The Matriarch

It has been a relentless 30-year journey to popularise weaves, which began with a small store at New Delhi’s Santushti Shopping Complex, one loom and oodles of intrepidity. Neeru Kumar is the YSL of India in many ways, as she knew that her tussar yarn from Bhagalpur, inspired by African textiles, would be a showstopper, and is till today. Textile revivalist and National Institute of Design graduate, Neeru was raised in Mumbai but moved to Delhi once her father retired. Her first assignment was with Anokhi, followed by training under the legendary founder of Fabindia, John Bissell, in the ’80s, when she learnt all that was needed to rev up the languishing textile crafts.

In 1984, she left a growing company to start her own small business with a paltry grant of Rs 20,000 from the Handicrafts and Handloom Exports Corporation of India, which gave her one loom to work with. Fast forward to 2014, she has 200 looms and an equal number of weavers. Nothing is outsourced, everything is made, designed and conceptualised inhouse. “My family had a small place in Arjun Nagar, so I set up my karkhana there, but it was too tiny,” she recalls. “I moved to Munirka and paid a princely sum of Rs 1,500 in those days. Somehow, I managed to pay my bills, the rent, the weavers and managed enough to buy raw materials, too.”

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With Rs13,000 in her bank in 1986, Neeru spent Rs12,000 on buying wool and started weaving durries that became a rage. “I was always intuitive; I knew what would work,” she smiles. “The foreign markets were opening up and I started exporting my durries, scarves, stoles and shawls to the US (Bloomingdales and Pottery Barn), France, Japan and UK (Harrods). The Japanese loved the textures and the offbeat colour combinations.”

One of the few designers to strike a balance between creativity and commercial success, Neeru dexterously creates products that speak to a wide spectrum of people and not just to a handful. Speaking of which, her passion remains collecting vintage textiles—she will proudly show you her collection of saris, from maheshwaris and woven chanderis to ikats, jamdanis, bandhanis and more. “I just can’t part with them, they are my prized possessions,” she tells us. “The weavers refuse to do the kind of intricate work I got done 20 years ago. I show at Maison & Objet in Paris, because the West values our crafts more.”

Among her many clients are Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka. “They appreciate crafts— that’s what I like about them.” But it is not just them. The Italians, the French and most of Europe have been ardent fans. “I don’t like to clutter my saris with patterns, I JUNE 2014 27 NEERU KUMAR Her uneven road to success proved that all one needs to climb up the ladder is sheer grit. This visionary has changed the landscape of textiles, forever.