When sustainable, homegrown label Abheri Crafts was founded seven years ago, the idea was to use block prints on cotton handloom saris, using traditional Indian and western motifs like the Bengali alpana, Kutchi designs, Mexican, Chinese or Egyptian motifs and recreating the nostalgic patterns from the ’60s and ’70s.
With time, they moved on to creating embroideries on saris too. Their newest collection, Porinoy, which connotes wedding in Bengali, is the result of the label’s founders and couturiers Rohini Raychaudhuri and Sanjukta Ghosh’s efforts to create something new for a non-Bengali bride. Thus they came up with a bespoke lehenga with Bengali motifs using kantha stitch for a non-Bengali bride, wedded to a Bengali groom. “Many of us like wearing lehengas, but the ones in the market are not very Bengali in touch and feel and usually very blingy. We wanted to create something out of the box yet traditional,” says Rohini.
Sanjukta adds, “Since kantha stitch is very Bengali, we decided to try it out on a lehenga. Though there were many hurdles, the interest of the bride helped in our experiment.” But you are wrong if you think they work with block prints or simple embroideries alone. Abheri has also handcrafted lehengas and Punjabi sets for couples, which are gorgeous with banarasi borders and all-over embroidery work. “We customise lehengas, saris and panjabis for brides, grooms and their immediate families. We use fabrics like tussar, silk and other such fabrics, all colour coordinated,” says Sanjukta.
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“The base fabric is usually provided by the patrons and we ideate and design the same, keeping the requirements in mind,” adds Rohini. Not just wedding attire, if you are looking for budget buys for gifting purposes or to style the same for events like your friend or cousin’s bachelorette, sangeet, mehendi and other such occasions, you can try out their saris, panjabis and lehengas that are made to order.
Rs 2000 onwards
Available online