Clad in a long black kurti and matching bell-bottom pants, Anurdha Ramam comes off instantly as a woman who does exactly what she likes. Despite pushing 40, the lady’s zest and energy for life and all things in it is still palpable. A self-taught designer and handicrafts activist of sorts, Ramam has been in the business for the past eight years, focusing primarily on her favourite - Ikath.
In the city for a handicrafts exhibition by the Craft Council of India, the Bengali designer got talking about her tryst with the crafts and the Andhra weavers.
“Kashtam Kashtam was the first thing they told me when I first met the weavers,” begins Ramam. “I never had any formal training and my influences were plenty and varied. If you see my designs, they are mostly geometrical and then again there are very artistic patterns from artists like M F Hussain and Picasso.” An artist by passion, Ramam’s canvas has over the years extended from scribblings in her notebook to paintings and finally fabric.
“What I tried to do with my patterns is to take the conventional and break then down into pieces and regroup them in as bold and bizarre a combination I could design with an artistic sense. Hence my weavers would say kashtam.”
Primarily working with Ikath, Kantha and Mala silk, Ramam’s garments are typically designed in bright shades of blood red, parrot green, peacock blue, black and white, with the occasional dull mustard yellow. “I love bold colours. It makes a statement and not everybody can wear them. I design my clothes for women who are strong, independent and are women of stature. Not everyone can carry them off and in that sense, I don’t design for just anyone.”
A literature graduate, who married at the tender age of 18, Ramam is a typical Bengali when it comes to her influences. Quoting from Rabindranath Tagore, she says, “You need to be brave and live life on your own terms. I was so disappointed when I landed at the airport here and saw so many women clad in Burquas. Under that garment there must be so many sprightly women. I would love to design an Ikath burqa for them, but will they wear it?” As you look through Ramam’s collection, her trademark stands out: black and white checks, a tribal fish motif, small triangles in patterns, checks, Kalmakari and the Sanskrit script. “Of late, I’ve been using the Kalamkari print on silk and that’s been my latest favourite. If you look at my kurtis, there is so much happening and in so many bright colours. That’s how you should live life.”
The designer has now also started branching out into paintings and has a show coming up soon. “I have to finish 20 paintings. If you look at them, they will look like my clothes, and that I guess is a natural tendency. Though I am sticking to abstract art, you will find the same colour schemes.”
The Delhi-based designer, who’s standard clientele include Kiron Kher and Bubbles Sabharwal, has two stores in the capitol city and is planning to open up one more in Kolkata.
Details: www.anuradharamam.com