On her Majesty’s service
For over four decades, RITU KUMAR has been working with Indian crafts. For the past year, the Padma Shri awardee has turned to Bhutan for inspiration. Here, she talks about creating a museum-worthy collection at the behest of the Queen Mother.
It’s not often I am asked to make a collection that has no commercial aspects, yet will be remembered for posterity. So I was very excited when the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuk, asked me to create one to celebrate the opening of the new Royal Textile Museum premises in Thimphu. This was in December 2011. The date for the show—June 6th, 2013.
When I travel, I always make it a point to go to as many museums as I can. I think they’re important, because they’re the way the coming generations will know about the past. And so, by designing a collection to celebrate this one in Bhutan, I feel privileged. Since it opened in 2001, the Royal Textile Museum in Thimphu has garnered international interest, and even funding. I’m glad I can contribute in my own way, and add to its archives.
The collection brewed in my head for a year. I have visited Bhutan a few times, last, to attend the wedding of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk in October 2011, and had dressed the beautiful Queen Jetsun Pema for her engagement. For this ceremony, I had designed her kira— which consists of a blouse, a quilted jacket, and a skirt. It is to the Bhutanese what the sari is to Indians, in that neither is a costume. This, the most interesting of the kingdom’s varied dresses, became the starting point of the collection.
The Queen’s kira was made in Benaras-woven fabrics, and teamed with embroidered and quilted jackets. But I wanted to push the inspiration. I proposed making the collection in two parts: The first by blending Indian fabrics with the kira, which forms the classical line, and the second where influences of Bhutanese imagery and colours are used to create a contemporary, young line. Both were interesting challenges; almost a cultural exchange or a jugalbandi between the two countries. It was exciting to create a collection which would hold the aesthetic without too much compromise, at the same time create a newer idiom.
So for the museum collection, I used embroideries and patchwork to recreate Buddhist thangka paintings onto garments. On others, I used prints to mimic some of the wall hangings seen in Bhutan’s palaces and monasteries. And so, we have jackets where we have worked with patchwork and highlighted it with zardozi embroidery. Most of these jackets have significant embroideries on
“I am so inspired by the collection that I plan take it ahead into the Label line in the coming seasons. We will make a small, tight collection inspired by this look, translating it into T-shirts and dresses.”
them, which completes the look and also adds a surprise element. The choice of fabrics is a mix of silk velvet with Bhutanese weaves, Benaras brocades, and pure wool to add to the richness of the ensemble. We have also worked on classical Bhutanese patterns for the skirts, where we have used a mix of silk velvets, mushroo, Benaras brocades, as well as cotton, and added in hints of zardozi embroidery. Most of the modernity in the collection comes through the use of traditional aesthetics, but in international, modern shapes. In total, there are about 20 ensembles, each with its own separate uppers, lowers, and layers.
I am so inspired by the collection that I plan take it ahead into the Label line in the coming seasons. We will make a small, tight collection inspired by this look, translating it into T-shirts and dresses. We’re also doing an interesting line of shoes in collaboration with a young, Mumbai-based brand a.k.a Bespoke, and you have to see the footwear to believe it.
As I write, I can’t wait to be on my way to Bhutan for the show. The entire royal family will attend. I am eager, and I know our collection will strike a chord. We’re expecting about a hundred foreign guests, apart from over 200 Bhutanese notables, so a little nervousness is expected, but I’m more excited about the opportunity I’ve had. To create a culturally sensitive collection which opens one’s eyes to something other than commerce is what makes this collection special. It has taken the last three months for it to be realised into garments, and I’m looking forward to a grand show.