Despite the collective efforts made by designers and homegrown brands alike to bring handloom to the forefront, the fabric is still limited to a niche market in many ways. While materials like khadi currently boast of a wider presence across the city, finding it in a mass retail shop might still involve extensive searching on the customer’s part.“We want to take the handloom out of this marked space and make it more accessible to the common folks,” begins K P Ratheesh, who launched, few months ago. A chemical engineer-turned-entrepreneur, it was his social commitment, ranging from fighting corruption alongside the Aam Aadmi Party to his passion towards supporting local artisans, that eventually inspired Ratheesh to launch the endeavour.
The right pick
Celebrity names including author Sara Joseph and actor Parvathy Thiruvoth are listed amongst the many who frequent Gramins’ store for unique picks such as Kuthampully set saris laced with silver jari. Limiting their experiments to fitting silhouettes, as opposed to the free-flowing traditional styles, the 30-something’s unisex store currently offers kurtas as well as screwpine bags alongside saris.“As of now, we are sticking to conventional designs and concentrating more on creating awareness about identifying the authentic handloom. Especially during occasions like Onam, people are at the risk of buying mass produced power loom variants passed on as originals,” shares Ratheesh, who’s currently in the process of developing new designs in association with Kerala State Institute of Design and National Institute of Design
Kurtas from `790 onwards.
Details: graminsrishti.in