Madhu Jain, a craft revivalist and textile conservationist since 2001 has been working on developing and refining bamboo yarn, and in 2004, in tandem with the Ministry of Textiles, formally introduced bamboo in India as an alternative, eco-friendly textile at the 7th World Bamboo Congress, is all set to introduce l her latest creation — Bamboo-Silk Ikat. Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani is going to launch Jain’s textile on Friday at Organo in Hauz Khas Village, in New Delhi.

According to the designer, it has the potential to change the face of the way people understand the evolution of textiles. The world will take notice of her latest offering, which is the very first textile of its kind.

This collection reflects a convergence of three different schools of weaving in her inimitable style, which is to craft distinctive combinations of two different weaving traditions to create new, museum-worthy textiles, high on quality and design.

Her interpretation of the Ikat traditions of Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and India, rendered flawlessly in bamboo-silk, is a historic creation. Her passion with bamboo has an economic purpose too.

India is the second-largest bamboo producing nation in the world, making it eminently ecologically sustainable. The bamboo textile is extremely versatile as it breathes well, has anti-bacterial properties, and is naturally UV protective, all of which makes it highly suitable for Indian climatic conditions, besides being extremely easy on the pocket, Jain said.

The designer has worked for 15 long years along with her master weavers in perfecting the bamboo-silk Ikat, and it is only now that she feels her persistence has finally paid off.

This new textile does not eat into the earth’s meagre resources; rather, with bamboo being so plentiful in India, they can provide livelihood options for bamboo growers. The silver lining is that bamboo is biodegradable, so this fabric will leave a very negligible ecological footprint. It truly is a fabric of the future.