Where would you go to buy the trendiest apparel and fashion accessories? Which is the best flea market for buying some eco-friendly products and organic food? Where can you listen to soulful music while munching away at some delicious food? How about one ultimate destination where you can have all these under one roof in Bengaluru? That must be Sunday Soul Sante!
There is no doubt that Sunday Soul Sante has become the most awaited event in the cultural calendar of our erstwhile Bangalore. Earlier, there were some great cultural festivals like Bengaluru Habba, Vasanta Habba and others, but none of them have survived today. Fortunately, Asha Rao a noted art curator established a new tradition called Sunday Soul Sante, which brings together artisans, musicians, gourmet chefs, fashion designers at one place to showcase their collections.
Continuing this tradition, this Diwali’s Sunday Soul Sante was truly a shop-a-holic’s dream come true – trendy clothes, accessories, colourful jewellery, paintings, decorative items, t-shirts with quirky messages, psychedelic handicrafts, organic food, goodies made of recycled products and lots more. In addition there was steady flow of beer, food, music, a fashion show to top it all! Around 300 booths showcased the traditional and contemporary art works of ‘artrepreneurs’ at the ITPB grounds in Whitefield.
Here are some vignettes of this year’s Sunday Soul Sante –
Needle Doodle
Needle Doodle, as the name suggests is an amazing collection of handcrafted handbags and vanity bags. The majority of their bags were made from eco-friendly jute and cotton blend material which had a soft feel unlike the regular jute fabric. Further, there were handbags made out of denim material that were embellished with detachable coloured tassels in beads, feathers, chains, etc. I was particularly attracted to a handy pouch of tote bag made of silk that can be folded into a pouch. Kavita Jain is the designer who runs Needle Doodle with help of a few artisans who create such beautiful designer bags. https://www.facebook.com/NeedleDoodle/
LataSita
Upcycling old worn sarees is not a new concept, but what LataSita creates from old worn sarees is to be seen to be believed! Meghna Nayak, the designer behind this fashion boutique creates such funky designer clothes that women were raving about it across the fair. She established this social enterprise that wants to play fair by engaging underprivileged tailors in producing some exquisite designs and in turn create an ethical fashion brand. LataSita makes both pret and custom designs with worn saris, and the price range varies from Rs.2,250 to Rs.15,000.
https://www.facebook.com/latasita/
Zilpakala
These cute cup plants and wacky pots by Zilpakala appealed to the green enthusiast in me! We all have a gardener hidden within us, but our cramped urban spaces don’t allow us to any gardening. Realising this need, Raji Krishna founded Zilpakala in 2012 for helping people to have a small green space inside their homes and offices. They provide various options of colourful terracotta pots, ceramic cups, terrariums that are not only are environment friendly, but also beautifully decorated.
https://www.facebook.com/ZilpAkala/
Mug Aur Mooch
Mug Aur Mooch is a social enterprise that produces some jazzy stationery material. How jazzy? How about a crocodile shaped paper clip, or a psychedelic sequined notebook, or a handcrafted Rakhi gift?! Anushri and Akshay are the cute couple that create these trendy stationery items in Koramangala, Bengaluru that truly trigger our imagination with some intricate geometrical patterns and lovable animal motifs.
https://www.facebook.com/mugaurmooch
Gypsy Soul
Gypsy Soul is Balepet, Bengaluru based company that produces an interesting product highly useful for photo display. They offer magnetic steel ropes that can display photos in an interesting way without affecting the visibility of images. Apart from these magnetic ropes, they have a range of cloth covered notebooks and scribble pads.
Ozel Bir Sey
Ozel Bir Sey presented some exquisite potlis and clutches handcrafted from embroidered and zari material. We could observed that each of their bags were painstakingly curated from a diverse range of handcrafted cloth material and they were made to order.
https://ozel-bir-sey.myshopify.com/
Serve With Style
Serve With Style was a collection of some wonderful glassware by Mumbai-based designer, Anushree Saraf. Some of the noteworthy designer glasses were skull-shaped beer mug, face-shaped glass, soup bowls, icecream cups, etc. however, the most happening design was a bulb-shaped juice bottle with sipper!
Kingdom Of Calm
But some of the wackiest and funkiest products on display were with Kingdom Of Calm, led by Ayush and Mustafa. Most of their products were in a niche product category of their own – Hindu Baba shaped wall hooks, lotus-shaped Buddha air fresheners, Calm organic cotton t-shirts, Tibetan Mandala flags, wall scrolls, cork wood coasters, etc. The wackiest of them all were the Calminions – bunch of calm Minions donning Hindu god avatars!
https://kingdomofcalm.com/
Factfile –
Image sources –
https://www.facebook.com/sundaysoulsante/
https://www.facebook.com/sundaysoulsante
https://www.facebook.com/woavinstudio/
