August 21, 2023
The twilight zone
With contemporary visual arts at its core, the Kochi Muziris Biennale has been pivotal in drawing the discerning traveller-shopper to Fort Kochi. In the past, the event has provided a perfect backdrop for niche retail brands — like design shop Cinnamon at Malabar Passage with its mélange of products, cafe/gallery Pepper House that followed suit, and the Nicobar Edit that experimented successfully with a two-month-long pop-up in 2016. The latest on the scene, just in time for the fourth edition of KMB, is Archana and Sanjay Nandal’s Cult Modern. Distinctive in look and concept, it widens the fort of fashion.
Incidentally, the first such venture prior to the KMB was fashion boutique Camelot, set up by Archana under the tutelage of designer-photographer Ritu Nanda. Following this, the NIFT graduate, who has also worked with Delhi-based designer Suneet Varma, began a long association with Fabindia. On how her time with the brand influenced her new venture, she says, “I watched the high-fashion and design space in India, seeing some incredible work being done by designers and labels. I was subliminally internalising certain names that were doing timeless work, persistently reviving classics and staying at the top of their game year after year, establishing themselves as iconoclastic design houses.”
Incidentally, the first such venture prior to the KMB was fashion boutique Camelot, set up by Archana under the tutelage of designer-photographer Ritu Nanda. Following this, the NIFT graduate, who has also worked with Delhi-based designer Suneet Varma, began a long association with Fabindia. On how her time with the brand influenced her new venture, she says, “I watched the high-fashion and design space in India, seeing some incredible work being done by designers and labels. I was subliminally internalising certain names that were doing timeless work, persistently reviving classics and staying at the top of their game year after year, establishing themselves as iconoclastic design houses.”