For those who are addicted to knick knacks from everywhere (and even otherwise), Basava Ambara would ideally fit into their shopping list. The store, located in a heritage home in Basavanagudi, is a storehouse of handloom and handcrafted items, including garments, bags, jewellery, furniture, ceramic pottery and antiques.
The textiles are sourced locally and from across the country. The store houses a wide range of saris, a collection of kurtas and anarkalis, stoles, dupattas and dress materials. There is also a small collection of pretty Indo-Western dresses.
The store mostly features young designers like Nisha Deepak with her label “Tavare”, Naina Satish with her brand “U”, and Maheshwari weaves by the REHWA society.
All the garments are handloom or handwoven are in support of local artists keeping up handicraft traditions like Jamdani handloom, Kantha embroidery, Shibori dyes and hand block printing.
There is also a collection of classy, eco friendly leather bags and hand woven textiles by Krishna Murthy under his label “Kris”. His label also produces bags made of tyre tubes.
The store has a motley collection of antique furniture, largely from the Victorian and Colonial period and antique jewellery from South India. The quaint collection of gold and silver jewellery includes Nawabi jewellery, “ gutta pusalu ” made of pearls, “chandrabala” earrings shaped like the moon with fish drops and padhakkam pendants from Tamil Nadu. There is also a small collection of beaded terracotta and ceramic jewellery.
Artefacts like wooden sculptures of angels or deities, wall panels and Jewish lamps dot the store with Tanjore and Mysore paintings. These, with the antique furniture, are sourced by the co-owner of Basava Ambara, Venkatram Reddy, who is a connoisseur of antique furniture. To top it all off, there is an outdoor café “The Rogue Elephant” that serves up continental food, mainly pastas, sandwiches and salads.
“The store is great for people who like handloom and handicraft items and for those who appreciate art. It helps promote the old, dying weaves which have become unaffordable and unfeasible to carry on. But we try to make the designs more attractive,” explains Venkatram Reddy, who runs the store with his partner Aravind Kashyap.
Basava Ambara is located at 93, Kanakapura Road, Basavanagudi, next to New Generation School. For details, contact 26561940 or 65461856.
