Mumbai was a kaleidoscope of emotions on the morning of Eid (March 31). Outside on the streets near Trident, BKC, where we were staying, the mood was one of quiet rejoicing. Young boys, in their pristine whites, were exploring the ‘maximum city’ with an almost tourist-like glee. Their happiness had an infectious charm. We were on our way to meet textile ‘artist’ Gaurav Jai Gupta at his first flagship Akaaro store, located on Calicut Road, in Ballard Estate, days ahead of its launch. The mood of this quiet lane was robust with colours and laughter. Inside Gaurav’s store, we felt a sense of calm. Fuss-free, serving as a perfect canvas for Gaurav’s incredible artistry with textiles. Akaaro is 15, a brand known for its celebration of Indian textiles, the many layers it can lend itself to and the many avatars, and, for championing the handwoven.
As we sat down for a chat, Gaurav decoded his process in detail, and we had the pleasure to learn about and relish the fineness of his craft, that is dramatic too, from close quarters. Excerpts.
Fifteen years is a milestone moment. Congratulations! What has been the journey like?
I think, finally, we’ve come full circle with the space. It’s been a lot of learning for me individually, because when I started, I had no idea how the business works, how the industry operates. I was just one young kid with good training and just wanted to do something with my skill set when I started, and I think over a period in the process, I’ve really sort of learned a lot. There have been a lot of tough times as well. It’s not been a super smooth ride, for sure. And I’ve not played to the gallery. I’ve just kind of kept it open. It’s been very sort of organic. We’ve not been a strategy-led business as such. I think I received a lot of love and support, from everybody, for the brand, for what I do. It’s been quite fulfilling.
What were your initial years like?
I think the first time when I did a show was in 2010, if I’m not mistaken. I trained in woven textiles, handwoven. I have actually trained as a weaver. And before that, I have a degree in fashion from NIFT, Delhi. And then I was in the UK. I was at Chelsea, where I did weaving.
When I came back, the first show, I think I was only doing woven textiles. And now, 15 years down the line, I’m still only doing woven textiles. We’ve still not really ventured seriously into embroideries or prints or knits, or any other thing. Initially, when I launched, I don’t think anybody understood what was going on. When I used to say ‘engineered clothes’, I had to tell them what I meant by ‘engineering’ because I don’t think this was a term which was widely used.
When we started using terms like molten gold and all these things, I think these were new. The nomenclature was very different. It still is, because most of the people generally identify textiles by, ‘Oh, this is Chanderi. This is Benarasi. This is this. This is that’. From an industry point of view, it’s fine. I mean, it makes things easier. But I don’t think there is anything called Benarasi, because it’s a geographical place where we’re weaving. For example, if you are weaving silk in Benaras, that’s also Benarasi. If you’re weaving cotton and wool in Benaras, that is also Benarasi. So, how can you demarcate a complete, very refined skill set?
I think the nomenclature in my case was we will always write, which we still do, give the full description and say ‘handwoven cotton silk’. It sounds boring, but it kind of tells you exactly what you are buying, and what it is about. And in some places, we would obviously mention where it was woven. So if you go to our website, it will tell you where it was woven. So that also gives you an idea. It kind of opens up the narrative a little bit more. We didn’t exoticise textiles, and I think that’s been one of the biggest differences between what I’ve done and what else has been done around. So I think it was tough in that sense, because when you are making it, let’s say cultural, nostalgic, all those things, what people generally are not used to, the response time is slightly slow. So I think that has been one of my major challenges.
It always worked (though), because it kind of, as I said, brought a lot of people into the fold. So I think somebody had to do it. And in my case, I just happened to be one of those who ended up playing that role...
I think handlooms have become very handloom-y, if you know what I mean. It’s everywhere. So it’s become a trend. Actually, 15 years is a long time. There is a lot which has changed, and I think people really understand it a lot more. There’s a lot more education and awareness. And also, because everybody is doing such wonderful work, there is always that sort of push in terms of, okay, let’s do something fresh and new.
You make your own textiles. Tell us a bit about that...
