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The tapestry-maker from France
RE-CREATING 18th Century oriental embroidery to restore the upholstery of the furniture in the Royal House of Orange, the Dutch royal family's, is a small Madras business house, `Vastrakala,' that's more creative studio than manufacturing unit. Vastrakala, which might well be known as the House of Jean Francois Lesage too, has also embroidered furnishings for Windsor Palace, the office of the French President, and for names like Stephen Spielberg, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.
Jean Francois was 28 when he decided, seven years ago, that it was time to settle down after years of dabbling with the art of South Asia, both as an art auctioneer as well as a traveller in search of exotica. And what he did but should have done a decade earlier, was get into the embroidery business. The House of Lesage, successors since 1924 to the House of Michonet, which was founded by cousins of the Lesages in 1868, is perhaps the best known atelier of embroidery in the world of haute couture. But the world of high fashion did not interest Jean Francois the way it did his grandfather Albert or father Francois. And so he moved on; the House of Lesage might have embellished the dresses of emperors and kings, film stars and the wealthy, but Jean Francois did not see that as what he wanted to do. In fact, he did not see the world of embroidery as his, but that was till he began looking at buildings and interiors in South Asia and saw how they were richly enhanced with embroidery. And that's when Vastrakala was born, founded together with Patrick Savouret and Malavika Rao.
Today, with over 125 skilled artisans working together as part of an extended family, Vastrakala's business is almost equally divided between special orders and quality work for the international marketplace. It's a number of artisans that's increasing, as Vastrakala trains more and more of them to use their skills to produce work of still greater quality. But that training takes time and Vastrakala has been content to grow slowly.
Meanwhile, Jean Francois' love affair with buildings had him first open his atelier in the old Buchi Babu house. But his dreams of restoring the building died when it was sold. Now Vastrakala creates embroidery against the background of another not-quite-so-old house. But Jean Francois dreams of the day he can buy a grand old house in Madras that he can restore and have a house, and creating the magic of embroidery not only complement each other but also show off one another.
S. MUTHIAH
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