A sari for our times
The year was 2000. Bappaditya and Rumi Biswas, fresh out of NIFT, Kolkata, would often visit Phulia and Shantipur, the hub of Bengal handloom saris, as part of their learning process. This was a time when the Bengal handloom was going through its worst phase and weavers were dying of starvation. The couple saw looms being dismantled and used as firewood. What was scary was that the weaver families were no longer interested in passing their skill on to the next generation. It was also the time when new-age Indian women were attending board meetings, corporate parties and commuting on public transport. They were discarding the sari for easy-to-wear (manly) clothes. There was nothing appropriate in the market for their lifestyle. It was then that the designer couple decided to leave their job in an export company and save the art of sari-making, support the artisans and create something new, that would give the sixyard drape a place of pride in women’s wardrobes.
Handloom had a cliched look. With new fabrics, weave, texture and yarn, the couple started experimenting to give the sari a more contemporary look. And brand “By Lou” was born. Their new fabrics—rough mulberry silk Matka or coarse gheecha raw silk blended with softer silk yarns, sequin yarns woven into fabric—and unusual palette of colours soon became the talk of the town. The big break came in 2005 when Kamayani Jalan of the Delhi Crafts Council exhibited some of their saris: 78 of the 80 saris sold off in two days in Delhi. A whole new story and genre of saris started. The rest is history.
“We realised that women still loved the sari but were not finding the right one, something that would suit the new-age, multitasking woman. The need of the weave and texture had to be different. We only helped to fill in the gap.” Bappaditya & Rumi Biswas, By Lou