https://www.rashmivarma.com/fashion daily 1.0 2026-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1501690267665-ZO0YAGB3G6CCYPB08KMB/IMG_3178.jpg FASHION - Chikankari Chikankari is white threadwork. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1775504141795-L5HJR4UG2L3FVYGSAED2/Goodearth+Grey+Top.jpg FASHION - Rashmi Varma for Good Earth Sustain, 2024 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1628700982914-BMBY9FEAYCOFPD25HWFO/rashmi%3Avarma%3A5%3Acampaigngilt+MED.jpg FASHION https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1477998217568-ZAETF9805URZUC59VO7R/20160901_115107.jpg FASHION https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1628440779143-E9YCO5AM8IROO16NJK7Q/hanging.jpg FASHION https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1415180917858-IRPXEU3SAWWDD7NSMUYA/image-asset.jpeg FASHION - Shisha Khadi Jumper & Jaal Stripe Khadi Pant https://www.rashmivarma.com/curatorial daily 0.75 2026-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1549960883125-8E4UBWOPU4EPBJJ0PD5W/Mattersofhand-HR-002+%281%29.jpg CURATORIAL - Matters of Hand: Craft, Design & Technique Rashmi Varma, Curator Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa 2018 This exhibition venerates the handmade as experienced through objects of utility ranging from recent innovations to ubiquitous objects found in public and private spaces throughout India. Matters of Hand: Craft, Design, and Technique includes objects such as kitchen utensils, storage, furniture, or lighting that are imbued with a thought process, an aesthetic integrity that extend from the karigars/craftspeople/designers/artists/artisans themselves. The objects demonstrate that notions of ‘craft’ move along a continuum threaded into a dynamic past and a fast-approaching future. Whether an object has been in existence for millennia or created in our contemporary time, what is included in this exhibition exemplifies a resistance to the ongoing discourse of modern vs. traditional that pervades handmade design. The hands, the eyes, the feet, or the movements of the human body are the primary tools of thinking and making that ingeniously transform precious raw materials into objects drawn from the vast Indian landscape. The very essence of these natural, indigenous materials is integral to the design, such as the pliability of katlamara bamboo, the translucency of makrana marble, the sonorous rhythm of kansa bell metal, or the regional clays that transition from earth into burnt terracotta or milk white pottery. Environmental concerns and economic resources are further explored through the use of recycled materials, namely plastic and repurposed furniture that mirror the 21st century. Lost-wax casting, weaving, metal beating, marble carving, block printing, lathe-turning, embroidering or inlaying are some of the techniques employed. Geometry, symmetry, colour, and texture reveal the inherent nature of these elegant forms and announce their presence in an increasingly homogenized world. Some works included here have been realized through formal working relationships within a two-way system of knowledge-transfer between practitioners and other works made independently in urban and rural environments. A profound respect is shared for traditional modes of techniques and cultural expression; however some works are not driven by these methods and thereby push process and find new expression. Others adhere closer to ideas which have persisted throughout time and space demonstrating refinement and artistry, whist some objects are spontaneously designed from a lack of resources. Design is a cohesive attitude that applies to cultural, social, economic, and environmental systems that create and define “craft” which in turn inform a way of thinking and living. Artists: AKFD, Claymen, Avani, Chato Kuosto, Heirloom Naga, Ira Studio, Ishan Khosla, Jeenath Beevi, Kamli Devi, Meena Devi, Olivia Dar, Phantom Hands, Pio Coffrant & JIO Foundation, Rajiben Murji Vankar, Ramju Ali, Rooshad Shroff, Sandeep Sangaru, Senthil Kumar & Jaya Kumar, Shed, SEWA Lucknow, Suraj Prakash Maharana, Swapnaa Tamhane, Salemamad D. Khatri & Muskesh P. Prajapati, Tara Books, The Kishkinda Trust, Tiipoi, Venkataka Krishna, Yasanche, Zilu Kumbhar Exhibition Design: Reha Sodhi Exhibition Photography: Philippe Calia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1693596416742-VFAFAMI3VTIMGOA03LNP/offbeatsari2.jpg CURATORIAL - The Offbeat Sari Rashmi Varma, Associate Curator The Design Museum, London, 2023 Woven from steel. Stitched from hand-distressed denim. Knotted, pleated or belted. Worn in protest, celebration, or simply on the daily commute. The offbeat sari is the sari radically reimagined by designers, wearers and makers for a diverse, contemporary world. Conventionally a single piece of unstitched fabric, the sari’s unfixed form is inherently fluid. Its many different shapes and textures, adapted over the course of millennia, reflect identity, social class, environment and function — and immense creativity. The sari is a language expressed through fabric, which has been intertwined with evolving cultural influences over time. In the past decade, the sari has been re-energised. Designers catering to a new generation across India’s burgeoning cities are experimenting with new drapes and innovative materials. Younger women, who previously associated the sari with dressing up, have transformed it into contemporary everyday fashion. Individuals are also embodying saris in ways that give voice to who they are, exploring plural and nonconforming identities, and challenging conventions of femininity. This exhibition explores the creative, often unexpected ways in which the sari is a site for design innovation and an empowering vessel for self-expression in India today. Photography by Andy Stagg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1548234441347-T6O68MKD56BLPPTLK7K9/IMG_9451.JPG CURATORIAL https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1775514497117-7D1EXMNTXQNG52PQL7M3/SAF2025-Infinite%2Bdrape-001_SD%2B%25281%2529%2B2.jpg CURATORIAL - Infinite Drape, 2025 Serendipity Arts Festival 10th Edition, Goa Infinite Drape explores the endless possibilities of sari draping in India. Ephemeral yet corporeal, these forms live briefly before returning to the cloth’s original state—only to begin again. Draping is both an everyday practice and a formal craft—an embodied technique honed through repetition, adaptation, and intuition. Imagine the first person to knot or tuck the sari in a new way, setting in motion a chain of adaptation across generations. Spanning time, is a knowledge system at once intangible and material, rooted in lived experience yet continuously open to change. Conversations around the sari often centre on its textile integrity as complex objects of craft, design, or expression. The practice of draping is often overlooked; each drape is more than a style: it is a story shaped by identity, geography, culture, caste, history, function, beauty, and desire. Over 100 styles have been documented, a diversity further enriched by other draped garments such as the dhoti, odhani, pagri, and shawls, which continue to sustain this sartorial tradition. At the heart of this exhibition is The Sari Series, a digital anthology created by Border&Fall in conversation with the saris of Raw Mango, a design house rooted in India’s textile traditions, aesthetics, and artisanal craft. Addressing the sari’s past, present, and future, the series documents eighty-four regional drapes through short videos based on Rta Kapur Chishti’s book Saris of India: Tradition and Beyond. Both The Sari Series and Raw Mango are reshaping the sari’s visual and cultural presence, through online media, evocative imagery, and new design vocabularies. They have contributed to a perceptible shift in how the sari is seen and worn, articulating draping as both personal and collective language. Infinite Drape highlights sixteen videos and proposes new styles of wearing. The exhibition also invites viewers to The Drapery, a space dedicated to crafting one’s own sari drapes. https://www.rashmivarma.com/costumes-1 daily 0.75 2026-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1775493245177-CIEU7V8SWY2POTXCJFNC/FunnyBoy1web.jpeg Costumes - Funny Boy, 2020 Directed by Deepa Mehta, Hamilton-Mehta Productions https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1775484988805-4742MM8AJ38Q6SUOR0MY/Screenshot%2B2026-04-05%2Bat%2B8.08.14%25E2%2580%25AFPM.png Costumes - Winged, 2024 Sonia St-Michel Creations https://www.rashmivarma.com/exhibitions-1 daily 0.75 2026-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/18cc7f3c-53e3-442c-9eba-c70a48e64a68/rashmi%2Bvarma%2Bembroidery%2Bparlor.jpg Exhibitions https://www.rashmivarma.com/publications-1 daily 0.75 2026-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/1628518682892-PM1CXII4Z7T001E8KP3N/8a%2Clarge.1486822253.jpg Publications https://www.rashmivarma.com/contactme daily 0.75 2026-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52378864e4b04e9390b69568/587ecbd5-84d1-4f59-a892-e1dbcb065736/IMG_3178.JPG CONTACT https://www.rashmivarma.com/about daily 0.75 2024-02-22