DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
AN ODE TO ODISHA
Designer Gunjan Jain is focused on reinterpreting the traditional design vocabulary of Odisha
through designing detail-oriented textiles. Brinda Gill writes.
“Odisha is a goldmine of crafts. In the late 2000s,
the state was relatively unexplored by designers,”
says designer Gunjan Jain, who left a corporate
job in an apparel-buying agency in New Delhi and
moved to Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, “to
dive into the world of handmade and handloom
textiles of the state.”
The result of her efforts, explorations, and
experiences is a wonderful variety of Odisha’s
traditional ikat and jala weaves in the form of
saris, dupattas, stoles, and yardages, which form
a part of her label Vriksh. The textiles, woven
with cotton, tussar silk and mulberry silk yarns,
showcase her interpretation of traditional motifs
and patterns found in these weaves. Gunjan has
also presented the beauty of Odisha’s ikat and
jala weaves at different platforms in the country
and abroad, including the World Ikat Textiles
Symposium in Indonesia, Thailand, the United
Kingdom (UK), India, and Malaysia.
64
I APPAREL I
December 2019