Interview with Jeyasree Ravi, daughter of Nalli Kuppuswamy Chettiar and founder of Palam Silks, on the invincible connection between Indian music and Kanjeevarams as well as the trends to watch out for this festive season
How do you connect Indian music and Kanjeevarams?
Indian music and Kanjeevarams are not really strangers. There is a lingering camaraderie since both are pure art forms. Musical instruments have been woven across Kanjeevarams since time immemorial. Motifs like tabla and veena are very familiar motifs on silk saris. Palam’s first handshake with Indian music was ‘isai payanam’. Music patrons were offered free shuttle service during Margazhi season where we dropped them at their favourite sabhas during the music season in Chennai. This was curated much before sabha hopping came around, a term coined by young millennials.
We followed up with the Concert Collection, a capsule that still relishes adulation from music lovers spread across the globe.
We took a five-year break from collaborating with music and design as we took a different design direction. We did a deep dive into history, culture and world art forms. This year, with the Resonance collection, our goal was to curate a musical collection that touches a very deep chord and not stay superficial by simply weaving motifs of musical instruments. We wanted to take an artistic direction to it without being conventional in terms of designs. We wanted to experiment with the technology behind it, and bring to the fore minute parts of the musical instruments that are either not visible or simply not given enough attention like patterns of sound waves, trumpet and nadhaswaram valves, top angle views of a ghatam, etc.
Indian music is so vast and we simply ran wild with the design palette. We have launched this collection for Diwali because the music season will start brimming right after the collection will be available for all music patrons across the season in new colours.
How does music influence you as a designer?
As a Chennaite, I have seen the margazhi season grow in importance over the years. Being the daughter of Nalli Kuppuswamy Chettiar, it is hard to miss this. I always found it fascinating as it grew into a festival of Chennai. We always have NRIs flying down to Chennai just for the festival. The month of December is a joyful celebration of music and food festivities. And this is the season when all our pattu saris come out of the cupboard. The vibrant colours , music and energy in the air is infectious. That itself inspires any creative person, not just a textile designer. Music is something that inspires whether you are in the kitchen working on a dish, or in the IT, working on a programme, or doing something as mundane as replying to emails. Music enlivens you.
What kind of materials do you work with and why?
As a kid, as I grew up just above Nalli, and what I heard is customers and weavers talking about pattu saris to my father. So, I guess I was fascinated with this fabric even as a child. I’m still obsessed with handloom kanjeevarams.
What are the sari trends that you see in Chennai for the upcoming festive season?
People prefer pattu saris that are not too heavy. The other day we had a small event in our Mylapore store. My friend was the speaker and she generally wears western outfits. As she was browsing the saris, while chatting with others, a sari caught her eye. Just as the event was about to begin she opened the sari once, put it on herself. Then she said she would take a look after the event. After the event and tea, she just couldn’t get her mind off the sari. What impressed her was the small border and the body and border being in the same shade. I think that will be the trend for this season.
Contemporary borders, big and small, in the same shade as the body will be trending this festive season. Self gold zari borders and self pallu are popular. Borderless Kanjeevarams are here to stay and will be in trend for the next five years. One-sided border never got their due attention five years back, but now we see youngsters appreciating them a lot more.
— manuvipin@newindianexpress.com