Beautiful bags inside and outside

Beautiful bags inside and outside

Giving us a mix of flavours from ‘dill walon ki Dilli’, designer Aditi Prakash was recently in the city to launch her latest collection. Aditi’s brand ‘Pure Ghee’ is an exclusive line of bags that can be used as daily hand bags and even as evening party bags.

“ We create textile bags distinguished by unusual materials, colour, craftsmanship and surprising details,” she explains. Last week, Aditi launched her autumn winter collection - ‘Allika’ in the city. “Allika or ‘weave’ in Telugu is a celebration of

handwoven, naturally dyed cotton from Andhra Pradesh. This hand-crafted range is all about the charm and quality associated with sustainably created products,” she says. She further added, “The thick cotton yarn is first dyed using natural dyes. It is then handwoven and washed to remove any unfixed dye. These robust fabrics have been paired with block printed linings from Kutch, making them beautiful inside out. Genuine leather trims and brass hardware complete the look.” Aditi started making bags for herself using fabrics she sourced from her visits to different cities. “I had designed some bags for a client. The client lost interest and did not take the products to the market. I believed in them and decided to do it myself. My first exhibition was a sell out. And I have never looked back since,” she says.

Recounting her journey to the world of designing, she says, “I loved to draw as a child and this interest continued as I grew. I would spend hours filling out my biology diagrams. I went on to pursue Bachelor of Fine Arts from JNTU Hyderabad, majoring in sculpture. I realised along the way that I loved putting different materials together.”

Aditi went on to study Industrial Design from NID (National School of Design). “At NID, I learnt the whole process of how a product is conceived and how it reaches the market. After I passed out I worked with traditional craft communities across the country. I realised that whatever I did, I had to add a handmade element in it. Two years ago I set up my company, ‘Pure Ghee Designs’. Making bags brings together my love for art, craft and design,” she says

Aditi experiments with vibrant colours, prints and fabric. “Be it the Gamcha from the Bihar, unusual patchwork from Jharkhand, lungis from Hyderabad and Cochin, block printed Ajrak from Bhuj or the Shamiana material under which you stand at innumerable weddings - they all find a place at our workshop. Working with textiles gives me the advantage of using a wide range of colours. We not only use fabrics like lungis and shamianas, but  also customise our fabric by working with weavers from Andhra or block printers from Kutch. The key is to keep innovating. Our bags not only look good but also work well. A lot of research goes into the materials used,” she says.

A host of techniques go into designing a single bag. Aditi uses creative methods to craft each bag. “Quilting is a technique we use extensively. This adds texture and also strengthens the bag. In a stitching unit a lot of cloth is wasted as cut offs. We try and use every tiny bit of cloth. That’s how our patchwork collection came about. I also love using interesting lining for the bags. I believe that the bags should look beautiful on the inside and outside,” she concludes.

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