# Tangaliya Weaving

Canonical: https://practice.directcreate.com/crafts/tangaliya-weaving/
Author: Rajeev Lunkad, Direct Create Projects
Type: Craft

Tangaliya is a hand-woven wool textile tradition distinguished by its extra-weft dot technique, called daana, in which the weaver twists small tufts of contrast-color wool into the warp during weaving rather than embroidering or printing pattern onto finished cloth. The wound tufts sit slightly raised off the ground weave, giving the surface a bead-like, tactile relief pattern that reads from …

## Description

Tangaliya is a hand-woven wool textile tradition distinguished by its extra-weft dot technique, called daana, in which the weaver twists small tufts of contrast-color wool into the warp during weaving rather than embroidering or printing pattern onto finished cloth. The wound tufts sit slightly raised off the ground weave, giving the surface a bead-like, tactile relief pattern that reads from both faces of the cloth, a construction distinct from any other extra-weft or embroidery tradition recorded on the Direct Create marketplace. Traditional motifs are geometric, worked in horizontal bands of dots, diamonds, and peacock and temple forms across a plain-weave woolen ground, historically produced as shawls (dhabla) and skirts (ghagra) rather than yardage.

## Cultural context

The craft is worked by the Dangasia (Vankar) weaving community concentrated in and around Wadhwan and the villages of Surendranagar district in Gujarat's Saurashtra region, historically producing woolen shawls and wraps for the Bharwad shepherd community whose flocks supplied the raw wool, a maker-and-client relationship tying the two communities together across the region's pastoral economy. The tradition nearly disappeared through the twentieth century as synthetic textiles displaced hand-loomed wool and the Bharwad market for the traditional shawl and ghagra contracted; revival efforts from the early 2000s, including design-institute and NGO-supported diversification into stoles, yardage, and accessories, reintroduced the craft to a wider market. Tangaliya received Geographical Indication registration in 2009, the formal recognition anchoring Surendranagar as the craft's protected origin.

## Design applications

The raised-dot woolen surface suits upholstery, throw, and wall-hung applications in hospitality and residential interiors where a textural, geometric hand-woven register is wanted, distinct from the printed and embroidered textile traditions already documented in the wiki.