The city is scorching hot and Malayali designer Tina Eapen is in town with her Greeshmam collection. A 360 degree glance across the exhibition room at Urban Spice gallery makes you feel so calm and cool. Elegant pastel shades of blue, green, pink, yellow – with a dash of white thrown in – simply light you up.
And which creative designer wouldn’t want to explain her ideas so thoughtfully imagined and painstakingly executed. “Each piece you see here is handcrafted,” says Tina taking me around, “and any saree person will see, know and feel the difference.”
Elegant shades: From desinger Tina Eapen's collection
I instantly see the lush and vibrance of colours and designs. I feel the warmth and lightness of each sari. Just cotton is passé. The natural fabric Tina uses is so pure that the cotton feels like mulmul . Tina gets the woven fabric from her single handloom in Bhagalpur and puts her stamp on them through an elegant choice of patterns, riot of colours and a combination of prints from all over the country.
With onam round the corner, she has mounted a lovely display of Kerala Kasavu saris with refreshingly new prints of English roses made by converting her own water colour paintings into wooden blocks by artisans. “It looks like one single pink or blue rose but if you look closely it has five different blocks of colour,” she explains. The subtle taste and elegance shows in each piece whether in khadi, linen, kota or tussar silk and chanderi saris.
Elegant shades: Desinger Tina Eapen.
When you are passionate about something it shows in your work. And Tina is a perfect example of this. As a child she would design dresses for her friends and teachers but when it came to choosing a career, she was forced to become a business student. “When I told my father I want to join NIFT, he was shocked and wondered why was I so keen to go for a tailoring course!” she laughs.
Marriage brought her to Bangalore where she worked in top HR positions in the corporate sector. When motherhood forced her to take a break, she used it as an opportunity to return to her passion. The Tina Eapen label was launched six years ago. She doesn’t have a degree in design but her saris found instant adoration for the innumerable and original styles, textures, patterns, colours, motifs and weaves from every corner of India.
So in her collection you will find a Kasuti embroidery on a Chettinad sari, ilkal on Kerala sari, leheriya on Kota silk, beautiful hand block kalamkari on Mangalgiri cotton, Kalahasti patches on tussar, ajrakh print on khadi, Rajasthani marble dyeing on linen. From soft earthy tones to bright hues, the colour combinations she chooses are of a kind epitomising the changing colours of the season. The embellishments are value-addition reflective of her personal touch through zardosi, appliqué, cutwork, mirror work and more.
Tina, who famously and uniquely celebrates and blends different fabrics and crafts, has also diversified into readymade long kurtas and frocks, short kurtis, tops and blouses using same the fabric and design. “The NIFT Bangalore is at a stone’s throw from my house and I am now planning to do an evening course from there to get more ideas besides a degree,” she smiles even as she goes on creating a personal and definitive style with each sari that can be worn like a breeze.
The exhibition-sale is on at Urban Spice Gallery, K.K.Nagar till August 5 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
