What would it take for you to hand over your precious Gucci Bloom or Goyard for a makeover? Perhaps one of marquage artist Shirin Watwani’s intricately-detailed bluebirds or flamingos will convince you.
Scroll through her Instagram feed, and more bags — or “wearable art” as she calls them — pop up. There is the iconic Tod’s D-Bag (named after Princess Diana, who favoured it) now sporting a peacock, and a Louis Vuitton Montorgueil PM with delicate angel wings.
At a time when the resale value of designer handbags is going up (last year, an Hermès Birkin was picked up for a staggering $135,856 at a Christie’s auction), you’d think customers would want to keep their purchases pristine. But when everyone is carrying the latest Dior Montaigne or Prada Matinee, personalisation is increasingly how they set themselves apart. “Once I’ve put my mark on a bag [marquage, a French word, means making a mark], it’s their bag and their bag only. I never repeat the same image,” says Chennai-based Watwani.
A new canvas
The graphic designer, with a degree from Sydney’s Billy Blue College of Design, picked up a brush three years ago (after almost two decades). Childhood painting classes were a distant memory, busy as she had been with her design firm, Paperworks. However, when her partner decided to take some time off, Watwani, 40, reconnected with her passion. A two-day exhibition of 25 acrylics on canvas at Amethyst in 2017 was sold out on the first day, and soon after, a friend approached her to paint a bag. “I’d never heard of marquage and I was scared to paint on a new bag. So I made her give me an old Michael Kors, on which I painted a magnolia,” says the Stella Maris fine arts graduate. “I enjoyed the process — it changes the look of the product completely.”
Spreading her wings
She soon began asking friends for old bags to practise, and ordered Angelus paints from the US, the gold standard in marquage. Her first commission was in December 2017 (a spray of pink bougainvillea on an LV Neverfull), and since then, word of mouth has brought her clients from Hyderabad, Delhi and Dubai. “I meticulously plan my work. When I start a portion of colour, I want to finish it at one sitting so there isn’t any discernible difference in tone or thickness of colour,” says the mother of one, who takes around three to four days to finish a bag. “Through the entire process, I keep sending my clients photos of the work in progress, so we are both on the same page.”
One of her toughest orders was the wolf that she rendered on an orange Gucci crossbody late last year. “My usual style is naturalistic, but she wanted something funky. The final picture was almost like tattoo art, very colourful and striking,” says Watwani, who also adds flora and fauna to shoes.
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Pieces to pass on
Clients have approached Watwani for special occasions. “A client snuck out his wife’s bag so I could paint on it as a birthday surprise,” she shares. Another had her Bengal tabby, Storm, immortalised on her Furla. “After I painted the LV with angel wings, my client sent me a sweet note saying that the bag will now be an heirloom piece that she will hand down to her daughter,” she adds.
Peer pleasure
Marquage is picking up across the world. Singapore, especially, has a few prominent names, including Cherin Sim (who specialises in the Superflat style, coined by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami) and Isfandari (footballer David Beckham commissioned her to paint an LV suitcase as a 17th birthday gift for his son, Brooklyn). “I follow Janan Shihadeh in Dubai — we’ve interacted, sharing notes on tools, etc — and Boyard in the UK,” shares Watwani.
From ₹30,000 onwards. Details: shirinwatwani@gmail.com.
