Embroidered elegance

The mystique of ancient textiles and embroidery lingers at Jean Francois Lesarge's Chennai atelier "Vastra Kala" which he runs jointly with Patrick Savouret. Here, India's fabled embroidery skills go into embellishing and fashioning upholstery, curtains and lifestyle accessories for the royalty, artistocracy and creme de la creme of European society. As disciplined rows of local ari embroiderers jab at the fabric held taulty between long bamboo frames, magical images appear: exquisitely embroidered roses spilling into curtain borders, ravishing nut brown poinsettia motifs, geometrical borders, an intricate Japanese print reproduced with stunning effect. This is stuff that dreams are embroidered with. Just like the embroidered 'Patani quilts which the East India Company ships took back to the aristocracy of England in the 16th Century, or the lovely embroidered kantha quilts exported in the 17th Century of which French traveller Pyard De Laval wrote: "Nothing prettier is to be seen anywhere."

Or the dazzling embroidered muslin gowns and Pashmina shawls which Empress Josephine imported specially from Bombay...

Today, the embroidery done by mastercraftsmen at Jean Francois Lesarge's atelier blazes equally famous trails. It has clients ranging from the Queen of England and Prince Charles to the Princess of Monaco, the Queen of Thailand, leading European interior designers such as Graf and great stores like Bergdof Goodman and Neuman Marcus....

At 'Vastra Kala,' quiet efficiency, dedicated craftsmanship and design inputs structure the day's work. The designs, worked upon by Lesarge in conjunction with client specifications are given to artists to execute to the specified size. The 'chappa' technique is used to transfer the design on to the fabric, after which the ari and zardozi embroiderers begin their labour of love. Says Jean Francois: "The world's best embroiderers are from India. Their talent is phenomenal. We give our workers a sense of design and neatness at work and they create masterpieces."

It is easy to agree with him as one walks around the atelier and sees the ethereal delicacy of white-on-white ari embroidered motifs being executed for upholstery or delicate Japanese fans come alive on the frame with each intricate fold and shading brilliantly, painstakingly embroidered. A dazzling zardozi cross for a French cleric's robes, an ari embroidered mimosa-filled porcelain vase on a cushion cover, exquisitely embroidered buttons for cushions and handbags - each product speaks of the adaptability and instinctive genius of the embroiderer and his incredible finesse.

"Which is why I came to India," says Jean Francois. "Their skills are matchless and I wanted to create and forge a partnership between the two cultures." Lesarge himself comes from a family which is part of the embroidery history of Europe. Grandfather Albert Lesarge founded the House of Lesarge which created the most magnificent embroideries for the legendary couturiers of Paris such as Christobel, Balencengia Jacques Fath, Pierre Balmain and Elsa Schiaperrelli. In his son Francois Lesarge's time, the House of Lesarge's embroidery embellished Dior gowns and accessories. And Francois Jean who started life as an art auctioneer in Paris, finally returned to the family passion of manufacturing embroidery. His atelier also has an archival collection of old European embroidery samples.

"Team spirit, a family feeling and camaraderie is what our work is all about," says Jean Francois.

"Our workers share my obsession for perfection and we have proved that in an age of vanishing hand skills we can still produce the world's best embroidery in India."

And what of his visions for the future? Says Lesarge, "I would like to start a textile centre in the countryside where ancient crafts of weaving, vegetable dyeing, block printing and embroidery could be taught and learnt. Ultimately my dream is to combine the best in India's textile hand skills with European and contemporary design inputs for global clients who demand total quality. I loveove working here."

PUSHPA CHARI

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