Born and raised in India my innate sensitivity was towards organic and ethnic handmade textiles that encircled my life. As a child I could never realize and express that I always felt some kind of energy surrounding handmade textiles as compared to machine produced ones. Soon this feeling transformed into fascination, a love affair and ended up being my weakness, which exists till date.
Taking my sensitivity further I took a bachelor’s degree in Clothing and Textiles, from the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, India specializing in Indian handlooms. My fascination was further reinforced when I studied them … this time with “sensibility”. The timeless, precise and laborious work of Ikats , detailed tying techniques of tie and dyes, the forever blending’s of colours in block printed textiles or exquisite ancient signature weaving techniques across the country, warm woolen handloom pashminas mesmerized me to forge a lifelong association and a moral commitment which kind of turned into an obligation to always wear handmade.
On completing my graduation I was fortunate to work as an intern with leading fashion house and participating in fashion shows thus gaining practical knowledge of the industry.
However being trained with a Research Degree in Indian Classical Dance Kathak I soon started designing costumes for dance and theatre productions. With designing costumes for more than 10 full length productions and countless solo performances across the globe I got an opportunity to design costumes for two films too. (a dance film and a short film). Dance brought me to Lisbon Portugal. It was here away from my roots, amongst the fascination for my choice of clothes by my friends, fans and collaborators, I unknowingly took a moral obligation of supporting these ancient hand crafting traditions with the faith that they are unique enough to stand out against the factory mass produced impersonal outfits.
Thus was born the idea of SHREE SCARFS promoting and preserving – “handmade”.
