JOIN USMany years ago, when Chinar Farooqui visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, she saw a small piece of muslin and realised how a basic, unbleached, handwoven piece of cloth can be so beautiful. It is from there the Jaipur-based designer developed a passion for textiles and decided to work closely with Indian textiles. One gets a glimpse of this perennial affair through her label, Injiri which focuses on minimalism.
An alumnus of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Farooqui started Injiri in 2009 and her design philosophy is rooted in combining traditional Indian textile designs with folk sensibilities.
“My inspiration comes from regional textiles, and the fabrics I use are mostly handlooms. Some of them are jamdanis and there is also a bit of Mughal printing from Jaipur,” she tells Metrolife.
Showing an appreciation for the old and the handmade, the label celebrates the Indian crafts in India. Elements of textile design such as kor (borders) and kanni (selvedge) are used as important details on the garments.
Similarly, designer duo, Amit Vijaya and Richard Pandav, the brain behind Amrich have brought in new concepts in shibori, a dyeing technique, and have tried new techniques for their ‘criss cross’ collection. “It started with doodling and playing around with lines that got translated onto textiles,” says the duo who launched the label in 2011.
They majorly work with khadi cottons, which they develop in-house. “Most of the textiles are developed in Bengal and Gujarat and the design brainstorming is done mainly in Delhi,”
they say.
The appreciation for Indian textiles among designers is not new. Prominent designers like Rohit Bal, Ritu Kumar and Tarun Tahiliani have always supported and promoted indigenous craft, but they mostly emphasised on reviving embroideries and weaves. However, the younger fashion brigade is designing apparels devoid of embellishments with their gaze is largely focused on comfortable, handwoven clothing.
Catering to a niche clientele, most of these designers are not available in the mainstream market and this was one of the reasons designer Deepika Govind decided to stock collections of these promising designers at her concept store, Neel Sutra, at the Oberoi in Gurgaon. Along with them, the store also has collections by Nupur Goenka, Indegene by Ruchi Tripathi and Jaya Bhatt and accessory designers BangdarSarali by Ikroop and Eina Ahluwalia.
“I have always believed in the textile craft and, finally, there is respect and acceptance. The word craft does not solely belong to the craftsmen, but also to designers. Craftsmanship is perfection of a craft that has existed from eons and will continue to do so,” says Govind, a chronicler of Indian textiles, who is also stocking her collection at
the store.
While the words “handcrafted” and “handwoven” have found resonance among Indian audience, it’s the steep pricing that keeps away potential buyers. Designer duo Ruchi Tripathi and Jaya Bhat of Indigene hope that through this multi-designer store they will be able to reach out to a “larger customer base which appreciates Indian textile and doesn’t mind paying a certain value for the effort that goes behind making it”.
“We definitely evaluate the product in terms of perceived value and there is a cost that has been put into the product because of the effort it takes in making. But our products are never over priced, because in the end we all want to sell our products,” says the duo who work closely with artisan communities from Kutch.
Their collection is centred around ajrakh prints and sujini embroideries and it comprises summer dresses, pants and tops and skirts.
Govind hopes to reach out to a wider market through online space and by supporting designers whose vocabulary mixes chic and urban with rural and rustic to create a modern garment.