Anjali Singh loves her wild side. With a deep interest in wildlife conservation and wilderness protection, she, as the co-founder and creative director of SUJÁN, a collection of three unique tented camps in Rajasthan, has made the jungle her second home. Her interpretation has come in the form of Sher Bagh, a collection of textiles and garments, for which she has collaborated with Sanjay Garg of Raw Mango.
Anjali and Garg share an equal enthusiasm for sustainability, cultural preservation and a passion for the natural world. “It’s important to give back to the indigenous communities, prioritise ecological restoration, and wildlife protection in a sustained and systematic way,” says Anjali, whose work largely is within Rajasthan through her husband, Jaisal Singh’s award-winning safari company that owns three luxury tent camps—SUJÁN Sher Bagh—a sustainable safari camp, SUJÁN The Serai, a desert lodge, and SUJÁN Jawai, a leopard-viewing property. The first was pitched in the family’s private farm on the periphery of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve and turns 21 this year. There’s also the nine-tent, eco-rated Elephant Pepper Camp in Kenya’s Masai Mara, now managed and run by Elewana Collection. The couple also runs the Rajmahal Palace, still one of the homes of the royal family of Jaipur. Each of their properties is immersed in the local culture of the place, celebrating the artistic nuances of the natives.
Anjali’s love for nature comes right through the collection. Growing up, her favourite activity was horseback riding with her father. She’s a pro today and rides with her husband and children every morning. Aiglon College, the boarding school she went to in Switzerland, encouraged extra-curricular activities, and it’s one of the places she learnt most about the natural rhythms of seasons and nature.
Conservation and luxury go hand in hand for Anjali and her husband. The latter’s parents were nature documentarians. This took them to Ranthambore a lot. Young Jaisal would see tigers and other animals in their glory and it’s here that he developed an interest in the species. “That’s why the premise for this collection runs deep for us,” reflects Anjali, the executive chairperson of Anand Group and its listed entity Gabriel India. “Responsibility for protection and preservation has been passed on to me by my forefathers and my husband. I want to keep local habitats alive and thriving,” she shares.
Sher Bagh beautifully extends this ethos of the forest and the desert and the life that teems, seen and unseen. At its core is humanity’s relationship with nature and wildlife, especially their coexistence. Varanasi silk brocade textiles have been reinvented with contemporary flair, abundant with animal and human forms. There are plenty of botanical images too. “We’ve tried to reinterpret the shikargahs or the erstwhile hunting lodges, so intrinsically a part of Indian history. They’ve been in prominence from the Maurya Empire until recently when hunting was banned,” says Garg.
The SUJAN collection is based on the realisation that humans are a part of the animal species and not separate from it. It incorporates 11 animals—humans included—into the ‘fabric’ of the story. It makes you a stakeholder in the larger narrative of ecological plurality. It was an ever-evolving process, they say. “We did not work on a fixed template. We didn’t know where we would land up and we were comfortable proceeding with that uncertainty,” recalls Anjali. Garg seconds her, “If I had achieved exactly what I had begun the project with, I would not have been too happy.”
The colours take the ‘wild’ stories forward as well. “Everything follows the winter season. We’ve played with greens, charcoal, dark brown, black and more,” explains Garg. Two hues that both of them love equally are bright yellow and resplendent red. The deeply pigmented yellow is inspired by the Amaltas flowers. “The yellow of turmeric is equally inspirational for its cleansing, calming and healing properties. The sun, the source of all light, has one of the most beautiful shades of yellow. And all of them combined, make for a striking presence in the collection,” shares Anjali.
The flaming red signifies blood. The colour is reminiscent of how a stark autumn-winter terrain in Ranthambore and Jawai looks. “The Flame of the Forests is found in abundance there, and when the trees shed their leaves, all you see is a river of red on the ground,” Anjali elaborates, dressed in a green tiger print shirt paired with beige pants and khaki jacket. “Khaki is derived from the Persian word khak, which means soil. In essence, it means to be one with the land that gives you so much,” she says. Indeed, the collection is one with the land, the jungle and its inhabitants, giving an enchanted forest feel.