Designer Nikhil Thampi shares his experience of travelling to Kolhapur, Goa, Kanchipuram and Pondicherry, exploring the rare craft, and drawing inspiration from architecture to create designs for Fox Traveller’s Style and The City 2. By Divya Kaushik
If living out of suitcase wasn’t one of the privileges of being a designer, we assume Nikhil Thampi would have opted to be someone else. A true blue traveller, he is a self-proclaimed nomad and says that he cannot be at one place for more than two months. Given his passion and interest for travelling, it’s obvious that an offer to be part of Style and The City 2 on Fox Traveller was most welcome but the experience was more enriching than he imagined. “It was life-changing, to sum up in few words. As a designer and as a person I got to explore so much and discover that inspiration to do so much more lies in our own country. We have mostly heard people talking about discovering the unknown regions in other countries, but after travelling for this show, I realised that we need to do that in our own country first. There is so much that India has to offer,” said the designer with his voice brimming with excitement.
In the second series of the show, designers Rocky S, Shantanu and Nikhil and Thampi have explored the Southern and Western cities of India to find inspirations. They have toured Kutch, Pune, Kohlapur, Goa, Sawantwadi, Hyderabad, Pochampoli, Chennai, Pondicherry, Auroville and Kanchipuram. From hand-woven kunbi saris of Goa, to the marbling technique on fabric in Pondicherry, to traditional saaj jewellery of Kolhapur, to rare art form called rogan art of Kutch, and ancient card game called ganjifa of Sawantwadi — the designers picked up a lot of fabrics and techniques to add a zest of life to their outfits. Apart from the discovery of textiles and craft, it was a gala time spent on the streets of various cities. The designers enjoyed tonga rides on the streets of Kolhapur, had traditional sit-down South Indian meal on a banana leaf in Kanchipuram, rode the Harley Davidson along the white Rann of Bhuj.
Thampi explained how each city was an inspiration in a different sense. “I first travelled to Kolhapur, a place known for its chappals. But apart from its chappals, the city is known for its turbans, called pheta in a local language. I was astonished to find pheta of so many colours and met people who can tie it in less than a minute in different ways. I used pheta to create an interesting silhouette for a garment. Next destination was Goa and for the first time, I was not checking out the beaches, clubs and nightlife. I visited ancient churches of the city. I don’t even remember the names of the places we travelled to. We didn’t follow any itinerary, we just got out on bikes and cars to explore the architecture randomly. I found the altar bells and French style window panels so mesmerising that I used them in my designs. The challenge was to do something grungy and spiritual. In Chennai, I was with South Indian actress Bani, who is a friend and was to attend an important function. I drew an inspiration from their traditional white and golden sari and came up with a power suit. The challenge was to transform the sari into something glamorous. I found Chennai male-dominated and the power suit was my way of giving power to women. Pondicherry was just gorgeous and I had to design something for Kalki Koechlin, who wanted something youthful and nothing over-the-top. One can find inspiration in everything in Pondicherry and the craft was such a discovery. Auroville is a spiritual destination and everything had a clamming effect. I discovered the print industry there and looked for some tribal prints. I also met a Korean women doing interesting crochia work,” shared the self-taught designer.
For Thampi, the exploration of Indian techniques and fabrics won’t end with the series. He wants to use marbling technique from Pondicherry and the art of weaving Kanchipuram saris for his future collections. “Marbling is a Japanese art of abstract painting done on water. Every sheet of paper is an individual work of art and varies both in shade and design. I would definitely work with that. It takes over 30 days to prepare one Kanchipuram sari. It is such an intricate task,” he commented.