Paradise Lost

We're delighted to announce that renowned Indian textile company Injiri is part of the January Selvedge Sale this year. To claim your 30% off all of our Injiri products, enter the code JANUARY at the checkout...

A ‘contemporary Indian aesthetic’ is what many Indian artisans are hearing when their work is described today, but what does this actually mean? As Chinar Farooqui’s brand Injiri (meaning ‘real India’) demonstrates, it’s not about fuelling any postcolonial visions of the country as a westerner’s exotic paradise, filled with extravagant colour and kitsch religious iconography, nor is it about ditching the many facets of India’s culture.

Instead, it’s about reinterpreting historic crafts that are often ornate (and to a certain extent, almost deified by craft enthusiasts the world over) into practical, elegantly simplified products for the modern world. Take for instance Injiri’s use of woven borders and selvedges across their home textiles. Often seen by many makers in the West as a mere by-product of handloom weaving, this subtle feature is made a focus of Injiri textiles. Rejecting popular arguments that many Indian designers now cater to a Western or Eastern gaze, Chinar caters only to one demand: textiles themselves.

Giving prominence to naturally occurring effects of hand-weaving is traditional in India as seen in the sari; a garment that embraces every inch of material, transforming textile happenstance into defining elements such as the pallu; the loose end of the sari draped over the wearer’s head. Reinterpreting this tradition with a minimalist, modernist approach, Injiri quells the romanticisation of India as an exotic paradise – an attitude that many consider symptomatic of a postcolonial condition; one that reduces an entire country, as complicated and as real as any other, to a mystery. Along with other designers pushing forward a new ‘contemporary Indian aesthetic’, Injiri is crafting a solution to this.

You can browse Injiri's expertly crafted clothing range here, and claim your 30% off at the checkout using the code JANUARY.