The Rajasthani bandhni, tie and dye, sari made in Kochi? The famed Japanese printing Shibori from a unit in Kaloor? This may cause surprise and doubt but Sri Lankan designer Merian Dissanayake is scaling the art of dyeing to a new high in the city. Till a couple of years ago most boutiques, big and small, used to depend on North India for dyeing and shading fabrics as there was no unit doing so locally.

“It was either Delhi or Coimbatore but not Kochi,” says Merian who today is perhaps the biggest supplier of dyed fabrics to the local market – textile shops and boutiques. She set up her boutique The Reeta The Rose on Convent Junction recently.

Coming from a garment and textile business family from Colombo, Merian had this stream of business in her blood. Here tryst with Kerala began with her sister’s marriage to a Malayali from Thiruvananthapuram. That brought her mother to Kerala frequently. In 2007 Merian enrolled for a course in fashion designing at the Mangalore University. Her hobby, modelling, brought her to Kochi to participate in related shows. Simultaneously she did cameo in films.

The world opened itself to her through small assignments, modelling related travels and the fashion industry.

It took her to Mumbai where she says she learnt the ropes of textile and design industry working her way diligently to become senior creative assistant under designer Anand Gupta.

“I collected a huge experience in Mumbai; I learnt dyeing fabric in large volumes and working with 20 to 30 embroiderers, working for 10 to 12 hours with samples,” recounts Merian who is fluent in Hindi and Malayalam. Back in Colombo Merian’s family run Sriya Garments manufacturing units that produce thousands pieces of garments a day. She worked in the business for four months before deciding that the excitement of producing personalised couture was her niche and not mechanised and factory produced clothes.

At The Reeta The Rose, named after her mother Reeta Rose, she not only dyes fabrics but also does hand embroidery. “That’s my forte along with dyeing,” she says adding that her prêt line is on the cards.

Having worked in Mumbai and Kerala she makes a pertinent observation. “People in Kerala are discerning. They think before buying and collect all information they can, unlike in Mumbai people buy casually and everything.”

On her moving away from modelling, a hobby that gave her immense joy and exposure, into full time designing and a business venture Merian is pragmatic. “Modelling lasts five to six years and involves lot of travelling. I had that in mind.” She has modelled with FFK (Fashion Federation Of Kerala), FTV, Reliance Shows, Surya TV Live, Oh My Gold shows.

Setting up a business venture in a different country and a new city has not been intimidating. She has learnt from experience. Her unit at Kaloor employs seven outstation dyers and embroiderers. Before she established herself, Merian would take orders, collect and deliver fabrics herself. She dyes for most big stores in the city – Milan, Seemas in Aluva, D-Fab, Club Burgoyne, S-Designs and Zatin to name a few. She supplies to berries in Thiruvananthapuram.

The expertise of tie and dye and of Shibori is taught to the karigars personally. “Give me white fabric and I will match it with the shade you want,” she says confidently adding that she dyes not only fabrics but beads, ribbons and all accessories required to match the material.

Her inspiration is her grandmother who she says would embroider the most beautiful motifs. The wedding dress for former President Ranasinghe Premdasa’s wife was made by her. She remembers her grandmother talking about the intricate work of the karigars from Kolkata who worked at their unit. “Now my karigars here ask me to take them to Colombo for work,” she says. It’s come a full wheel for her, Colombo to Cochin and now pleas of taking The Reeta The Rose to the place it originally came from. Merian has come a long way…

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / Priyadershini S / Kochi – April 22nd, 2016

 

Red, black and white form the backbone. From that an entire body of colours evolve—happy, mysterious, brooding and boisterous. When inspiration comes from the otherworldly, the palette cannot be anything but intense. Seamstress, a boutique fashion label based in Thrissur, interprets the Theyyam on its garments.

Folklore and legend, Gods and people tell their stories through a piece of garment.

Adapting an age-old ritualistic tradition to fashion was a tough call, but the idea appealed to the founders- Vimala Viswambharan and her daughter-in-law Rasmi Poduval.

They wanted to replicate the vivid visual palette of the ancient art form on fabric.

As part of the groundwork for Kaithari, the label’s handloom line, Rasmi had to make frequent trips to the Northern belt of Kerala, especially Kannur and Thalassery where she witnessed Theyyam performances. But the idea to use it in fabric came from her photographer friend Pepita Seth, who has been researching the subject and has been working closely with Theyyam artistes.

“The Theyyam costumes are extremely elaborate and there is a certain appliquing technique and a common motif used that are not found anywhere else,” says Rasmi.

“We thought there would be a few specialised tailors doing this work and maybe we could employ them during the Theyyam off season. Better still, we could get them to shift to our design studio temporarily so we could look at experimenting with the original,” says Rasmi.

She met Lakshmanan Peruvannan, a leading Theyyam artiste from Kannur. “He said that everything a Theyyam performer donned was made by the performer himself. This meant that everything from the wooden bust to the elaborate head gear to the ceremonial robes the artiste made from scratch. We were stumped and also slightly ashamed that we knew so little about the lives of these artistes,” says Rasmi.

Lakshmanan, however, was impressed with the idea that Rasmi and team put forward and agreed to help with the design. He also cautioned them about the laborious nature of the work which could take months to be completed.

The work, titled The Theyyam Project, began a year ago with mixing and matching colours, samples and fabric, meeting with the artistes and watching the art form.To Rasmi’s surprise, one of the weavers working for Seamstress had a brother who was a Theyyam artiste. “That was a bonus. We now had two artistes on board,” she says.

Though the concept sounds grand on paper, the translation of it to actual garment was complex. Incorporating the mystical and the fantastical into something every-day was the main challenge. “We did not need the stiffness of the original fabric the artistes use or the canvas back-up in their costume. We wanted to stick to our own fabric and we decided to stick to traditional garments. Western or even Indo-western would not be able to carry off the drama,” Rasmi says.

Moreover, there was so much to draw from. The mukhathezhuthu, the intricate face painting the artistes don, presented a whole world of colour possibilities. “Tempting though it was, it was not practical to use them all,” Rasmi says. The fiery, earthy colours therefore appear as prints and patterns. The label’s sensibilities remain rooted to culture. “It is about knowing where we come from,” says Rasmi.

The Theyyam Project includes long and short kurtas, tunics and a few jackets and is available on the brand’s online store.

It will be launched at a summer bazaar called ‘Under the Parijata Tree’ hosted by Seamstress at Thrissur on April 8 and 9.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Fashion / by Anasuya Menon / Kochi – April 08th, 2016