Crane and able

A model in the Chahar Bagh Parsi gara

The CRANE, the stick-legged, long-necked migratory bird, stands for both, a metaphor and a signature detail in designer Ashdeen Lilaowala's homage to the hand-crafted legacy of Parsi gara embroidery. "Floral motifs and exotic birds of paradise are central to this embroidery tradition. Chrysanthemums, carnations and lilies are recurrent motifs, but we especially love our roses and cranes," laughs Lilaowala about his Parsi Zoroastrian community, over a call from Delhi.

Isfahan lehenga

This weekend, the designer is set to exhibit over 50 unique Parsi gara sarees (R60,000 upwards), lehengas, dupattas and kurtas (R10,000 upwards) as part of a show at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS). The curated collection, he says, reflects a wide gamut of market preferences. It's a 70-30 ratio, says Lilaowala about his Mumbai customers. "Thirty per cent of my clientele is Parsi. The craziest ones come from Bombay, and we take great pride in them."

A karigar works on the Oriental-style panels celebrating the flying crane, which will be showcased at the venue

His younger customers prefer to invest in a classic heavy gara usually in combinations of red and white, and green and white with jaal (net). But Lilaowala also offers a selection that's driven by non-traditional interventions in the 200-year-old needlepoint technique to make it more graphic and modern. He has introduced geometry in patterns and widened the craft's scope by experimenting with different threads and materials and alternative shapes like the lehenga and stole. "It's as much about revering values of the past as it's about projecting them into the present and future," he says of his work. Which is why he isn't the purist who will cringe at customisation. "A Parsi bride once requested that we create her wedding gara using her mother's favourite flower as motif, and also insert a small embroidered Lego figurehead to symbolise her husband and a ship to represent her father [and his passion]," he adds. He is excited about the location of the exhibition, an outer hall in a museum that turned 100 this year. Produced in collaboration with an expert team of hand-embroiderers at his Delhi studio, two Oriental-style textile installations will hang at the venue. Portraying his favourite flying cranes in dimensions of 5 ft x 7 ft, these, he sketched against the backdrop of a cumulus sky. Thread became his paintbrush as a tight cluster of needlepoints, loops and knots infused life into the works. Dabka work was also used to create texture and depth. "The textile panels are a fitting add-on to the iconic museum space where we are exhibiting," he says.

Ashdeen Lilaowala

As Lilaowala's label turns a decade-old this October, he is excited about launching his first standalone store in Mumbai - in the Parsi stronghold of Colaba, no less. "Fingers crossed. We will be here in a few months."

On March 12 to 13, 10.30 am to 7 pm
At Coomaraswamy hall, CSMVS, Fort.