In House Boutique
The in-house boutique is painstakingly curated by hotel owners Bernard Dragon and Michel Adment who travel around India to personally create collections of traditional and contemporized craft and art. They regularly travel to Srinagar to select the delicate pashminas and to Rajasthan to source hand-made quilts, garments, and jewellery from individual ateliers. Unique collections of Kantha silks from West Bengal, kurtas from Lucknow, and Mithila paintings from Bihar are the results of their ongoing search for the best handwork and craftsmanship of India. Browse the selection of traditional Chettinad crafts including Kandangi cotton weaving, woven baskets and wood fired terra cotta figures from the Velar priests. The Saratha Vilas in-house boutique is open to visitors and hotel residents.
Pashminas are stoles and shawls woven from pashm, the wool of the domesticated Changthangi goat on the high plains of Kashmir and Ladakh. Its particularity is the delicacy and softness the thread which makes mechanical weaving an impossibility. In addition to weaving, Kashmiris are renowned for their long tradition of embroidering on pashmina. A curated selection of pashminas is available in the Saratha Vilas boutique.
Quilted cotton hand-block print bed covers are hand stitched over cotton batting to accentuate the fabric patterns. In West Bangal, a similar technique called Kantha incorporating recycled silk has origins tracing back to the pre-Vedic age. The Saratha Vilas boutique also proposes a curated collection of vintage Kantha quilts in single, queen and king size.
Chikan Lucknow / Chikankari
Chikankari, a traditional embroidery style originating from the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, is one of the best known textile decoration styles in India. Originally always white-on-white, Chikankari is a delicate and artful white thread embroidery applied to garments in pastel and white fabrics like muslin, silk, chiffon and organza.
Saratha Vilas boutique proposes a curated collection of Chikankari embellished kurtas and pyjamas.
Kantha is an embroidery craft done in the eastern regions of the Indian sub-continent, specifically in West Bengal. Colorful saris are reworked into elegant shawls or stoles by hand, the thread accenting the silk fabrics’ designs. An exclusive selection is available at Saratha Vilas.
Kandangi weaving results in the traditional Chettinad handmade cotton saree . The fabric is woven to a particular thickness with threads dyed such colours as red oxide, mustard, and maroon with organic materials. The designs combine straight lines with checked patterns aligned with two borders.
Chettinad terra cotta is linked to the living traditions of Ayyanar and Muthu Mariamman. The potters are the Velar priests of these animist cults which hold annual village rituals. The small animal figures displayed in Saratha Vilas boutique are typical examples of offerings to the god Ayyanar by villagers at these festivals. As the figures are not sacred and thanks to a long friendly relationship with the Velars potters, Saratha Vilas is able to propose a special selection of these handmade sculptures in its boutique.
Jaipur is the capital of India for gem and gem cutting. The region also represents a long tradition of gold and silver jewellery production. Saratha Vilas proposes a variety of close-set silver jewellery with natural semi-precious stones as well as pieces in silver.
Odisha tribal necklaces and bracelets in brass, or with semi-precious stones are also available.
Craftsmen in Kashmir follow in the region’s long tradition of embroidery, using the point de Hongrie technique to embellish cushion covers in spectacular fish and sun designs.
Karaikudi’s antique market is famous for its unique and varied offerings from India and abroad. It has been the natural outlet for Chettinad merchant family descendants whose mansions housed the dowries of the “achis” comprising brass and/or copper vessels as well as enamelware imported from Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Hungria, Japan, Hong Kong, or China. Imported Burmese lacquerware was also a popular component in these dowries. The boutique’s curated collection of lacquerwares has been specially selected and carefully restored by Saratha Vilas owner and artist, Bernard Dragon.
Bharthi Dayal is one of today’s most famous Madhubani artists. Beginning from a young age, she learned the craft of Madhubani painting from her mother and grandmother and has painted professionally since 1984. While focusing on the traditional subjects of Madhubani art, the artist has developed a very distinctive artistic style reflecting contemporary themes. A catalyst in the shift from craft to art form, Bharti Dayal is a national awardee for her work and its transformation of this once dying craft into an internationally recognized contemporary art form. The artist recently received official orders from the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi.
Madhubani art (or Mithila painting) is an Indian painting style practiced by women in the Mithila region in the state of Bihar where Madhubani is main town.
The paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now are often done on handmade paper. The paintings represent allegories to nature as well as events related in traditional Hindu epics.
11:11 / eleven:eleven is an internationally renowned eco-friendly brand. Using indigenous organic cotton and silk and 100% natural dyes, the label produces hand-made, slow-clothing in collaboration with groups of artisans across India using heritage by-hand techniques such as spinning, loom weaving, painting, tie-dying, and quilting. Focusing on craftmanship over mainstream manufacturing, garments are produced in limited collections.