Peonies on kanjeevaram: a peek at good sari collaborations

Why a good collaboration is not merely the union of two crafts, but an expression of respect, generosity and creativity

Ashdeen Lilaowala understands collaborations in a way few of his peers do. Over the years, he has consistently worked with a diverse range of brands such as Ekaya (in 2016, the Banarasi silks were woven with Parsi gara motifs like birds of paradise, chrysanthemums and peonies) and, most recently, Chennai’s Kanakavalli, the kanjeevaram brand founded by Ahalya S.

The Delhi-based designer, who roots the 200-year-old needlepoint technique (which originated in China and was popularised by the Parsis in India) in a contemporary vocabulary, maintains that with each partnership he takes “Parsi gara design and embroidery, and pushes it further because good collaborations are a marriage of equals”.

With the Ashdeen x Kanakavalli collab, he and Ahalya deliberated over a year, with a lot of thought and experimentation going into each choice of colour, thread and pattern, to arrive at a language for the 40-piece embroidered collection. When it released earlier this month, it was received with harsh criticism from ‘purists’ and lavish praise from ‘modernists’. Yet this collection is distinct from anything else seen before as a rendition of a kanjeevaram sari.

For years, popular wedding silk retailers like Pothys, RmKv and Saravana Stores have stocked embroidered kanjeevarams. I have struggled to articulate the aesthetic difference, beyond descriptions of material quality or the distended size of motifs. It was only when I saw the two versions (the collab and other embroidered kanjeevarams), meant for completely different markets, side by side did the sincerity of the language reveal itself. What works with Ashdeen x Kanakavalli is that they have explored the 12 pillars of a good collaboration: contrast, balance, emphasis, proportion, hierarchy, repetition, rhythm, pattern, white space, movement, variety, and unity.

Carrying forward the tradition

If there’s one thread that firmly places the gara x kanjeevaram collection within our sari vaults, it is this: in India, collaboration is a tradition .

At its core, it is the will of creative minds coming together to lift each other’s art or practice because they passionately believe they are effecting a change for the better — not just within their skill sets, but also for the gamut of people involved, from the artists and craftsperson to the consumer. Examine the precincts of your own favourite textile, food or even music, and you will find at least five scenarios of innovation in practices. All the result of good collaborations. Here are three of my all-time favourites: