Art meets Design
Art meets Design
At Karomi, it is safe to say, we are designed to be artistic. We celebrate the ordinary and the commonplace. We revel in the exotic. Our work is a modern expression of a traditional craft…. a textile translation that is sometimes basic, sometimes everyday…often times complex…always contemporary and chockfull of heart.
Four years of my life were spent in an art college, ironically, studying design. Story of Art was a poorly attended class and yet one, that left an indelible mark on me. The mad expressions of a passionate van Gogh, the clever details of a surreal Dali and the idiosyncrasies of a Picasso were learnt and filed away into the depths of an ever-absorbing subconscious. Later, as I studied further, the finer points of textiles, the buried memories of artistic geniuses surfaced and vied to find expression through the medium of textiles. A deep desire to merge art with design was born.
I worked for some years in the textile industry. Although an exercise in frustration, it was an eye opener. No commercial business worth its money could afford to entertain the idea of art-driven textiles. Businesses thrive on numbers and mass production…and art is expressive, and by definition, exclusive. Design, however, is not the bastion of an exclusive few. It is not merely expressive. It is functional and subject to replication.
But I was not driven solely by commerce…the journey, for me, as important as the destination. Sustainable growth called for arriving at the right balance…where form meets function, meets design, meets art.
And with this thought, Karomi came into being.
At Karomi, the underlying design philosophy is ART. We design art to wear. Our designs are a blend of contemporary thinking and traditional crafts. They are non-conformist, random and whimsical. While our focus is on preservation and progression of craft, our designs are geared to provide a visual treat…a drama of colour and composition that baffles the mind and engages the heart. Even as we give full expression to our artistic selves, our designs are mindful of finding solutions to ensure authenticity of craft.
Whether it’s a motley of geometric patterns in a Jamdani, or a soft fusion of hues in a silk print or an intricate texture in a kantha embroidery, it’s always art on a piece of fabric. Painstakingly brought to life by the skilful hands of the artisans of Bengal, Karomi cloth is a labour of love…a faithful union of form and function, Art and design.
