A wonderful evening spent at The Verandah with Neetu Gupta and friends for Anuj Sharma's workshop on draping and Button Masala
For there is no way I can say this better than Nisha Khatwani, a graphic designer and former student of Anuj Sharma's, here goes: "Anuj's take on fashion is easy, understated, free, and is potentially a lifestyle. Making a garment without any sowing is the purest form of making clothing. Draping dhotis or sarees comes naturally to us, so why not apply it to everything we desire? The natural, spontaneous flow of drapes has an endless scope to give shape to new silhouettes, giving us quantum possibilities to express our creativity. Ignoring rules and making clothing fun for all shapes, all seasons - above all, Button Masala 'makes you think and innovate'. So the next time you want to take your outfit from day to evening, just carry some extra buttons and rubberbands or buy it from the nearest haberdashery." 

 There is an old proverb that states "If I am told something I will forget, if I am shown something I will remember, but if I am involved I will understand." To me this embodies what should be at the center of the any experience and it illustrates the educational experience at Anuj's workshop that evening. And from my interaction with the designer, it also spells out his theories in 'design as an experience'.  Armed with this more hands-on approach, I draped/made my first ever garment from scratch under Anuj's watchful eye and it was nothing less than a moment of intense fulfillment ;)

Some fascinating conversations with Anuj have helped me realize the importance of the practice of authenticity and inquiry -  we may yet learn new and insightful ways to look at things, that we assume, due to its discovery and record, need no further inquiry. Look again. He also helped me understand the culture of upgrade and step movement in consumers today, rather than lifetime ownership and gradual movement. "The people who want quality and finery (ahem.. 'fashionistas') have garments that would last 40 washes but would probably wear it just once, while the people who need quality (say men and women engaged manual labour), need the garment to last 40 washes but will probably last just one." In a time of rampant consumerism and a quest to buy the planet to death, this is an important observation and a big lesson learnt. Thank you, Anuj.

"If someone looks at my work and says - Thats interesting, why didn't I think of that earlier? Thats good! If someone else says I could do that too.. then great! If another says Oh, I could never do that and lets just leave it to the designer.. then I have failed completely!" :) A man's creative struggle (his search for wisdom and truth), is a love story. And through his work, here is a man telling us his own story and doing so with utmost honesty :)
I hope there are a lot more of these workshops and he visits us at Bangalore much more often! :)

PS. The Verandah is Neetu Gupta's lovely lil boutique in Ulsoor that stocks a small selection of hand-picked few Indian designers and some of my all time favourites - Anuj Sharma, Kallol Dutta, Aneeth Arora to name a few and Neetu Gupta's namesake brand, of course. Worthwhile to check them out :)