My brief required me to come up with newer designs to add to the range of DWARAKA products in the showroom and also work on a few designs for sarees. While working on saree designs, I had to keep in mind that the Kalamkari look had to be maintained even as I brought in change in the traditional designs.
DWARAKA, works for the betterment of the Kalamkari artisans of Srikalahasthi. It was always my passion to directly interact with people at the grass root level. DWARAKA’s main objectives are to keep alive the slowly dying art of Kalamkari and also take care of the welfare of the community. These objectives very well gelled with my interests of working with the craftsmen directly.
The work done during my diploma project was categorised into three parts namely, ‘Designs for the Natural Dye Saree Show,’ ‘Designs for mainstream sarees,’ and ‘Designs for miscellaneous products.’ The sources for design ideas during this journey have been varied. The concepts for sarees were done through spontaneous and continuous sketching inspired from nature, pictures, magazines, existing designs and motifs, and assorted sarees from the collections of people or books. The options for the layout and patterns were thought about while working on the concepts, through trial and error method and repeated assessment.
I had mainly focused on creating a range of designs for Kalamkari sarees exclusively for the Natural Dye Saree Show while, some time was spent creating some lifestyle and desktop accessories as well for the DWARAKA showroom.
These products included cushion covers, bags, pouches, skirts, stoles, journals, lampshades, mirrors, and table linen. They had been mostly designed to use up existing Kalamkari borders and patches that had collected in plenty at DWARAKA, while a few of the borders used in these products were my creations.
