Nanki Maggo creates a divine grid with hand marbling, as Limerick, her label swings between the obsessive love for vivid hues and edgy modernity
By Asmita Aggarwal
They met in school and the enduring love affair culminated into marriage with a deep understanding of each other’s weaknesses and strengths. Last year they opened a store in Mumbai’s posh Kala Ghoda and in 2015 in Greater Kailash, N-block market.
Using natural colours, paints are added on water and naturally it floats, fabric is then placed on it to capture the imperfect yet interesting shapes and forms it takes. “Colour can flow in any direction and it is this unpredictability that creates surreal forms,” explains Nanki, adding that natural fabrics take colour well. “I like dressing women who are on the go, so when you buy my saris you will never have to make pleats, they come fully packed, all you need is to zip up,” she explains.
As a young label the challenges she faces is stiff competition, as price points decide your customers in a volatile market like India, so cheaper, faster techniques get you a bigger clientele while slower ones get you the discerning ones. “We keep our silhouettes easy and fuss-free, drape dresses, kaftans and summer wraps, but they are smeared with my prints which celebrate the vivacity of life through colour, abolishing any need for embellishments or embroidery,” she adds. This year there is an ode to metallics, 3D embroidery as well as patchwork in the line that is inspired by space. When you look down from above how small everything seems and we are just a spec in that vastness, is what is being mirrored. “It is quite abstract like the techniques we have used,” she says.
Her creating prints for Pankaj and Nidhi’s music box collection were well appreciated, which boosted her confidence and she also discovered that Ritu Kumar is a walking encyclopaedia for motifs, she can spot which one is from which museum or palace at just a glance. “She is truly the undisputed doyen of Indian crafts,” she the 34-year-old.