With creative masks, weavers and tailors making ends meet

Nagpur: A plain mask can be transformed into one that looks creative and is beautifully hand-embroidered due to the talented artisans and tailors who are designing and stitching for Lamiya Basrai.
She established her design house 27 years back and with a current work force of 35, her dedicated team members are adding that personal touch to make masks comfortable and attractive.
Basrai opted to use organic cotton khadi which is a soft fabric. It is produced by using ethical processes and also supports the weaver community. The fabric is completely chemical free and is naturally dyed. Inspired by nature, their masks are woven, stitched and embellished by skilled artisans.
“Sustainability is the need of the hour for businesses like ours. We need to keep it going for ourselves and the people who look up to us to feed their families. Keeping this in mind we started looking for alternatives to fall back on so that we could make ourselves self sufficient work wise. As we all know masks have become the need of the hour and so we thought of mass producing it and also keeping it exclusive at the same time by embellishing it with our signature embroideries,” said Basrai.
Their work is being highly appreciated locally as well as worldwide, and now clients are getting their personalized masks (for women, kids and men). One can find the design of a camera, flower, beer bottle or even cartoons on the masks. “We have started getting orders from the United States and UK. It gives us immense pride and happiness to be able to provide an international market to our labour intensive handmade products. We are expanding our product range by manufacturing masks for kids and men as well,” added Basrai.
Nikhil Maher, a tailor associated with Basrai for over eight years, feels that producing such creative masks has given a new hope to artisans. “I’m a tailor and the primary step of making a mask involves cutting and stitching. I’m very happy to be associated with this venture. Our masks are exclusive and one of a kind. We are spreading our talent and calibre amid the lockdown” he said.
Mohammed Isteyaq Ansari, who transforms the soft fabric of the mask into a creative one with beautiful embroidery, spoke about the tremendous response which is also helping the community economically. “We were scared to sit idle after the lockdown was announced. Apart from the other necessary help, we were more than delighted when Basrai thought of producing such masks. Now we have work which keeps us busy. It is attracting clients from all over the country and also helping us in earning our livelihood,” he said.
Mohan Talewar, a tailor, who is working with Basrai for over 26 years, gave an insight into the number of masks they make in a day and its growing popularity on social media sites. “On an average, we produce 30 masks a day. Our team works to give the best look to the mask, right from cutting the piece to making various designs. It has caught the attention of many on the Internet” he said.
Basrai has a team of workers and artisans who hail from different parts of the country. They are earning their daily bread by contributing in producing masks. Farid Ahmed and Darshana Sadamake have also been a part of her team for years and are working day in and day out to craft funky and eye-catching designs.
Asger Ali, who also does embroidery, said, “We have a variety of beautifully hand woven and machine made designs on the masks. We have also started making masks for kids and men. For kids, cartoons are woven. Some even have the shapes of fruits,” he said.