Stitching a new story on rugs

David Abraham on A&T’s foray into carpet designing, and how fashion is not just about a pretty model

December 15, 2017 01:11 pm | Updated 01:11 pm IST

A CLASS APART David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore

A CLASS APART David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore

He studied carpets with all their textures and detailing while he was an inquisitive student of fashion at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. He chose corduroys over carpets but today seasoned couturier David Abraham is literally jumping with joy as he is the proud creator of not one but nearly two dozen in his first collection of hand crafted rugs. With complex designs, these aesthetic pieces, which would soon be travelling to Germany and New York, have the A&T imprint all over them.

“I can literally make carpets, stitch and weave them. But these are special carpets. Imagine 200 knots per square inch and then a pattern begins to emerge. Each carpet takes a year. Had I attempted to do this meticulous work all on my own then it would not have been completed in this lifetime,” says Abraham.

David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore were roped in by luxury carpet brand Obeetee for the second edition of its ‘Proud to be Indian’ series.

Excerpts:

From khadi jackets to carpets, we see a huge change in your fashion vocabulary

(Laughs) In fashion yes, but in terms of design vocabulary we have not changed. A&T is very strong in textile design and carpet is also an important part of textiles. So what we have done with carpets is that we have used lot of ideas and concepts that we use in fashion. Therefore, same stories and narratives have been used here.

When you design clothes you are covering a human body. In many cases it helps because it becomes a statement and focus of attention. But when you design a carpet it has to be in the background. It goes into the room and on the floor. In interior space, you have furniture, art work, collections, memories and then the people themselves with their clothes. So carpet has to be in background of all these; it cannot be on the front central base like in fashion where images pop out from clothes.

We need to understand that people stand on the carpet while interacting with each other, look at the room. So carpet has to be in the background in some way.

Storytelling is an import part of A&T. Do carpets also narrate stories?

Not directly, but if you look at all the rugs then you would observe that motifs and inspirations have been derived from traditional Indian textiles and crafts. We are trying to find a language of design which is Indian. Carpets have always been associated with Central Asian and European countries. Historically, they come from that region. We were looking to create something which would make the discerning relate to Indian textiles.

How does bandhani technique work on carpets?

The carpet over there (he points to one hanging on the wall) has been inspired by bandhani. We have abstracted, simplified and modernised them. And made them more graphic.

The methodology changes completely when you apply this technique on carpet. In bandhani, it is tie and dye and resist dyeing. When you are doing a carpet, it is hand knotting. Every knot is done by thread. Beauty of this collection lies in technical virtuosity of a hand knotted carpet, where millions of threads are individually knotted together to create the complex surface of matt and sheen. .

The indigenous techniques are in sync with the theme, ‘Proud to be Indian’...

Traditionally, ikkat is also done in Indonesia and bandhani also figures in Japanese designs but we are perhaps the only country where artisans are still doing them. We have been able to do it is because it is still affordable to do this labour intensive work here. Again, the blurring effect of ikkat has been achieved by using brush strokes.

How the upcoming NIFT’s international conference on Rediscovering Culture: transforming Fashion help strengthen the fashion scene?

With each passing day fashion is becoming stronger in India. So a lot of discussion will be on how we have to take Indian fashion forward.

‘Make in India’ story needs lot of promotion. One needs to develop confidence about what can be made in India cannot be made anywhere else. We need to have more awareness and bring our clothes to the luxury segment.

A lot of academicians will be coming. People think that fashion is about glamour, Page 3 parties and Bollywood. Every day I have to think about new designs, how fabric is going to be woven and stitched and how many times it can visit washing machine. Fashion is not just about a pretty model. She just sells the product.

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