Man of the Cloth

Designer Sanjay Garg’s New Mumbai Store Is the Latest Coup in His Short but Brilliant Journey to Reviving and Reinventing Handloom Textiles, Discovers Rachana Nakra
 

When we meet him a day before the launch of his new store in Mumbai, designer Sanjay Garg is instructing his people to remove the monochrome striped covers from the sofas. Stripped of the superfluous ornamentation, the naked cream cushions now bask in the sunlight streaming in from the wood-framed windows behind them. The brown jute durries on the floor also catch some of the rays in the sparse, white room on the second floor of the store in Colaba that houses his label’s bridal collection.

On the floor below, beams that hold up the building have also been stripped down to reveal bare metal underneath. Stacks of neatly folded saris lie behind glass doors, more like at Nalli, than a designer store— all you need is a glib salesman throwing open the six yards in front of you. You see, bells and whistles are just noise for the fashion designer who is more fluent in Gandhian philosophy than fashion vocabulary. The inspiration behind all the stores for his brand, Raw Mango, comes from old libraries. That is why, tucked away against the walls, are stark glass-front almirahs in wood that quietly contain all the rich blues, reds, greens, pinks and purples of his lush textiles—a treasure trove of beautiful handloom saris from Raw Mango, and lehengas and outfits from his eponymous label. All for the lovers and collectors of his work to slowly sift through.

“I chose this space because there is a courtyard and garden here; that made me feel at home,” says Garg, who is from Rajasthan, but now lives in New Delhi. Steps away from the Gateway of India and The Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the store gets two great architectural icons of Mumbai as its neighbours, besides the glorious sea, of course.