My first serious interaction with Indian textiles started with Phulia, Bengal, which was in 2006. I finished my education in 2005. I came back and I met two young boys, my age, in 2007, at one of these government-run trade shows. And I really like the quality of it. It was really nice. And there was something very modern about it. They were doing scarves and accessories.
Phulia has been like my playground for the longest time. It’s been amazing. I would come to Calcutta, then take a bus... from Kankurgachi and go all the way to Phulia. There was no place to stay. We used to go further down, I think, towards Mayapur. There was a small place on the way and we would stay there. It was really nice. There was no Instagram or social media. Phulia is by the river, lush green. You eat your amazing local food. I learnt a lot. And we used to have this gentleman called Dadu, who was so knowledgeable. He was much older than me, and we used to have a lot of arguments, because he would not agree, I would not agree. So it was amazing. It was love for the craft, right? I think I worked a lot with silk and wool. We would experiment a lot. It was amazing.
Then the second region I think I started working was in Chanderi. We have kind of worked now throughout the country. So we work in Benaras, in a lot of places outside Benaras. Actually, my work is less in Benaras and more in the outer regions of Varanasi, the outskirts. There are specific points within Uttar Pradesh. We’ve been doing a lot of work in Panipat. I’ve spent two years of my schooling in Panipat. We’ve done work in Bikaner, Amritsar, Srinagar, Ladakh, Kanchipuram, Odisha... it’s been amazing.
Tell us a bit about the metallic element in your collection, which lends your pieces a unique touch...
This started in my college days in 2001-2002, when I was at NIFT. I started working with copper at that time, so 23 years back. I did a lot of work with reused materials at that time, it was not honestly about recycling or sustainability. It was just that I didn’t have money. As a student, we were always short on things. And I think I was one of those who just wanted to do something very cool, you know, very different.
All my exposure to design and fashion was at NIFT, and in the library, I would spend time reading, mostly looking at Japanese designers, and that’s where I started picking up about metal, like metallic yarns. I always used to wonder, why would you use steel, and what will it do? I would get very excited. How would you use it? So it started there. I won all the awards when I graduated from NIFT. It became quite a buzzing project, and I sold a lot. As a young student, to sell out your graduation project was quite phenomenal. I remember a lot of architects got in touch with me in those days.
And then I was not very sure what I was doing because the materiality was there, but it was not very strong, because there were no reference points. We didn’t really know what yarns to use. Is it wearable? That led me to my second degree in London at Chelsea, and that’s when the fun started, because they had a lot of materials to work with. That made me very comfortable with the material. And I did start working with a lot of steel yarns, blended, twisted, all those things. You know, I would make calls, I would speak to the studios and go to the mills. And we used to have a yarn store in the college, and you had a quota of yarns you could use. The mills used to donate or supply yarns. So we had some very amazing facilities in that sense, like a resource centre.
I think I played around. When I came back, again, the same thing started. There is no material here. What do you do? That led me to work with a couple of people like Deepika Jindal from Arttd’inox. We worked with them to develop that yarn, which I used a lot in my early years. We imported also, I think, a couple of times, which we still do. And that further led me to start working a lot with zari. So the origin of my engagement with zari is not the traditional textiles or historical textiles. It actually comes from my own practice. It just comes to me now. I think textiles just speak to me.
When you say ‘engineered’, tell us a bit about the process...
Engineering started for two reasons. When I was studying, I didn’t like things to be very uniform, and I don’t like wastage. Most of the textiles have repeats. At least in those days, when I was studying, in what we have seen, it’s a repeat textile because it’s very easy, you know. It’s like a pattern, and I would get very bored with it, because when I was weaving myself, I felt why should I weave the same thing for two hours?
I was a maker. I was weaving. It’s very different. And when you’re a student, you don’t really have a purpose as to why you’re weaving. I’m not weaving for people to wear the clothes. I was a design student. I just wanted to make things. I thought, why can we not change the whole process? Like, why can I not get a triangle after a circle?
Technically, that’s an elaborate process, and that eventually gets transformed into engineering, where I started designing around the body. The texture will be woven, so you don’t have wastage, and it’s exactly designed where things should come and your patterns should change. So in a way, what I was doing was I was basically doing ornamentation within the fabric, in the weave. So it’s almost like embroidery, or it’s like surface ornamentation.
