Rouka By Sreejith Jeevan shares their Onam edit with this elegant handloom!
Onam is the special time of the year when the Kerala handloom takes centre stage along with the Pookalam (flower carpet), King Mahabali, Vallam kali (boat race) and Sadya which are all synonymous to the festival! Step into God’s own country and you will find men, women and children embracing different styles of the Kerala handloom. Ritz catches up with designers who have crafted their Onam edits with this elegant handloom!
Compiled by Riya Sonny Datson
Rouka By Sreejith Jeevan
Your inspiration to work on Kerala Saree?
In my recent interview to the Vogue, I spoke about using local textiles in my designs. Post its publication, the discussion that followed brought in a lot of mixed opinions in terms of redefining the Kerala Kasavu. But I felt a strong need to give the handloom a contemporary edge. Other traditional weaves like the Benaras and the Kanchipuram have all had its evolution to become a product that has a global appeal. I think its time that the Kerala Saree also made its mark!
Tell us about the main idea behind your collection:
We wanted to sustain the originality of the product that was given to us by the weavers. Yes, we can get the weavers to alter the traditional Kasavu but that would be time consuming and would be met with resistance as change is not easy. So we wanted to elevate the handloom through design techniques like dyeing, embroidery and patterning. Since Onam is the time of the year when the Kerala Kasavu is worn the most, we decided to introduce the collection now that has ten different designs in Kerala Saree. Just as the Onam festival is synonymous to ‘Attam 10’ where in we add a layer of flowers to the Pookalam (floral carpet) on each consecutive day for 10 days leading upto Onam, we chose to name our campaign ’10 days of Kasavu’, where in we are adding different layers to the Kerala Kasavu.
As a designer, what is the one thing that you love about your collection?
We had a fun time designing this collection, we literally went wild. The other thing I love about this collection is the fact that we got a lot of inputs during the design process through constant interaction with customers and followers through social media. It was very interesting to understand how people feel about the handloom.
What according to you is the USP of the collection?
The USP of Kasavu would be to look at our traditional handloom in today’s context. As a designer I feel that while the traditional Kerala Saree is beautiful just as it is, there is a need to make it more relevant. The width of the ‘Kasavu’ alone should not be its sole judgement criteria that dictates the occasion where it needs to be worn.
Price range: 2900 to 7200
