Aadappa Unkunti has been weaving for as long as he can remember. He says this is the only work he knows and the only work he enjoys doing. He and his wife weave the sarees together, while others in the community help at different stages, mainly in the pre-processes of weaving like the kondi and the tana (warp). While many seasoned as well as young weavers weave sarees in a single material, Aadappa mostly weaves the more conventional sarees.
He prefers weaving a saree where the body is woven using cotton yarns, the pallav using silk and the borders using rayon. He says, the kondi technique of interlocking the warp of the cotton body with the warp of the silk pallav is the most unique element of the Ilkal weave. Add to it the characterising motifs and borders, and as per Aadappa, Ilkal has a centuries-old heritage that must be diligently preserved for and by the future generations.
