Ambi by Sujata Pai has a distinct quality of making unique and cherished sarees from the rich heirloom of India. Her vision to showcase Indian textiles with a different eye is threaded through a needle passing through the time it has taken to inculcate this skill into a community of weaver families.
The simplicity of this concept is that it’s homegrown, tracing our roots back to ancient folklore and fables. These are etched into the motifs that are typically used in Ambi sarees- mango motifs, to follow the name, peacock feathers on a breezy pallu, elegant paisley pattern, lotus, and animal motifs. Her home base being Chennai, she herself is a voyager, setting up her printing in Delhi, and empowering weavers from all across the country with specialized local skills that make them unanimous experts in the craft of a particular weave.
The ancient weaves that have traveled from as far as the Byzantine empire are seen in Ambi’s one of a kind piece, embroidered with zari from Kutch mud plains of Gujarat. Ambi brings together fabrics and weaves of fine artistry and craftsmanship with a beautiful movement that creates a singular element to diversity. From the Banaras tradition to mulberry silkworm that has woven light as air Maheshwari silk, the sarees are a poetic eulogy to lost crafts.
The sunsets of South Indian hills fall over one fabric that takes to the Gota Patti work of Rajasthan sand dunes, and in the magic of the desert night, slip to the Bramhaputra with Muga Buta silk, the identity of Assam for a new dawn.
This journey of fabrics is seen in every piece by Ambi, cherishing crafts long borrowed from the 20th century France, antiques of Bali and even so far back as the Persian dynasties, breathing innovation in these threaded creations.
Woven seamlessly into one piece, the fabrics are intuitively in tandem, a dance of hues and patterns that carry the remnants of age-old heritage.