Upon giving a pencil and paper, a child instinctively draws the first thing which comes to their mind. For some its animals or squiggles of vehicles while for others it maybe a cartoon character or even wobbly portraits of people they know.
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| Anupama Nawalage |
For Anupama Nawalage, aptly, it was doodles of dresses which adorned most of her childhood drawings. So it’s no surprise that a few years later, her childhood scrawls have evolved into meticulously drawn, eye-catching designs and she is poised to make her presence felt in the fashion world.
Clad in her own creations, fashion designer and young entrepreneur Anupama spoke to the Mirror Magazine, about the ups and downs of starting her own business and her decision to revitalize an ancient craft and assist the weavers of Dumbara.
Anupama Nawalage first became aware of the splendour of Dumbara weaving during her graduation examination in Fashion and Textile Design. This growing awareness snow-balled into a desire to help the community of struggling weavers and to intertwine Dumbara weaving into the strands of the fashion world by incorporating it into contemporary trends. The outcome of this, is Anupama’s very own brand ‘90F’.
‘90F’ fuses the intricacies of Dumbara weavings along with contemporary fashion – and the end result is delightful. From striking shawls, tussle bags, Burma bags, coin purses, clutch bags, hand bags, cushions, beach bags, treasure bags, wall hangings and even a clothing line - each product is a handcrafted, handloom product designed by Anupama and sewn and woven by weavers in Dumbara.
The designs succeed in maintaining an interesting balance between the latest styles while retaining the distinctive geometric form, shape and graphical formation of traditional motifs. The Burma bags, for instance revamps a long-standing design with vibrant colours while the clutch bags are adorned with sequins and lurex thread. The outerwear displays clear-cut patterns (the Dumbara designs are distinctly geometrical) which are both aesthetically and functionally pleasing and incorporates the traditional colours used in Dumbara weaving.
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| Anupama with one of the weavers |
Anupama’s first visits to Dumbara began in 2006 - incidentally, at this juncture the villagers did not even have water or electricity. “I was amazed by what they did” enthuses Anupama, adding “they were very helpful, but they didn’t trust us.” She explained that as earlier visitors simply came, took what they wanted and promptly left, the villagers were (rightly) wary at the beginning.
Admitting that at the beginning, key obstacles when starting out were handling the weavers and time consumption, Anupama persisted until she overcame the initial hiccups.
“The weavers were trained in a certain way in a certain time,” she says, explaining that the initial guidance had to be done cautiously. As each product was handcrafted individually, the time taken to finish the product also needed to be gauged carefully when starting out and experimenting with new designs.
After living in the village, working closely and earning the confidence of the weavers, Anupama says with a smile that they are now very enthusiastic and eager to learn and keep abreast with new trends. As fabric weight, colour combination and accessories are a vital part for any design, Anupama introduced a lighter yarn as opposed to the thick fabric the weavers initially used for heavier designs such as cushions and wall hangings.
While starting your own business is undoubtedly a daunting task, Anupama confesses that she was sure of success – “Whether I made a profit or not, I wanted to help them,” she says simply, “At the end of the day, they are giving me a magnificent product. I wanted to make a market for these people and I wanted to promote them.”
While 90F now provides employment to 30 people, Anupama explains that she always pays the weavers what is due to them, whether the product sells or not. She adds “I make sure they never give up their traditional craft or give up their work and continue with their tradition. It’s important for them to do work for themselves and not just for me.”
Her working experience at a major design and manufacturing company and being chosen as one of seven short-listed finalists in the first International Young Fashion Entrepreneur 2008 award conducted by the British Council provided the young entrepreneur much needed exposure and experience.
Initially starting off with orders from friends, family and other contacts, she launched her first collection of woven Dumbara bags at Odel in April 2008 while 90F products are also available for sale at Rithihi. Apart from exporting to UK, Canada and Malaysia, personal orders are undertaken. Plans are underway to expand into more products and open a 90F design studio this year, says Anupama.
Currently, a lecturer for the Bachelor of Design degree course in the Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Anupama believes in imparting what she has learnt while encouraging more designers to go into the industry and do something for the people of Sri Lanka.
She believes that as “a designer, it is important to know your role.” Voicing that it is not enough to look at a Gucci line, draw inspiration and duplicate it with local fabric, she maintains that a designer should always try and go back to their roots.
For more information about 90F products or to place an order, those interested can contact Anupama at 90fstudio@gmail.com
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