October 11, 2015 Asmita Aggarwal

Hand-made luxury

Natural cotton and dyes, the vibrant spirit of Kutch and a young, innovative mind makes Shreya Oza’s label Aza a tour de force

By Asmita Aggarwal

Ahmedabad-based Shreya Oza is a lover of all things organic, from locally grown Gujarat cotton to natural dyes and keeping these aesthetics in mind, she titled her label ‘Asa’ or sky in Japanese. Launching in 2013, the young ‘First Cut’ designer set to show at the AIFW SS 16 has been working with indigo dyeing as her motto remains to only use environmentally-friendly fabrics in a process that is sustainable. “I do unisex clothing which has a global appeal, the idea is to create something that is Indian, while remaining conscious about how we use our natural resources. I am a lover of hand-made things and we as a label promote local artisans, based in Gujarat,” says Shreya.

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The SS 16 line offers easy-breezy cuts, shift dresses, malleable jackets and simple T-shirts with a play of fabric blocking and the addition of sheer to create an opaque-ness. “All our colours are derived from natural dyes , flowers so you will see ochre rubbing shoulders with rusts and hearty monochromes—–blacks and whites,” she adds.

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Travelling to Delhi to study textile designing from NIFT, Shreya is proud of her Gujarati roots, as she hails from the design rich Kutch; she grew up with stunning embroideries and fabrics, which she saw her mom and grandmother adopting and adapting. “My father is an engineer, but I think I got my creative genes from my mom who paints and also does clay modelling. I knew a lot of NID professors so I kind of soaked in all these influences to finally launch a label which reflects the ethos of my hometown and traditional textiles,” she says. After interning in Pondicherry and Uttarakhand, where she hones her skills in textiles, she hopes to work extensively in the crafts sector, wanting to launch a natural dyeing plant soon. “It will be a dream come true,” she concludes.

 

Read more from Day 4 #AIFWSS16 on the Amazon.in Blog

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