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  • Beena Kannan’s experiment in luxury silk

    Beena Kannan’s experiment in luxury silk

    The designer held a fashion show in Kochi, Kerala, to launch her new label ‘Beena Kannan’. Top models sashayed on the ramp, wearing the collection that comprises sarees, lehengas, crop and long jackets, kaftans, dresses, etc…writes Puja Gupta.

    Beena Kannan is a notable name in the fashion industry for several years. Having spent over forty years in the industry designing sarees for her Kerala-based brand Seematti, designer Beena Kannan is all set to launch India’s first luxury silk inspired haute couture label.

    With this move, Kannan aims to change the notion that Kanjeevaram silk is only for sarees. Her new namesake brand, includes Indian, Indo-western and western outfits made either of silk or with a touch of it.

    The designer held a fashion show in Kochi, Kerala, to launch her new label ‘Beena Kannan’. Top models sashayed on the ramp, wearing the collection that comprises sarees, lehengas, crop and long jackets, kaftans, dresses, etc.

    Kannan has used different weaving techniques from across the country to do the label’s first lineup, based on three mood boards to cater the likings of Gen Z and millennials, among others.

    Kannan has combined the Byzantine era with Indian Geometric art; the Art Deco period with Jamiwar and Ottoman art with Mughal styles. She has adopted famous paintings of Vincent van Gogh and S.H. Raza on to her sarees.

    However, it is very difficult to create such art on weaving, she says. “Even machines cannot take the 40,000 hooks and 60,000 hooks that we handle.”

    Additionally, getting modern designs weaved by artisans who otherwise work on traditional weaves and techniques is also not very easy, she says.

    “The artisans were never ready to do innovative things, because it’s a very time consuming, money consuming and is a hard process. It’s very difficult for them to get into innovation, get into new designs because Kanjeevaram has certain limitations. It’s considered very religious and very much attached to the Hindu wedding. So they thought believe the scope of this weaving is very limited,” she tells.

    “When I talked to them, they asked me who’s going to buy it. If it’s a simple saree, it can be made in five days, and my designs sometimes take three months to be ready. But we pay them accordingly. Some of our saris even cost more than our selling price. But we do it because it needs to be done. That’s how we think, that’s where we are positioning ourselves,” asserts Kannan, who made into Guinness Book of Records and Limca Book of Records in 2007 for making the longest-ever silk saree.

    Unlike Seematti, which is a 120-year-old retail brand, every bit of the outfits in the new label is custom-made, she clarifies. “There are clothes which will be fitting in all occasions in your life.”

    Label Beena Kannan will see garments made with various silk weaving techniques and technologies in India which will be inspired by her travel across the globe.

    She says: “The entire silk industry was revolving around modular designs, say X+Y+Z or Y+X+Z. But we are reinventing the procedure of the weaving. Today, customers need light weighted outfits, a particular zari etc. So we do a lot of experiments. I have done weaving in organza, linen and raw silk to make sarees. I have combined weaving in silk, printing in silk and embroidery in silk for occasion wear and accessories also.”

    “Everything we want is not available in the market and we are adjusting and celebrating with what is out there But I don’t want the Kanjeevaram deteriorate. Already the weaver’s community is deteriorating, and the enthusiasm which the seniors have, maybe the juniors won’t have, maybe they are looking out for collared jobs. But there are certain people who can be with me. So I train them to work for us.”

    Kannan, will launch the brand with a 17,500 sqft store in Kerala, and plans to expand it across the world in the next three years. This year, they plan to open five stores in Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, plus two flagships stores. There are plans to hold trunk shows across cities, with altered designs that suit the taste of each place.

    The brand is open for collaborations and looking to give franchisees across the country and internationally.

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  • Modernizing ‘ Kanjivaram’

    Modernizing ‘ Kanjivaram’

    When contemporizing a craft there is always a fine line between expanding a craft’s vocabulary and disrespecting a tradition…writes Sujata.

