Alleppey’s centuries old coir factory to be vivified once again
There were times when running at full capacity these factories dazzle with golden fibre and resonate with the pastime murmurs of workers. But as demands declined they became places to store things.
According to Benny Kuriakose, conservation architect and head of the Alappuzha Heritage Project, “They will conserve and design for adaptive reuse of the establishment with very little new construction.”
The whole idea is to fuse art and culture alongside coir processing and production to enliven it again. Factory timings and gallery hours, labour unions and tourist groups, canteen meals and cafe menus are to soon coexist within these century-old coir processing factories.
Interestingly, the very first power looms imported from Germany in 1975 were rejected by industry in the trepidation that mechanisation would lead to loss of jobs. Now, state-of-the-art machines are being installed in the factories to compete with cheaper Chinese-made mats.
Recently, Coir Kerala, an expo on coir and natural fibre products was held in Alappuzha albeit virtually from February 16 to 21,inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan it aimed at providing the distribution aid to coir societies and employees.
