• With the good comes the bad, and sometimes walks can do harm, with designs stolen and weavers poached. “Occasionally, when we bring textile enthusiasts, they promise the weavers a lot but never deliver. It is disappointing at many levels, and it takes time to rebuild the trust,” says Deepa Anish, of Thiruvananthapuram-based store Karalkada, which is known for its kasavu saris. “Other times, we find that designs we’ve worked on for months in original zari , end up being recreated in duplicate zari elsewhere. It is important to know weaving traditions, but it is as important to protect artistic inputs.”