Program for Young Weavers

The Handloom School’s entrepreneurship program for young handloom weavers culminates in a "Certificate in Design and Enterprise Management (CDEM)" with specialization in Handloom. The classroom segment of the course lasts 6 months and focuses on skill development in areas of Design, Communication, Technology and Business Management. This is followed by a year-long offsite handholding phase.

The classroom segment of the program for young handloom weavers is quite rigorous and demanding. The Handloom School’s faculty use case studies, movies, simulation games and exercises to explain difficult concepts of design, technology and management in very simple way to its students. Online expert lectures and discussion with domain experts are conducted frequently through Skype and Google Hangouts.

The Handloom School strongly believes in the importance of hands-on practice for this program. This Certificate course for young handloom weavers has a major component of fieldwork in the form of an internship in organizations relevant to handloom textiles.

Modus Operandi

The Handloom School engages a critical generation of young weavers across India, offering them participation in an extensive six-month program tailored to provide a practical, multi-disciplinary learning experience that,

1.  helps meet global design and quality standards,
2.  uses technology and business skills training to address market needs,
3.  increase confidence and respect for their profession,
4.  provide a network of crafts-persons, enabling collaborative work, and
5.  revives and retains old weaving traditions while meeting the needs of the contemporary marketplace.

The curriculum has been tailored in accordance with the needs of the target group, and is based around for primary areas of study - (a) advanced weaving techniques & design, (b) English-as-a-second language & presentation techniques, (c) business management, and (d) use of information technology for business.

The program unfurls in five distinct stages.