TAPESTRY WEAVING VETERAN ARTISAN NATIONAL AND SANT KABIR AWARD WINNER

Profile of Artist:

Khem Raj was born in a small village of Uttrakhand named Sumari in a farmer's family. He was an exceptionally hardworking boy whose morning routine would start by helping his father in tilling the soil. After finishing his farming chores, he would attend classes in Handloom Technology from Government Industrial Training Institute located in Srinagar Tehsil of Garhwal. Attending the school was not an easy task for Khem Raj as he had to walk miles from his village to Srinagar.

The passion for tapestry and weaving ultimately procured him a Diploma. He got the first break in his career in 1965 when he started working as an apprentice in Delhi Cloth Mill.

Khem Raj started serving the Government by joining WSC Delhi. After staying there for a few years, Khem Raj relocated to WSC Varanasi where he was petrified by the poor condition of the local weavers.

He even helped the Ministry of Textiles in the year 1980, to introduce Polyester yarn in handloom by a technique called automatic take up motion which required less labour from weavers and led to cost effective production of goods.

Khem Raj gave training to thousands of unskilled weavers of various region of Haryana, Himachal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir.

After his retirement he started a small co-operative society in Panipat which is functional till date, this became the livelihood of more than 1000 weavers.

Contact Detail:

Name:	KHEM RAJ SUNDRIYAL
Address:	48-A, Aggarsain Colony, Assandh Road, Behind Bharat Petrol Pump, Panipat -Pin -132103 Haryana
Phone No:	9896008937
Whats app No:	9050008050
Email- Id:	aj1011na@live.in