Understanding and bonding with nature gives artists a sort of creative enlightenment that the rest of us cannot always understand. If you look at designs by Jebin Johny, founder of Jebsispar, his love for nature is pretty obvious. And the 30-year-old designer from Vazhakkulam, whose designs have gone places in just five years—from Sonam K Ahuja’s wardrobe in The Zoya Factor to Vidya Balan’s sari at the Filmfare awards—is very clear about how fashion must be completely harmless to the planet.
Jebin’s peculiar artwork takes the spotlight in every design he creates. Fine elements of theyyam, banana leaves, the Kerala landscape and all that is nostalgic about God’s own country, find place in his garments. “My designs are colourful and loud. I am someone who is full of life and this reflects in my art and the brand. I would call myself an artist more than a designer,” he says. But this also meant that his designs took more time to get acceptance. “I couldn’t paint like most artists.
Mine was different, more of contemporary or abstract style. Even my teachers at school hardly considered my work and I stopped developing my skills. But my education in England had a huge impact on my life both as a person and an artist. Our class was a mix of art, design, photography and literature students. A new world opened up before me. My tutors helped me develop my painting skills. My life was spent in university, museums, art studios, travelling and partying. I realised the worth of Kerala, my culture, tradition and language during my stay in England,” he recalls.
After a BTech in Fashion Technology from Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, and a master’s in fashion design and textiles from University of Northampton, UK, he returned to India, only to be thrust straight into the country’s top fashion platform—Lakme Gen Next, where he launched his brand in August 2015. “I started off working with the factories in Tiruppur. I knew about the child labour, toxic chemicals used for printing and the issue of underpayment. But I never realised the impact they had. I didn’t realise that while I made money selling my clothes, the people who worked for me didn’t. Their lives never changed. They worked overtime for next to nothing. But this is a system even brand owners couldn’t change if they wanted. The politics was too complicated. But I decided to change it in my own way,” he says.
Jebin’s parents’ advice—“Never chase money, always be human”—kept him going. Quitting his job, he decided to explore the Kerala handloom scenario. “One of my students suggested a weaver family. I went there and they taught me everything about handloom, the weaving, the fabric, their culture. I decided to work with this family and launch my own label,” he says. All his garments are made from organic cotton. “Our clothes are seasonless. The fabric is breathable, lightweight and lasts for more than 45 years.”
Once the design is made, the yarn is brought by his weaver, Vigneshwaran, from a cotton farm in Selam. Vigneshwaran and his wife, Ambika, weave Jebin’s custom-made handloom cotton saris and fabric at their home in Kuthampully. The whole process of weaving is time-consuming, and needs patience and hard work.Next up, the drawings reach artisans in Karnataka. Ramdas, Ali and Anwar make wooden blocks by carving teakwood. Satish, the print master, mixes eco-friendly dyes and hand block prints the motifs onto the fabric. Even the stripes are printed with utmost perfection. Lastly, the fabric reaches the tailors who shape Jebin’s designs into garments. Jebin personally knows every weaver and artisan working on his garment. “When I grow, the people who work for me also grow. I would call that true success,” he says.
While Jebin’s second and third collections were digitally printed, using biodegradable ink and consuming very less water, his latest collection, ‘Invisible God’, is entirely handmade. He plans to carry this forward in his other forthcoming collections as well. There are challenges, of course. Sustainable, handmade products are always priced higher because brands involved pay the workers straight, and pay them fair. “It was hard when I started off initially. But in the last couple of years, people have grown a lot more aware of what they are buying and how it is made,” he signs off.