BENGALURU: When life gives you buttons, go the Button Masala way!Who said that we need a pair of scissors, sewing machine and a needle to make a garment? Anuj Sharma, founder of Button Masala, refuses to place a stitch and instead chooses to create clothes using buttons, rubber band, and a piece of fabric. He will be holding a workshop today, between 2 pm and 5 pm, at Timri in Indiranagar.
Anuj has even got Adidas interested in his no-stitching method, who has asked him to hold a workshop at adidas AG Herzogenaurach office in Germany end of this month. Anuj says that he has travelled across more than a hundred countries to teach this technique and collaborate with others. "A new design emerges every six months, but are they really ‘new’. We designers keep repeating the same old techniques and do not evolve. I wanted to break out of the shell ", says Anuj Sharma.
"Few years ago, I wanted to showcase something anew at the Lakme fashion week, I decided to challenge the fundamentals of garment making… stitching. I built garments with mere buttons, rubber band and basic fabric and I've never looked back since”.
Owner of Timri boutique, Kusum Bohra, says, "His technique is innovative and quickly adaptable, and does not require any fancy tools… Initially, they started off by creating clothes, but now they create bags, curtains, cushion covers, shoes, furniture and accessories using the Button Masala Technique.”
"It was developed by the NID graduate four years ago, when he wanted a technique that was simple, sustainable and cheap", adds Kusum.
In the first garment he made, he stitched the initial grid of buttons, placing each at a two-inch distance from the other. Then he used fabric straps that had button holes at two-inch distance and looped it over the buttons to shirr the material. The straps can then also be used to drape the garment.Later, he wanted to do away with the stitches that held the buttons and so used rubber bands to secure the buttons to the fabric.