of traditional extra and thick weft techniques gave a fresh take to the traditional Kasavu saree. Mundus and yarns sourced from the cluster were also incorporated into the stage design as backdrops and props, helping create a stronger visual connection,” points out John.
When asked about the styling, John says, “We explored different contemporary ways of draping each look based on the individual dancer and their movements, paying close attention to how the fabrics flowed and responded on stage.” The costumes also featured in-house handmade accessories like embellished belts, ear cuffs, braided hair details, and tasselled elements, taking inspiration from the Boho-chic aesthetic popularised in the 2000s.
For a naive-minded consumer who complains of the irregularity in a handloom piece, what they fail to recognise is the skill and craft that goes into each strand that is woven – something that is truly irreplaceable in all senses. “Labour often becomes invisible in contemporary fashion systems. Behind every weave, there is time, repetition, skill, memory, and a deeply human process that often goes unacknowledged,” says John.
From the Dancer’s Desk
For Kallingal, as Neythe began to take shape, it felt perfect in every sense. With textiles designed by the Chedamangalm weavers – who undoubtedly inspired the entire production – the collaboration itself always felt organic. In an age where heritage crafts are often taken for granted, it was rather integral that Neythe leaves behind a lasting imprint. Perhaps the certain je ne sais quoi that made this production stand out was the conscious curation it championed. “At Mamangam, we believe deeply that creation must be thoroughly researched,” says Kallingal.
She also points out with immense honour that the production is infinitely indebted to the weavers for letting them into their spaces and daily lives. “They allowed us to borrow what is theirs so that we could attempt to reflect even a fraction of its beauty on stage. Whatever Neythe is, it exists because of them.”
Having travelled across global festivals and stages in Spain, New York, Russia, and winning the Best Play Award at the Baghdad International Theatre Festival, Kallingal makes one thing clear: the local is international. Not as a consolation, but as a conviction. If you go to the grassroots, if you stand on the soil of your motherland, if you are truthful to the art and stories of your native, and if you take all these if-statements and give them life like Neythe did, you create something that truly transcends boundaries.
For We Always Come Back
For the question of what the future holds, both John and Kallingal spoke with a gleaming sense of hope. John and Salt Studio has now pledged allegiance to working with Kerala’s craft and cultural communities, with their newest collection Opera of Kerala drawing inspiration from Chavittunadakam – a theatre form originating from the coasts of Kochi. For Mamangam, Neythe forever remains a part of their permanent repertoire, while the company now turns towards their next production, Vattam, inspired by the Chenda – Kerala’s most iconic percussion instrument.
Reflecting on the moments that helped the team begin to understand the unspoken grammar of the weavers, Kallingal shares – “What truly hurt me was this: I don’t think they see themselves as artists. As a dancer, I walk through the world with an enormous sense of pride and gratitude for what I do. I would speak about it endlessly. But if you were to ask one of these weavers how they would describe themselves, I don’t think they would say artist or even craftsperson. I think they would simply say: I am a worker. I do this work. And that, to me, is the real tragedy — that somewhere along the way, we failed to tell them that what they do is extraordinary. That they are, in the truest sense, artists.”
Circling back to the thought that first sparked this piece – the power of fashion to reinvent and resurrect in the face of tragedy – Neythe clears that all it truly takes are enablers. Not those who stand one arm away gleaming in pity, but those willing to collaborate, uplift, and create the perfect convergence of fashion, craft, performance, and community that honours the rad resilience of the Chedamanaglam weavers. As a student of culture and fashion, Neythe served as a reminder that fashion is most meaningful when it remains accountable to the people whose skills, and labour sustain it.
After all, if fashion is not for its people, then who is it for?
