Episode contours a century-old heritage as silver makers. This year celebrates their 125-year-old legacy, which has stood the test of time for the material as well as its makers.
What have 125 years brought for Episode?
We have to change with the times. What remains constant is quality and ethics.
My house is a veritable testing ground for various new products. At some stage, I would like to make silver products with electronic controls. If not in pure silver, at least in silver plating, we must make teapots with temperature control, or wine cases that ensure the perfect harmony between its age and taste. Cigars need to be kept in controlled temperature and humidity, and I need to source electronic controls for that.
In all these years, I wish that my creative instincts took a backstage and that I did not forget the basic mantra of my management education—to delegate and monitor. The high point of my career was the export of 90,000 silver-plated teapots in four months including tooling. And the lowest point was when I discovered that some people were representing silver plated as sterling silver.
Take me back to Episode’s inception year.
Tucked away in a corner of Peshawar Cantonment was a shop selling silverware to the British ‘Burra Sahibs’ and to the visiting Indian royalty. That was in the late 19th century. When British royalty visited India before World War 1, we were tasked for making gifts. It was started by our great-grandfather, Gurditta Mal Whorra.
Moving through the happy Art Nouveau period of the 1920s, to the Minimalistic movement, then the Art Deco visualisations of shadows and reflections, going on to the revival of the embellished Victorian designs of the 60s, silverware designs kept changing and the Whorras were always at the centre of design-lead silverware. Madan Whorra was the design head. In 1947, turbulence and migration to Delhi and Lucknow, had us leaving behind all the four shops back home.
Share insights from your illustrious journey of making silver modern and voguish.
Post-Independence, the Indian Royalty, Army Generals, The first President of India and the Army Chief were all our patrons. Then retail shifted to Connaught Place and patronage of the elite was the norm. With time, the family expanded and the business branched out. In 1980, Deepak Whorra had completed his MBA, worked in the corporate sector for a short stint, and then branched out into a separate business entity. Exports were the main focus, with Europe/USA being our markets.
Episode was established in 2001 to cater to the needs of the high-end Indian market. An incident at the inaugural press conference defined our design philosophy. The chief guest was actor Sharmila Tagore. She saw an Art Deco wine cooler and she remarked that the design was copied as she had bought the same design from a British store. It turned out that she had bought a Wine Cooler from Peter Jones to whom we had exported the article. Then we saw an advertisement in a daily newspaper saying: ‘An old Whorra Silver Bowl for sale’. That ignited pride in our legacy.
Spending on lifestyle products and services has risen sharply. Where do you find silver leading the market with this trend?
Silverware is primarily in glass and high-quality porcelain now. Bar articles are moving more towards technology-driven products like electronic wine chillers or threaded bottle caps as opposed to cork bottle stoppers. Corporate gifting has spread out to utility products. We’ve seen a return of embellishment, albeit in the form of relief work or pierced designs. Abstract designs are moving towards literal forms.
Where does the next big silver revolution lie?
I forecast it in the realm of technology, in the development of non-tarnish silver, that doesn’t need a protective coating. It is then that silver products will be used in conjunction with our usage of high style and value products like mobile covers, pocket mirrors, and décor pieces etc.