Crafting An Inclusive Indian Heritage At Asha Gautam

How did the brand come into being? 

My mother Asha Gupta started Asha Gautam in 1998, inspired by her grandmother who used to be a saree lover and loved playing with blouse styles. From puff sleeves to frill finishing and intricate rich weaves such as kota, chanderi and organdy sarees, there was everything. During my sister’s wedding, my mother designed a few sarees for her trousseau and was appreciated by many. Her immediate family encouraged her to start with a capsule collection but she had many inhibitions as women were not allowed to work in her community. But with the support of her family, she started her journey in 1998 with a capsule collection of sarees which she developed and exhibited for friends and family. The entire collection got sold the first day itself and then there was no looking back. I was studying and helping her and it was this love which I developed in those 5 years from 1998 to 2003 that I decided to join her in 2003 after my post-graduation. 

Asha Gupta and Gautam Gupta, founders of Asha Gautam

Has travelling inspired you in any way? 

My father loved travelling and ensured that we would visit a new place at least twice a year. I got close to nature due to this and became more sensitive to our natural landscapes, proud of our heritage and found love for our multicultural society. From hills to beaches, forts to museums, ghats to deserts, temples to masjids, dosa to chola bhature, as a country we are so diverse that it becomes part of your DNA. Along with leisure trips, our work made us travel to the interiors of the country and in those narrow lanes, we saw so much talent, humility and the process of crafting handmade treasures. Those memories, trips and skills are part of our inspirations in every collection. 

You recently presented a collection in association with Brave soul’s foundation, A NGO for Acid attack survivors. How did this association happen?

We have been associated with Brave Souls for almost 18 months, and I support them in a few of their endeavours. The founder, Ms Shaheen called me with the intent to do a show during their 2nd anniversary. I agreed and felt delighted to be part of such a noble association. As a person, I feel our society cannot progress till each and every being is part of the ecosystem and we want to communicate inclusivity and diversity through our collection, communication and collaboration. We also ensure that this core value is imbibed in our team at all levels. When we did shows for Tamanna (NGO for the differently-abled) the love those students give us is surreal. 

The label focusses on Indian heirloom weaves for their collections

I still feel I have to do a lot more, in including more people of the society, and there are plans to build a team of specialised trainers and facilitators who can involve the underprivileged sections. As a brand, we want to empower people rather than donate so that they become self-reliant.

Many of your collections have put focus on India’s textile traditions. Which ones, in your opinion, are the most important?

Over the years we did try to work on many weaves, from Patola to Paithani and Banarasi. I will say two have made a significant difference not only for us but for the weave itself. One is in Banarasi lehengas, started in 2012 and till date, it has not only changed the way the clusters work now but it also given huge business opportunities to the weavers. The business of heirloom sarees is unfortunately declining but with the changes in the process of making designs, lehengas, and fabrics has helped the weave a lot. 

Second is Paithani which was conventionally designed in border-pallu style but then due to design intervention newer colours, motifs, patterns and placements were made. Now in every family who plans a wedding, there is at least one paithani saree which itself tells the significant change. Adding to that, even the fabrics are designed for lehengas which added value to the business. With appliqué technique, the weave is now worn even in summer as well. 

Asha Gautam is associated with artisans from 7 states, 15 clusters, with more than 30 Indian crafts

Where does sustainability feature in your process? Are there any other handlooms techniques that you hope to revive?

100 percent sustainability is just in the books and I don’t think it is achievable right now. At the same time, my definition of sustainability has a few important pillars- the creation of slow fashion and handmade fashion, recycling and reusing existing resources, reducing waste, travel and overconsumption, reverse migration, circular design processes and inclusivity. 

Asha Gautam’s love affair with sustainability dates back to the beginning of the brand. My mother picked up her own mother and grandmother’s old silk sarees lying around and stripped them of their gorgeous borders and pallas. Taking these, she sewed them onto georgette sarees, creating a style statement with a classical touch that added a contemporary charm.  All this time, as she upcycled and recycled old clothes she began answering her own questions about why silk sarees are restricted to being winter staples and why Kalamkari can’t be chic.

Another technique we use intelligently is appliqué. It was through the humble art of appliqué that we found new ways to use old fabrics. This also helped in contravention of the seasonal notion which is attached in the fashion of spring-summer and autumn-winter by patching paithani silk borders on chiffons and organza. Appliqué technique made a lot of leftovers being used effectively and at the same time created design space for merging crafts. 

Asha Gautam hopes to revive and promote India’s heritage weaves through the label. Picture: Unsplash

We also recently started a project – Style the Craft, where we are using fabrics left by weavers and designing a contemporary look on them to make it work for the artisans at the grass-root level. The women of the family, especially in clusters based in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan have a lot of women artisans now, and this has given employment and increased the production capacity of handmade textiles. 

5 years ago, we started making samples here and let the production happen in clusters. This helps not just with the emotional well-being of the artisans, but leveraging technology has also helped us lower our carbon footprint. In the last few years, we have reduced travelling to clusters by more than 50 per cent just by educating artisans on how to leverage video calls and Whatsapp for detailed discussion. 

Tangaliya Weave (Gujarat) and Chamba Rumal embroidery (Himachal) are two crafts I am itching to work with, though hands are full for our 25th-anniversary events and plans so most probably by next year I will be able to do something substantial.