If you think that Deepavali is far away and it’s a bit too early to start your shopping, think again. A recent two-day exhibition-cum-sale, Diwali Fiesta (October 1 and 2), hosted by Trioss at Hotel My Fortune saw a huge crowd of enthusiastic buyers.
It seemed that a plethora of colours from all over the country were personified in the form of the exposition. There were stalls from Mumbai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata and many other cities apart from Chennai. One could find everything—designer candles, sarees, salwar-kameez, jewellery, shawls, bed covers, home decor items, Diwali decorations like torans, paintings and the list goes on.
An interesting aspect of the exhibition was that most of the items on display were either hand-made or designed by city based artistes and designers. One of the stall owners, Kavita shared that most of the jewellery which was on display were made by her. Jyotsna who is based in Chennai brings designer candles from her Mumbai based friend who is into candle making. The candle snot only serve the purpose of lighting up a room, but also make a good showpiece. The candles having Lord Buddha as the theme attracted visitors as they passed by. Jyotsna said, “These candles are made in such a way that when they are lit, the whole face of Buddha lights up.” Not to forget the small floating candles and aroma candles with fragrances that everyone stop and at least have a look. Priced between `250 and `3,000, the candles had a lot of takers.
Beena Jaiswal from Kolkata put up a stall of only saree borders. Priced between `750 to `7500, the collection was eye-catching. She said that they have a family business and they design it themselves. The zaris are mostly from Rajasthan and Kolkata.
Shilpa Tiberwala who owns Art n Attire is actually an artist who had displayed her paintings along with designer sarees and suit materials. Deepa Arvind, owner of J and M, has it all—footwear, stationary, accessories—everything designed exclusively by herself. Shonal from Mumbai had displayed some distinctive torans, designed by herself apart from other Diwali decorations. Swapna from Chennai itself deals with only nightgowns which she designs herself like many others for her own design unit.
The exhibition was not only limited to India but stretched to many other countries from which the owners had imported materials.