The Design Forge & Studio Taru:
Two former classmates from the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design in Jaipur, Rupali Tiwari of The Design Forge and Abriti Mukherjee of Studio Taru, have combined forces to exhibit their designs at Srishti this year. Rupali is based out of Delhi and works with brass and copper while Abriti is based out of Anand in Gujarat and works with native Indian woods such as Babool, Sevan and mango wood.
The Design Forge offers accessories made of brass to make your daily religious rituals elegant and soul-satisfying. The feather-light peepal leaves made with copper or brass can float on water looking pretty with a lit candle or a marigold flower from the local market. The home décor products made of brass draw inspiration from the lotus, its leaves and the pomegranate. They are eye-catching and fit in both traditional and contemporary settings.
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The serveware from Studio Taru are again light in weight with a charred look.The heavy-duty chopping board made of Babool wood looks like a handy accessory in the kitchen that promises to last many years.
Mine:
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Sonal Choudhary’s brand from Mumbai is synonymous with smart clothing for little girls and boys. The pretty pastel prints, puffy fairy skirts and straight-cut waist coats are some of her signature styles. But this year, Sonal has debuted her first ever collection for women at Srishti. In her stall she has a separate rack for women with well-tailored kurta and trouser sets in sophisticated prints and luxurious fabric. Striking English roses on the kurta paired with pants made of big black and white checked fabric was a hot-seller and disappeared from the rack in no time on day one. Kurta sets with gold-coloured prints on them and exquisite gota work looked festive, just what one needs for the Diwali season. She also has smart tapered trousers at ankle length.
Organic Connect:
The design studio based out of Delhi works with artisans in Uttar Pradesh; carpenters for making boxes in Bijnore and the block carving craftsmen for the intricate wood work in Hapur. Tanveen Ratti, a graduate from NIFT, explains how the block carvers who originally made intricately carved wooden blocks to use in fabric printing found themselves with less and less work. But now their expertise is being used for making boxes of beech wood that are stained to a blue, green or pink using wax-based colours. The darker wooden boxes are made from Sesham, a native wood. Some of the wooden boxes have grid work and intricate inlay work using brass. They make a great gifting option for the festive season
Metamorphose:
Jigna Chheda and Rupal Dharamshi call themselves curators of happy clothing for kids. Metamorphose has colourful Lehenga sets for girls in the age of 2 – 12 years with very fashionable capes for blouses. They also have smart kurta sets for little boys with bicycle prints and other colourful images. A few gift accessories and return presents with clever and funny one-liners are also up for grabs in this stall.