One must see Anuradha Ramam swathed in a parrot green sari embroidered with black, and the colours all tucked in with a red border, to believe in the power of India's colour palette. One look at the kitschy patch-worked kurtas, layered saris and dupattas that Anuradha has created and you'll be sure she has never seen white or beige ever in her life!
“The world wants vivacity. You want to get up and exclaim ‘Good Morning!'…At least I want to! My colour sense is erratic. A trained person will never use the colour combinations I use; it's spontaneous and fun. People ask me ‘why don't you make some whites and off-whites?' I just can't put my mind to it,” says Anuradha Ramam and breaks into a wide toothy grin.
The Delhi-based designer was recently in Bangalore to showcase at the Pause for a Cause exhibition.
With an M.A. in English Literature, the true-blue Bengali taught for two years before her passion for design drew her into the world of traditional textiles. “Even when I taught in class, I would draw what I was teaching; I had always been painting too,” she establishes the connection. Married to a doctor in Andhra Pradesh, she set about marrying her knowledge of Bengal's Kantha embroidery to Andhra's fading telia rumals (a double-Ikat patterned tie-dye tradition where the yarns are traditionally soaked in oil) and Ikats. “Sometimes I also add a touch of Gujarat and combine it with small mirror embroidery work,” says Anuradha.
She's often termed as a textile revivalist. In what way has she revived the telia? “I've taken the risk of moving away from the traditional red, black and mango yellow of the telia rumal and introduced hot pinks, Fanta orange, and lime greens. I was told it wasn't ‘safe', but you do what your heart wants to…” Anuradha says younger women these days want thinner and lighter saris so she's reduced the thread count to match these demands. Her mixing of styles and her riotous colour palette have brought her a famous fan following. “Kirron Kher, Shabana Azmi, Brinda Karat and many others wear my creations. If it's a traffic-stopping sari they are wearing, you should know it's mine,” she says super-confident, and laughs her hearty laugh again.
So there is a “type” of person who would wear her kind of designs? “A woman who wears my sari is someone conscious of art, aware of the weaver community, who's educated and willing to be part of the give and take system,” she concludes. “I support the weaver communities that work with me in Andhra; I also support a group of about 400 women embroiderers in Bengal. You have to breathe with and for your weaver. We have to make sure they dream big dreams for themselves and their children and ensure that their children want to continue in their tradition, because honestly, who wants to be a weaver now?” asks Anuradha. She helps support education in the weaver communities, gives home loans…helps realise the weavers' personal goals.
“I used to draw the Ikat patterns on graphs initially. I do all the designing and R&D myself. I found weavers who were willing to do what I wanted. I don't believe in the market being on a high or a low. I'm just in love with what I'm doing.”
While the whole country seems to be on a net-sari-with-chamki trip, Anuradha says there are women who want to stand out, and who'll wear a telia rumal to a wedding hall where Kanjeevaram rules. “I make halter necks and skirts in Ikat because I feel there is a need for youngsters to incorporate our textiles in their wardrobes.” She was recently invited by the Indian doctor community in San Francisco to do a show of her clothes. “People there term what I do as textile art. Handwork is treasured there because there's no human touch to the clothes they wear…”
Anuradha, who has two stores in Delhi, also custom makes saris; prices range from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 21,000. You can reach her on anuradharamam@hotmail.com
