It wouldn’t be a lie to say that India has inspired millions of people with its rich culture. Designer Lakshmi Keerthi is one of those who draws ideas and inspiration from the country’s rich and royal heritage by travelling, looking around and observing.
The bridalwear fashion designer left a corporate job to follow her passion for designing and to open her own label, ‘La’kiru’. According to her, her 15 years in the corporate sector did not take away her interest for the field of designing, instead it helped her to dig deep and find out more about it. “My corporate career fortunately never extinguished the passion in me for designing. On the contrary, it helped me connect with artists and karigars during my free time and understand the vast diversity and the infinite promises this land holds for a designer,” says Lakshmi. Also, she believes in making challenges work in her favour by using management experience she gained during her corporate stint. She positions creative and innovative solutions to suit the need of the customer.
The designer sticks to her ethics in designing. Going all antique, ethnic and classical, she works with zari, pitta, gota, kundan and thread hand work combined with hand-painted work to make the base of her bridal wear.
If the customer insists she do some kind of work that doesn’t fit in her design ethics, she politely tells them that she’s the wrong designer for them. She works mainly on themes inspired by ancient India and the royal families’ outfits from various kingdoms and dynasties. “My bridal collection is a reflection of traditional, antique designs with a royal touch,” she says, “For the non-bridal collection, I combine the works of zari, pitta, gota and kundan with block printing, digital printing and hand printing, as required.”
Every business has its own ups and downs. Some take their downs as a challenge whereas some lose hope and fall apart. Lakshmi Keerthi believes that in a creative business like designing, it is very important to keep up the passion for the work without losing patience. “I remember my initial days where I would close my office on Mondays, believing that the beginning of the week meant lean business. Today, my Mondays are the most hectic of all days, with appointments taken for weeks in advance,” she says, thanking her family for being her support system when she stepped into this field. With the new year here, the designer hopes that she’ll get more inspiration to keep her going.
Published 03 January 2016, 16:37 IST