My inspiration comes from.........

My Father, from whom I have inherited my good taste in fabrics......somehow he was the one who took us all shopping for Sarees or clothes and had an unerring instinct for what would look good, There were shopping trips to the famous Radha Silk Emporium in the heart of Mylapore, where he would pick out unusual Kanjeevarams and trips to see the amazing collection of Textiles at the Ahmedabad Textile Museum which was started by the Sarabhai family.

My Mother, who encouraged me to dress 'differently' !! For a person who came from a traditional Tam-Bram family, she was fine when I wanted to wear sleeveless cholis with my sarees or jeans or skirts as long as the 'look' was tasteful. As I grew older and moved to the USA, she and I collaborated on a collection of Tanjore paintings together. She cooked, kept house and raised two children. She wrote. She also had artistic talent, but never pursued it fully. But from her, I learnt how to search for excellence in the things I did, however mundane they were.

My maternal Aunt, Padma, a rebel, an artist, a painter, a poet....I could go on and on. She was a self-taught painter who had numerous art exhibitions all over India. Her last two exhibitions, however, were remarkable, as she worked on them after recovering from a debilitating stroke. From her I have learnt to be courageous and be persistent, how to laugh. She always encouraged me to strike out and do what I wanted to do because, as she put it, I have the 'eye' for such things.

Kausalya Aunty, my mother's childhood friend, from whom I heard countless tales of princely families, where women were cloistered behind 'purdah', even in the Hindu families. She used to have a saree shop when I was in college, where they sold Venkatgiri cottons, Kotahs, and mulls, with the most exquisite block prints. She pioneered the use of Kalamkaari on cotton sarees and made it chic among the young college crowd in Madras in those days. She went on to design the most amazing pieces of jewellery where she took old pieces and re-interpreted them in modern ways, while retaining their old-world charm. More than anyone else, she has fashioned my sensibilities towards textile arts and jewellery. And above all, I have admired her grace and strength.