Bengaluru-based S24 Parganas employs the West Bengal district’s Aari and Zardozi hand embroiderers to craft statement tops, dresses and jackets of the same name.
Working in Bangalore based S24 Parganas ari and zardozi embroiderers from the West Bengal district of the same name to craft statement tops, dresses and jackets
During the first COVID-induced lockdown in 2020, Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Sosha Thomas got a call from an embroidery artisan in need of help. “He used to work with me earlier, and lost his job due to the pandemic. He was expecting his first child and didn’t want to go Empty handed for his village in West Bengal. As per COVID-19 norms, we got permission from the authorities to work in their studio,” says Sosha, who has been exporting hand embroidered designs to fashion studios in the UK and US – like Hale Bob, Amanda Kelly – For the past decade. But when from many other artisans Bengal approached him for work, things took a different turn, and soon his apparel brand S24 Parganas was born – named after the district the artisans belonged to.
“I had never considered starting a home brand because I was very satisfied with what I was doing, but we had to create work for them,” says Sosha, who in 2020 wore hand-embroidered tops and silk kurtas. Kickstarted the brand with a small line of with two Artisan, “We wondered if it would be possible for these talented people” Artisan To get work in their villages instead of becoming migrant laborers. It worked out well because they were happy to work with the families around them. The response to our initial collection was phenomenal,” says the 49-year-old entrepreneur, adding that the artisans returned home after the easing of lockdown restrictions, but continued to work from there. All artifacts are original, and hand-crafted by Sosha and her daughters, sent with raw materials to artisans in South 24 Parganas. Once they receive the embroidered panels, the Bengaluru team washes them, dries them and sews them onto the fabric.
an artisan at work
Apart from Kovid, Sosha tells how Artisan were badly damaged by cyclone Amphan. “Also, with the flood of digital embroidery in all segments of the market, hand embroidery was losing its value. At this point the embroiderers were disillusioned and were looking for other occupations.”
Mayflower and Geometry
brand latest collection, Launched in February 2022, takes inspiration from traditional Eastern European embroidery and includes dresses and tops. “It has a vibrant color palette — fuchsia, deep purple, mulberry, jade — and shows off three-dimensional embroidery with floral, geometric, and Aztec-inspired motifs On fine muslin cotton unlike our silk Kantha-patchwork jacket,” says Sosha, explaining when she saw how Kantha Quilts made from old saris by artisans’ mothers, their jacket line had taken shape. With bright floral motifs in most of the outfits, she says her most popular blouse, The Mayflower, is from her first collection. “It combines intricate geometric borders and Hungarian floral motifs.” The fuchsia dress with nature inspired floral embroidery is another favorite, as is her cypress blouse with miniature Mughal flowers in embroidery.
Sosha Thomas (left) with her daughter Samara
all eyes ari
What makes the art of South 24 Parganas unique as compared to other embroidery styles? Sosha says that the embroiderers of the district are descendants of the original Zardozi. ariArtisan, “Their skill and color-sense are unmatched. We use contemporary designs The products are fused with traditional hand embroidery techniques to make them. While many women embroiderers use round, wooden frames, these Artisan work on long wooden frames, with special ari Needles,” she says, are the same on the front and back of the embroidery, unlike machine or computer embroidery where the reverse side is noticeable.
About 20 artisans employed by Sosha work only with natural fabrics such as cotton, linen and silk. “We also use fabric made from recycled yarn. Our Kantha The jacket is a patchwork of repurposed fabric,” she says, “that women had never been paid for their work before, so this was a huge step forward for us.”
a snapshot from his collection
sustainable legacy
From the opening line of embroidered white blouses launched in 2020 to two collections a year, the entrepreneur says the brand has come a long way. “We want hand embroidery to be accessible to more people as it will lead to more work for embroiderers. While most hand embroidery brands use viscose silk thread, we use cotton thread, which is machine washable and long lasting,” says Sosha, who specializes in silk kurtas for India. Working on a modern line. “To meet the demand, we are bringing back kurtas – with slurry embroidery – which was a part of our first launch.” Currently, the team is experimenting with Phulkari, Susani Embroidery that will soon appear in their Winter 2022 collection which includes jackets and tunics in darker colours.
Detailing her small steps towards sustainability, Sosha says she is looking at adding more handloom and recycled yarn fabrics to her collection. “We are also working on ways to reduce fabric waste by reusing the scrap generated by cutting into patchwork, jackets and even our packaging bags,” she adds, noting that brands are overly expensive. Without it, your clothes would be like pieces of heritage. ,
A patchwork jacket from his collection
Over the next three years, the team hopes to reach out to and work with various marginalized communities in Bengaluru and South 24 Parganas. “We have started giving employment to women from underprivileged sections, who are being taught embroidery in a local school. in Bangalore. We are trying to train them to design our own jackets,” says Sosha, adding that she is working on collaborating with Ambara in Bengaluru and a few stores in Paris. “We want to grow the brand organically, thereby Artisan The center of our story. In foreign countries, designers visit artisan’s homes, but in India, they come to us in search of work and remain anonymous. I want to change that,” she concluded.
2,900- 4,900. WhatsApp 9731527819 to order