Life's A Beach

Shivan & Narresh created a successful line solely for holidays. Then what pushed them to create a line of wedding wear for the millennial?

- Nidhi Raj Singh

After creating India’s first exclusive holiday wear brand in 2009, designer duo Shivan Bhatia and Narresh Kukreja could have rested on their past laurels. Instead, they chose to diversify. Excerpts from an interview with the men behind the brand who changed the way Indians take a dip in the ocean (and how they emerge from it).

How has the cities of your birth influenced your design sensibilities?

Narresh: I am from Delhi and Shivan is from Kanpur. Being born and raised in Delhi, the humdrum of the fast-paced city life always excited me. Shivan has spent a sizable portion of his childhood amid the botanical areas of Madhya Pradesh. A lot of his creative sensitivities, thus, come from this early age exposure to the flora and fauna, especially insects. Both our sensibilities are reflective in our designs where present day elements are juxtaposed next to the modern silhouette.

Your collections are often inspired by destinations and vacations.

Narresh: As designers, we are constantly looking for inspirations from new places that we travel to and discover unique elements in the art, architecture, flora and fauna that catch our eye. Our design trips to Japan and Seychelles were translated into our latest collections, Araki Series and EdoMer Series, respectively. From Japan, we took inspiration from the elaborate work of Japanese contemporary photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and his provocative imagery that was reflective in the botanical prints of the eponymous collection. EdoMer Series captured the historic 17th century Edo Art aesthetic.

You two met in NIFT Delhi. How did your friendship develop?