JOIN USThe vibrant colours attracted the attention of visitors at the Navrang Design Mela organised by Red Earth at Alliance Francaise recently. From home decor to apparels, everything was designed in accordance with the theme of ‘nine colours’ adding a robust hue inside the gallery.
“It is always a challenge to promote good work, but it is also true that there is now a healthy audience for the design scene. There are many lifestyle exhibitions/festivals that are getting included every year in Delhi’s calendar, but we are happy in keeping ours small, yet going good,” said Himanshu Verma from Red Earth introducing Metrolife to the various exhibitors participating in the two-day mela.
Undoubtedly, the place was a haven for the fair sex since it had on offer everything from clothes to accessories and more. To add to the wish list were the designs good enough to die for! Starting from sarees by Svang and Designosis, the design journey was quite unforgettable.
While Svang showcased beautiful and colourful handwoven sarees in cotton and silk fabrics from West Bengal, Designosis interpreted the theme of Navrang into nine poems of Kabir. “Each of our saree has one of Kabir’s poems and a different texture,” explained Akila Seshasayee from Designosis as visitors appreciated not just the designs on fabric but also the packaging.
To go along with these splendid sarees were blouses from Angikam that bespoke the aesthetics engrained in Indian culture. There were also traditional Benarasi and Maheshwari sarees by Resha by Medhavani and also Not Like You which included three colours in each saree.
Visitors accessorised these sarees with earrings, bags, jooda pins, etc by Banwarey. Run by a group of four youngsters, the brand displayed some quirky designs that instantly clicked with the visitors who appreciate handmade products.
For the home decor, illuminated sculptures by Dhvani Behl awed all present. Behl explained that these creations are crafted by a “hand-knitting technique that uses acrylic wool to cover wire frames” that are weaved in different shapes.
Even the trays, coasters and clocks by Design5Studio were so vibrant that it became difficult for some to choose one out of many. “These are made from ‘decoupage’ - which is a french technique of decorating an object by gluing coloured paper cutouts onto it. For the clocks, we have used fibrous wood which is called MDF and these are priced at Rs 1,000 and above,” said Molly from Design5Studio.