By Puja Gupta
New Delhi–Designer duo Shantanu and Nikhil have launched a limited-edition pack just in time for the festive season in collaboration with Blender Pride.
The collection reflects the duo’s signature style of merging elements from Indian culture with Western silhouettes. IANSlife spoke to the designers to find out more about the collaboration and the idea behind the collection. Read on�
How does this Limited Edition Pack align with your personal style or your design aesthetic?
Shantanu: The pack was created to associate the brand with the entire structure. The lines that are depicted on it or rather the illustration that is created on the pack comes from the way we look at the movement of the brand. The work signifies both the softness, and at the same time the strength of the brand, its pedigree and the luxury segment along with couture which it belongs too, in the backdrop.
Nikhil: There is a sense of masculinity which is associated with whisky packs. So, we just wanted to bring a bit of fluidity in the way you see the drapes, like linearity coming in through fluid texture and style which makes a statement.
Could you elaborate a bit on the concept behind the use of drapes.
Shantanu: Drapes are a very important and distinctive part of our philosophy while designing. In fact, it is so important that it became interesting to incorporate it into the shape and style of men’s wear. Designing outfits for men, was the only tension in our group, as the signature style and drape had to come across and be presented. So naturally both the illustration and the sketch come from this philosophy.
Nikhil: And it’s the one line that pretty much sums up… a golden liquid perfectly wrapped in streaks of gold, I think that is a very fitting answer to the question as well.
Tell us about the theme, ‘My Craft, My Pride’. How do you align with it personally and how does it translate onto the design of the limited edition pack?
Shantanu: ‘My Craft, My Pride’ looks at certain things in a way, it is sort of a belief that we are creating when someone comes across our illustration on the bottle pack, they see it as similar to when they come across our product as well. Working with existing groups and people to figure out a signature style, I think that’s really the reason that we’ve worked on this.
Nikhil: As a brand we speak a very strong language of heritage, a heritage that is not necessarily overburdened with a lot of textile, tools, or services. But a heritage which meets spunk; it comes from a very strong sense of Indian nostalgia. It fuses with our take of modernity which is minimalism. There is also a sense of patriotism in the way we do this, as there is a strong military influence, inspired from the armed forces.
So ‘My Craft, My Pride’ is very similar in aesthetic to what Shantanu just described. Our craft is not all necessarily about the craftsmanship that one associates with India, but it’s about creating, fluidity, bringing in strong emotions on India, of egalitarianism, of a sense of fluidity, a bit of patriotic chic, putting it all in one basket of heritage meets spunk. ‘My Craft, My Pride’ becomes almost an extension of what our brand stands for; that’s what brings in the pride. (IANS)