    Tamil Nadu’s famed kanjivaram textile technique dates back to the time of the Chola period. Chola kings are said to have invited Padmasaliya weavers from neighbouring kingdoms to the temple town of Kanchipuram to weave silk.

    Traditionally a Kanjivaram sari is made of Native Indian Mulberry silk, they were occasion saris, the body of the drape would be plain, striped or patterned. Real zari would add a feel of decadence to its palau and borders–what made this vibrant sari famous was its colour play. Over the years the kanjivaram has adapted to keep its relevance–for example since the kanjivaram predates the advent of the jacquard loom by a few centuries, the brocade style kanjivarams that are today considered bridal beauties could actually be called a design intervention of the 20th century.

    As K.H. Radharaman, creative director of Advaya, a label that prides itself on its craft savoir faire, says,”Textiles are a document of living culture.” Advaya is the label of Bangalore based design house, House of Angadi, and Radharaman’s family have been in the textile industry for 600 years. With this lineage he sees himself as a custodian of the craft. “I am a traditionalist at heart, and I revere tradition. My family has been involved in the creation of the very pieces that are revered as classics in the genres that I have worked in. I have personally revived and recreated many old designs and have regenerated many old techniques.” Yet he is also the man behind the linen kanjivaram. “I would also argue that innovation is necessary to contemporize craft,” he adds.

    It was Advaya that was behind Deepika Padukone’s custom made wedding sari in 2018. While this was the first time most fashion folk heard of Radharaman’s work, those in textiles have been aware of his weaves for well over a decade. It was 11 years ago that he created the first linen kanjivaram. Says Radharaman,”I had worked on linen for the international market as far back as 2006 and I realised that the matte appearance of linen would blend in beautifully and seamlessly with the subtle gold hue of the Kanjivaram zari.”

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    It took 15 months of work for this intervention to come alive and since then many sari designers have turned to linen. Available by order and in limited editions linen kanjivarams are now seen as collector’s items by many sari connoisseurs. However there are some conservative textile historians who look at experimentations with disdain.

    This has not stopped the label’s founder to stay on path of intervention, being a trained engineer and not a design graduate is perhaps why he is not bound by any rules. Radharaman has since worked on several other “updates” including the khadi and tussar kanjivarams. These saris speak of traditions from different parts of India and different times, the country’s history can be woven together.

    When contemporizing a craft there is always a fine line between expanding a craft’s vocabulary and disrespecting a tradition. “My work as a textile designer is diverse and straddles a wide array of techniques, tools, materials, and craft clusters. I believe all of this has helped me contemporize the design language of traditional Indian crafts in a significant way — making it relevant to the present and future generations.” At his retail store, Angadi, traditional and innovative weaves by Advaya sit next to each other–an untrained eye may not be able to tell which saris are interventions, since the architecture of the saris remain loyal to traditions.

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    By working with lighter forms of cloth, and not sticking to the prescribed silks, Radharaman has added a very modern and user-friendly appeal feel to the kanjivaram’s repertoire. Advaya is currently working on a new line of bridal saris that alter the visual design vocabulary and motifs of a Kanjivaram sari. He says,”Now with the help of technological breakthroughs and immense investments at the back end we have managed to create large scale repeats and render beautiful, almost story-like motifs that derive inspiration from diverse subjects.”

    For Radharaman innovations like this keep the sari relevant and exciting to future generations. But he notes a sari must never be trend driven–being timeless and heirloom worth are properties of the sari that are non-negotiable. Which would explain why this textile innovator views adding a sartorial element would be blasphemy. “The sari is a finished product and is not yardage that needs to be cut and stitched. Suggesting that a finished product needs to be repurposed or enhanced is akin to saying that a work of art, a true masterpiece needs an additional stroke of paint.”

    The writer Sujata Assomull is a columnist. Assomull is the author “100 Iconic Bollywood Costumes” and was the Founding Editor In Chief of Harper’s Bazaar, India.

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