Apparel April 2019 Apparel April 2019 issue | Page 77

DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
of urging us to pause to think about our choices,
of respecting the resources of the earth and of
valuing the fundamental beauty of cloth, natural
dyes, handloom and handcrafted garments.
THE CALL OF TEXTILES
Santanu’s inherent creativity in different arts had
him enrol at the National Institute of Design (NID),
Ahmedabad, for a course in design with textiles.
He had initially opted for filmmaking as he thought
films would be an ideal medium to express
narratives. However, while studying textiles, he
found that he loved working with fabrics, that
there was a direct connect between him and
the medium, that they were an ideal medium for
expressing narratives, and that they also offered a
balance between the visual and material world.
“Like any other graduate student, I was
struggling to find a medium to express myself and
I found that textiles allowed me to express what
I wished to from the bottom of my heart. I found
that textiles lead us to our memories. Textiles are
not just for museums. They evoke emotions in
us—it could be the touch of the pallav of a sari or
the prints of a fabric that bring back memories of
your mother or home. I found that textiles touch
upon all our senses and were the medium for me
to express myself.”
that are made from natural fibre yarns that have been
dyed with natural dyes, and to use the yardage for
creating hand-stitched garments with simplicity and
a timeless sensibility.
Santanu wanted to revive traditional weaving
practices, especially of his home state West Bengal,
as he feels design is about honouring and respecting
our tradition, culture, practices and knowledge.
This approach led him to meet Tangail weavers and
subsequently Jamdani and other handloom weavers,
and collaborate with them to create saris as well as
yardage for stitched garments.
RESPONSIBLE CHOICES
The sheer variety and volume of garments available
in stores in markets, malls and online, the cost
involved in producing them, and the insidious wave
of consumerism that goads customers to consume
and buy more products including garments had
Santanu thinking of the importance of restricting
choice. He thought it was important for him as a
FOUNDING MAKU
After passing out of NID in 2011, Santanu
founded Maku Textiles, with the name of the
brand reflecting its connect with hand-weaving
as ‘maku’ is the Bengali word for the weaving
shuttle that rhythmically and ceaselessly moves
in the shed of the warp to create beautiful woven
fabrics. The studio was founded to work with
artisans to create handwoven saris and fabrics
APPAREL
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April 2019
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