Have you worked with embroidery at all?
I have because when I took up some design projects after NIFT, I actually worked with a company where they used to do a lot of embroideries. I’d set up a whole plant for them in Delhi in those days. And it’s not that I don’t understand embroideries. I like to control things, in the sense that when I’m weaving, or when I was weaving earlier, I would do the whole process. I like to do things myself. I’m not very good with sketching. And you know, in embroidery, you have to write your own graphs. Technically, a craftsman does that. Designers don’t write graphs. Now, it’s very easy. You can do it on a machine.
And I don’t think that I will not do embroidery or print or knit. In fact, I find the process very beautiful because sometimes they are so amazing that you do think you should do it. I have always thought, let me make myself better at one craft. And when I think I have reached a certain point, then we will move to the second one. So I wanted to be convinced that I’m doing a decent job with weaving first.
This is luxury, right?
Yes, for sure. I think quality (is luxury). That is something which I will never compromise on. As your business increases, your quality moves down, that should never happen. I think that is integral to any craft. I think you cannot cheat people just because you’ve got a sort of a certain name or a brand. We don’t do that. No, we are 100 per cent, what we promise is what we deliver. It’s built on that ethos. That’s my main concern, actually, and that’s the reason I’m slow.
I think I also struggled to understand my own work. I’m being very honest. It’s not something which I say generally, but a lot of times, even like stores would tell me, we don’t think we can sell this. You know, I’ve been told by one of the top stores that it’s too refined for our sensibility. I don’t think we have that kind of clientele.
Did it break your heart?
No, it is what it is (laughs). It’s fine. It’s for me to decide, should I stick to it, or should I do what people want, or what generally gets accepted faster? So yeah, I just chose to do what I wanted to do.
In what direction do you see Indian fashion going?
I think it’s a very good time to be in fashion. We’ve always had a voice, but we are now just starting to build. I think the future belongs to India in that sense, because we have everything going. We have great infrastructure. We have really good skill set and patronage. Our understanding is very good, and we have something fresh to offer, which nobody does, globally. You know, it’s variety. We have our own perspective, which is not borrowed to an extent.
We have our own play field altogether, which is very unique. And I think the industry has obviously come a long way. There’s been a huge evolution. I learn so much from everybody. A lot of people who’ve been out there doing great work, that kind of also builds a template for everyone else to follow, because when you don’t have a reference point, you don’t really know what to do.
I clearly remember when I started, and I don’t come from a quintessential background, even in my college days, even though I went to NIFT, but I never really understood, honestly, initially, the idea of runways. And I never understood, why is it important? What happens? Though, I love doing shows. I’ve been trying to stick to one a year, but I think we’ve come a long way, right?
Who did you look up to?
I had my teachers. Two-three of my mentors were my teachers. Issey Miyake (legendary Japanese designer) had a great impact on my work, which I didn’t realise. I think it happened subconsciously. When I was trying to put the name of the brand, I actually thought of another name, which was ‘cauliflower’. We thought, can it be cauliflower with a K? Somebody told me, there’s already something similar, which, I think, was Miyake!
In India, the first designer I ever took note of was Rajesh (Pratap Singh). More than the work, it’s the ethos for me. He’s one of the few, probably the only person in this country I personally identify in terms of industry. It’s been inspirational, because it’s been a little similar in his case as well. I have huge respect for him, because he’s, again, not really bastardised his skill. And I don’t think people talk about that. And I think there are a lot more people. Trust me, it’s not just him. I mean, there are a lot of people, and their work go unnoticed because they don’t go into that space of theatrics and do whatever. They stick to the guns and keep producing beautiful work.
Have you always felt fashion should be functional?
I come from a place where that’s what it has always been, but I do think it’s also visually empowering, and it is like art. So, a lot of things I make sometimes are may be not functional. I do because of the joy it gives me. It’s the visual part of it. Sometimes the possibility of making it happened. It’s very dynamic.
What direction do you see the brand taking?
