Global weaves

ACCOLADES AND honours sit lightly on Nirmal Mirza, whose passionate vision of quality and perfection in home furnishings have brought her - and Indian textiles - international fame. She has many enviable 'firsts' to her credit: introducing value- addition to home furnishings, first lady to take part in the Frankfurt Fair with the largest array of quality furnishings and the first Indian to be invited by the Dutch Government as part of the thirdworld delegation to participate in a designers meet.

By her own admission Mirza's strength lies in innovating, internationalising and thinking 'global' - way back in the early 80s! By combining, as she puts it, "The strengths of India's textile skills and weaves with the current European and international flavour and look," this Chennai - based entrepreneur has created since 1983, a line of exquisitely woven home furnishings which hold their own with the best in the international market. In the finest of cottons, voiles, flax and silk cotton blends, her designer curtains, upholstery, table and bed linen and kitchen (textile) accessories are a sell-out in reputed stores across Europe, U.S.A., U.K. and S.Africa.

At Mirza's 'Wooltop Weaves' showroom in Chennai, one gets a look at the range of Indian craft skills and textiles combined with the understated chic of European style. The colours are soft pastel and muted. Lovely cotton curtains inserted with embroidered voile, traceries of delicate jalli work joining khaki squares with an uninterrupted fall of sheer khaki voile, pretty pink, beige and soft primrose weaves and variegated pastel squares on curtains cast a soft spell. In tune with today's interiorscapes, sheers in voile and organdi define both drapes and tableware. Flax blends are also extensively used to create drapes as well as linen for table and bed. A combination of different fabrics and weaves, a touch of embellishment with embroidery, patch work or mirror work and the latest in international styles as well as a highly personalised touch is the hall mark of 'Wooltop Weaves'. Says Kala Sreenivasan, in charge of merchandising and designing at 'Wooltop Weaves': "In following international trends and fashions, we work six months to a year ahead. We also pick up Indian motifs and blend it with European styles."

Mirza holds an annual exhibition of her surplus products in the city. For the Chennai cognoscenti, it is time to feverishly lap up the best of international home furnishings, especially woven and manufactured at Wooltop Weavers' units all over Tamil Nadu. The right detail unerringly designed and placed catches the discerning Cehnnai-ite's eye, be it a hand carved button, a touch of hand applique, a dash of zardozi, or embroidered motifs which lift a curtain, cushion or napkin from the merely exclusive to the brilliantly stylish.

"I have miles to go still", says Nirmal. "We are on the web and do online marketing for expanding markets. But my ultimate dream is to open an industrial unit where R and D will structure a loom for village women which will take the drudgery out of weaving. Perhaps we will also institute scholarships for weavers... Who knows where we will be a few years from now! Right now I am thoroughly enjoying marketing and designing."

PUSHPA CHARI

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