The Jim Thompson collection at Decorgeous Lifestyle | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT In 1967, an American businessman went for an afternoon walk in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia and was never seen again. No clear explanation ever surfaced — only theories, ranging from tiger attacks to Cold War intrigue. That man was Jim Thompson, who […]

Abran Deepak  | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT When 18-year-old Abran Deepak talks about slow fashion and wanting to support the weavers of Chendamangalam, it could come across as precocious. But looking at his work, one can see that he is walking the talk.  The Onam collection, by his eponymous label Abran Couture, comprises four outfits, […]

You cannot expect a hall with around 100 people to be quiet by any measure. But the one I walked into on a Saturday morning was relatively quiet, except for a buzz. A group, all of them women, sat there engrossed in embroidery, some on the floor and others on chairs. They were busy creating […]

My introduction to Madras checks came during an unhurried walk along Velankanni beach in 2010, when my family had travelled there to visit the shrine. What caught my eye was the effortless elegance of the checked lungis worn by many of the men walking along the sand. The cloth had a remarkable lightness. I remember […]

Anamika Khanna gave a man a backside. Not a metaphorical one or a clever cut of trousers, but a proper, rounded, emphatic backside, a few inches behind him. He wore a sharply cut jacket, tailored close through the shoulders and chest, over trousers that disappeared beneath the sudden swell of fabric at the back. The […]

The festive season will soon be upon us, bringing days of merriment with a side of to-do lists: gifts to purchase, new clothes to buy for the family… the tasks are endless. We suggest getting a head start at Craftpreneur 2026, the exhibition by The Crafts Council of India (CCI), which is back after a […]

A screengrab from a promotional video by ‘Stand By Me’ | Photo Credit: special arrangement Sewing was once just another skill they learnt at the convent. Today, it has become their way of stitching together a life of their own. At St. Francis Mission Home at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district of Keralam, a place that […]

Death has always been so seductive to jewellery designers. For Sabyasachi Mukherjee, it isn’t about a skull on a ring or a jewelled skeleton. A sarcophagus, an object designed to contain a dead body, becomes inspiration for something to adorn a living one. It isn’t as perverse as one would imagine. A wrist cuff featuring […]

The team behind ‘V-Weave’ at the silkworm rearing unit at Vimala College, Thrissur. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement From growing mulberry plants and rearing silkworms to harvesting cocoons — and eventually weaving silk sarees — students of the Zoology Department at Vimala College in Thrissur, Keralam, are spinning an unusual entrepreneurial dream. The students have […]

A single millimetre. That is the margin of tolerance at which the artisans at Chanakya School of Craft are expected to work. It is a strangely revealing number for an organisation now presenting monumental works of fibre, sculpture and embroidery. The scale may have changed, but the principle has not: the spectacular is built from […]