We got our fingers crossed. We are hoping for this space to really do the turnaround, and definitely, focusing more to get this off the ground. Because we have a platform, we’d like to bring a lot of interesting mix in terms of what we do. Maybe increase the retail footprint eventually. Delhi definitely, because that’s home.
So you chose Mumbai for any reason?
It just came to me. I mean, that’s a different story. I was looking at both Bombay and Delhi. I think the space just spoke to me.
I had actually come here (Ballard Estate) to check Ifbe, which is next door. We wanted to do sort of a bigger-scale event there. And I accidentally ended up seeing this space and the neighbourhood. I obviously read about it much later in terms of what’s the entire spot about, and how important it is. This is what original Bombay is, and it’s the city of dreams, because it’s a port city, and there are six or seven streets. We are on Calicut Road right now. There’s Cochin Street, Goa Street. So, the trade basically would happen between these ports, because those are also port cities. And I think a lot of those people started living on these streets. So this particular street had a lot of people from Calicut, and then behind us is Cochin Street. And so I think that was very interesting. It’s basically like a grid, and this particular spot used to be a part of the ice factory. So it’s an older space, it’s under Bombay Port Trust, it’s kind of a protected site in that sense.
I wanted a space with a lot of natural light. My Delhi space also has a lot of natural light. I wanted an open space. I think coming from Delhi, we are used to big spaces, right? So, I think that was integral to what I wanted to do. It’s around between 1,800 to 2,000sq ft.
Were you waiting for the right space or it just did not happen earlier?
I think I never really thought about it also. With me, it’s always very natural. You know, when it happens, it happens. I don’t think too much. I’m not somebody who would say, ‘Oh, in 10 years I will do this’. I don’t think anybody knows what they’ll do. Surprises are always nicer when they come. When the alignment happens organically, I think that’s when it’s beautiful, at least for me. So, we’ve been thinking about it. It’s been on my mind for a while. The intent was there, and I think that’s what probably led to this, because we were looking, but in terms of timing, I think I was just a little bit more comfortable. I was like, okay, you know, let’s do it.
How have you built it?
We’ve retained more than 70 per cent of what we got. So the entire ceiling and the pillar. Structurally, we were not allowed to make any changes from the BPT, which is the Port Trust. There are three doors. We had to work around these constraints. The loft is as is. We’ve not changed anything in the loft. That’s what design is about sometimes. You work in restraint and constraint, and I think that kind of brings out a very different character altogether. We’ve pretty much used only wood, if you see.
You can actually play around with the space, which means that it can look different to you in different times, and it’s to the point and minimal. We don’t have an iota of a thing which is not required. So it’s not decorative.
The moment you walk in, we want you to be at ease, because I think sometimes designer stores could be intimidating. So we wanted that sort of comfort. I would like people to come and just explore and see, play around, spend some time also. We’ve thought about everything in detail. I mean, it looks very simple. It’s not that simple, you know. The way it’s been designed, you can actually change the structure altogether very fast. It can become a gallery. It can become a space where you can do, maybe, talks and gigs. It’s an open space.
The inside room is where we have all the saris. We’ve done this whole sort of a wooden almirah, which opens up. If people are shopping for a wedding or they’re shopping for a very important function, anything in the family or in their personal life, these are very important occasions for people. It’s not just about shopping. I wanted to make sure that they’re comfortable when they come.
So we designed it like that, so that it’s very easy. It’s very like you take your time, relax, there is no rush, and you spend time. You talk to us. You sort of absorb what you’re buying, what you like. Even in this room, I think the light is very important, so the colour kind of comes out. So we’ve kept everything muted and solid. Basically, we don’t have any distractions.
Who is an Akaaro woman?
It’s someone with a strong mind, a clear mind, independent, and somebody who’s sort of more urban. To my mind, it’s about the strength. I’ve looked at a lot of people who buy, who’ve been coming to me regularly, one of the things which I’ve found common in all of them, mostly, they’re all independent. They’re all self-made. They’re very strong women. They’re all working. And also, it’s not a brand where you do name-dropping. They are very quiet about what they wear. It’s for people who are very authentic, very real.