Little patches of craft and lots of love : Tvaksati

I love cotton sarees. The starchy kind that drapes with knife sharp creases, the soft ones that drape on you like second skin, the coarse and giving khadi and linens… each of these have their own beauty and typical way of draping. The one saree I always thought did injustice to the beauty of the six yards was the ‘patch patch’ saree as I called them.

I have never been a fan of sarees that incorporate bits and patches of fabric because most of it ends up looking random and ruins the beautiful fall of a seamlessly woven saree. That changed when I came across Tvaksati. For the first time, I found a brand that painstakingly created sarees that work with diverse crafts yet managed to stay true to a harmonious design aesthetic. Basically, sarees that incorporate patches, borders and fabric details from various weaving and craft traditions from across the country but retains the vision of the designers.

Every Tvaksati saree its unique. Once you own one you can be sure that nobody else is going to have the same piece. Nandini and Kamala of Tvaksati call it being ‘hugged’ by a Tvaksati saree and I could not think of a better way to describe the sarees myself. It is almost like a memory quilt with a border that was maybe made by a Kalamkari / Qualamkari craftsperson in Machilipattam, a pallu woven by a weaver somewhere else in Telengana, a border from Gujarat and the saree itself woven in Coimbatore. Every ‘patch’ on the saree represents the dreams, stories and struggle of all the craftspeople and weavers who contributed to it.

This is how the designer duo explain their creative process. ‘It’s like solving a  jig saw Puzzle. All the pieces come together we keep iterating on each design till the final creation is what we had visualised . Yes we do begin with an initial visualisation that becomes more and more defined as we progress’

They draw inspiration from art, weaving traditions, seasons, colour palettes and my favourite yet is their newest collection which is inspired by famous women from Modern Indian history. Each saree is painstakingly put together with great consideration. There is noting random about these sarees, thats for sure.

Tvaksati also makes the most exciting blouses that follow the same design aesthetic. These blouses are bold, make a statement (of the right kind) and an investment blouse because it can be worn with so many sarees.

The Tvaksati saree that I had the pleasure of ‘hugging’ was a soft handloom coimbatore cotton with an ikkat pallu and a border that incorporates a lesser known weave from Kutch. The blouse I was sent was a stunning red with an ikkat panel on the back.

This brand made me eat my words about ‘never wearing sarees like this’ and I am already eyeing my next Tvaksati hug and a few blouses on the side, of course. Who would have every thought that a saree that incorporates weaves from three or four different states would ever look this stunning without looking even the tiniest bit contrived.

Nnadini and Kamala can be reached at info.tvaksati@gmail.com

You can also contact them on their Instagram page or their Facebook page.