Anit and Himanshu on One Zero Eight
Peru’s Anit Arora has planted nearly 300 shrubs, flowers and fruit trees at One Zero Eight, including eight varieties of palms. But he is still amazed at how difficult it was to find his go-to pop-of-colour, bougainvillea, in the Fort Kochi nurseries. It seems that the Delhi-based designer, who took a big house Kathakali. The mask and memories of a mud crab dinner in the ocean at Fort Kochi, was also inspired by her Spring Summer 2015 collection — Love on Foliage. At the time, she published a gardening journal that described itself as “a little book about the love, spirit and heart that goes into creating something. Where one would He is so passionate about it that he gives a piece of himself to his creation.” The book was about plants, flowers, seeds and growth. He called it a journey of creation. “I want to create a forest at One Zero Eight. It was a holiday for me and I really enjoyed working with plants,” she tells me ahead of her 2022 visit to the Kochi-Maziris Biennale. .
Anit Arora of Peru Photo credit: Special Arrangements
Some of the 35 designers showcasing at Fort Kochi’s new fashion address say:
Ajul Dubey of Antara Agni: We have been associated with One Zero Eight since 2018, and the curated project Colors of Resilience is a beautiful idea, where multiple designers work with the same fabric and the same amount of metre, to create multiple ensembles that are handspun and handmade. They reflect simple morals. .
Antara Agni | Photo credit: jinson abraham/ jinsonabraham.co
Guru Jai Gupta of Akaru: For me Kochi is very much about diversity and KMB makes a great backdrop for all things design, art and craft. I have some good memories from my visit there. Handspun, handmade khadi in Kerala is a bit stricter when it comes to fabric quality, compared to the khadi clusters I have worked with. And this brings with it many possibilities to experiment and innovate as a designer and at the knitting stages.
Akaro | Photo credit: jinson abraham/ jinsonabraham.co
Karishma Shahni Khan of Kasha: We have had the opportunity to approach Kochi Khadi in a different way each time, staying true to the fabric and its look. Khadi is such a versatile fabric and blends seamlessly with what we do at Ka-Sha, especially the way it takes color and takes on different surface techniques. Fort Kochi is a historically relevant town, and now as the city of the Biennale for the last decade it brings in the right audience who understand the whole cycle of design, art, fashion, handmade, and creative ideas. We have had an amazing experience with the concept space.
Karisma Shahni Khan | Photo credit: Special Arrangements
Padmaja Krishnan: Khadi is a symbol of pre-industrial handwoven fabric that is the antidote to everything mass-produced and homogenous. The Kochi experience is different as the fabric is provided for each designer to interpret in their own way. This is perhaps an interesting perspective on the ‘Save The Loom’ project which began as a natural response to the floods that destroyed local looms and handloom activities. The diverse architecture from temples to synagogues to palaces is what I find fascinating about Kochi. The simplicity of Kerala textiles is also unique. It was satisfying for me to use it. Mando Textiles for making low crotch fisherman pants that can be worn by men or women. What I am most happy about is that the scraps of the alterations have been used to make a textile neck piece.
Padmaja Krishnan | Photo credit: Special Arrangements
Elastic Color: 11.11/Eleven-Eleven’s Himanshu Shani on designing the new Kochi store
What did you hope to achieve with this space?
The house is a few centuries old with small spaces to curate. The challenge was to retain the warmth and charm of the old house and connect all the rooms for retail stories. When I saw the first photos of the building, there was something that spoke to me about the standalone building and its long history. It has withstood the ravages of time and appeared to be a perfect location for the concept we had in mind, and it held up beautifully as we peeled back layers of paint and restored it to its best over the years. Peeled off the damage done on it. The house has beautiful old wooden floors and high ceilings on the first floor. The entrance corridor helps connect all the rooms to the space with beautiful daylight. There is also a large courtyard at the rear which will have a garden restaurant and seating area.
Himanshu Shani on 108 | Photo credit: Special Arrangements
Tell us about creating a handspun handwoven story with multi-designer intervention.
I’m always looking to bring designers together to work on something and the One Zero Eight – Colors of Resilience project was a great platform for different designers to use the same local textile to express their ideas. It is displayed in the main room of the Heritage House in a simple manner using bamboo forms. It was challenging and fun at the same time to revisit a project done in the same city and during the previous Biennale and bring it back and push the idea during this Biennale. The project interacts with designers working in space in many directions and at different levels and with different philosophies, and being on one platform ultimately creates shades of flexibility.
Elasticity Colors One Zero Eight | Photo credit: jinson abraham/ jinsonabraham.co
