The pristine beauty of the Kashmir Valley, endowed with inimitable natural surroundings, has been adapted by designer duo Swati Agarwal and Sunaina Jalan in the new collection of saris. There is an unmistakable imprint of the picturesque Valley in the wide assortment of saris.
These housewives-turned-designers, who live in Kolkata but keep shuttling between Benaras and the City of Joy as they work in collaboration with five dozen families living in the city on the banks of Ganga, have used Kashmiri motifs and embossed them on saris in such a manner that they look majestic.
These saris are an interesting blend of the Valley and Benaras and it seems that the geographical distance between the Northern most State and this Uttar Pradesh city has been blurred for the convenience of the discerning.
The duo went for a week to the Valley where they were bowled over by the majestic mountains, waterfalls and the warmness of shikarawalas.
The collection seems to have derived inspiration from the Chinar trees, jamavar and flowers of the Shalimar Bagh. “Yes, we have drawn inspiration from the flora and landmarks to recreate the pristine beauty of the Valley on hand-woven Benarasi sari. We were fortunate to have discovered the unexplored charm and beauty of Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg. It was time to reflect the breathtaking beauty of Kashmir in our saris. We have revived age-old Benarasi weaving techniques and deployed them for ‘The Kashmir Collection’.”
But what is the correlation between the Valley and Benaras that motivated the duo to do a jugalbandi of sorts? “We took the decision to produce a collection dedicated to Kashmir after hearing about the devastating floods in the State. It crudely took away lives of so many people and even people in the rural areas were affected as villages got submerged. Everyone, especially the senior citizens, women, children, were badly affected by the catastrophe. The work of creative people, who spent months and even years in producing heavily embroidered carpets and Pashmina shawls went down the drain due to this natural calamity,” says Swati.
Though Swati and Sunaina don’t hail from the Valley, theyfelt it was their duty to do something to improve the state of the locals after the recent floods.
“Actually, we decided to travel to the Valley so that we could get inspiration for our work and donate proceedings from our collection to the people of the State. We are donating proceeds to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for rehabilitation of the people there,” says Swati.
This time round they could have as an experiment worked with artisans of Kashmir but they again chose to work with their team of karigars of Benaras. “We are committed to work for the welfare of artisans in Benaras, who have been employed by us since they launched our label in 2007. As they get good remuneration even the young generation is following in their parents’ footsteps. So we want to continue our relationship.”
On their entry in the creative field, the self-taught Swati says, “My brother was getting married and I couldn’t get a proper Benarasi sari for myself. Then I researched and got enlightened about the rich textiles of the region which I thought needed to be revived. Unfortunately, there is no archive on Benarasi saris and families usually do not pass their skills to the next generation. So the techniques used for creating these old mesmerised saris are either used by a few families or are lost forever.”
The exhibition, which recently concluded in the Capital, will travel to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Singapore.
