The hajong craft of Sualkuchi: Assam’s golden silk weaves a digital thread

The looms of Sualkuchi, which have dressed Assam’s weddings and festivals for centuries, are now humming to the rhythm of online orders. Each handloom saree ships with a QR code that tells the story of its weaver.

Muga, the golden silk found only in Assam, commands a premium that the town’s 25,000 weavers are determined to capture themselves rather than through middlemen.

The cooperative that runs the marketplace has trained 800 weavers in digital photography and packaging. ‘The loom does not change,’ one master weaver said. ‘The market does.’