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Style so seamless
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Jason Cherian's designs celebrate crafts in a subtle way
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Photo R. Shivaji Rao
ART SO PURE Jason Cherian
Restrained use of kantha on silk strips, kasuti so faint that it looks like barely-there print, fabric doubling as an embroidery component, fine silk crushed with finesse, natural edges of fabrics adding elegance to garments... Jason Cherian's art whispers subtlety.
The Bangalore-based designer with strong Chennai links (he studied in St. Bedes and the Government College of Arts and Crafts) was in the city for the inaugural of "Seamless", an exhibition of his works, jointly organised by British Council, Collage and The Park. Part of British Council's "Seeing Frames" series, the show that's on till September 17 at Collage, Greams Road, features some fashion installations too. Running parallel to the exhibition is a display of books on fashion, design, architecture, digital photography and advertising at the British Council Library.
Happy to be in Chennai, Jason, who still remembers "hanging out of buses" during his student days, says, "It was this city that prepared me for a creative career. Surrounded by individualistic, creative minds at the Arts and Crafts College, one felt provoked to think differently and explore offbeat options. That explains why I later joined the National Institute of Fashion Design, New Delhi, at a time when fashion was hardly happening in the country."
It is this ability to think out of the box that makes Jason detest labels. Combing his unruly curls with his fingers, he says in an idealistic vein, "Indian, Western, Indo-Western or Fusion, not for me. So also the seasons. In that sense, you can call me a-fashionable. I don't like to label my clothes based on these considerations. Good design is something that flows. It cannot be categorised. But yes, labels make communication easy."
In the same mode he continues, "My collection is never place-specific. That way, I'm a bad designer. I cannot make something special keeping in mind the weather or price points. To me, aesthetics is something common. If my clothes find a place, it's fine. If they don't, I'm not going to compromise. Because then, the market starts telling you what to do. As a creative person, it's far more interesting to do things the way one enjoys doing it."
A stickler for crafts, Jason, who was earlier part of British Council's prestigious "Global Local" show says, "Crafts is a personal thing. In some places, they need to be tweaked a bit. But in most, it's better to leave them untouched. You also get a lot of cheap, uncaring, churned out craft. But there's no validity in that. Craft involves feeling; it's soulful. There's a sense of touch and warmth — far removed from the world of mechanisation and clones."
And it's this feeling for crafts that enriches Jason's work. Whether it is the seemingly simple dress, single-piece folded skirt, conventional style kurta or cropped top, the designer's love for crafts in their refined form comes through. "Working with different crafts groups brings in an element of dynamism to design," he says.
That's not all. His association with the monastery in Mungod too has a bearing on his work. "The lives of monks have always fascinated me. Guess it's their ability to categorically say, `Yes, this is the life we've chosen.' An artist is a sponge in many ways. He absorbs a lot from life around him. Soon, I will set up a studio in picturesque Hampi. Some monks have evinced a keen interest in weaving. It makes sense to involve them in the weaving of authentic Ahimsa silk," says Jason, who designed a "pure, unspoiled line" for a monastery in the U.S. in the late 1990s.
The designer's other plans include "developing textiles from scratch, creating a line of installation with `strings' forming the link among varied woven cultures and penning a book. I'm not a hard-core seller. As far as retailing is concerned I don't plan things. My clothes are nevertheless on show in Spain, England and Japan (where I work with a high-profile `pure' designer). I don't intend to go out and seek markets. But I'll disconnect the day I feel that creative spark is fading out."
T.KRITHIKA REDDY
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