Designer Vino Supraja is all set to present her collection Weave: A Bhavani Tribute at the London Fashion Week later this month. Her line will feature handbags made using handwoven jamakkalams known for their bold, rich stripes in reds, blues, and greens, apart from western silhouettes made with patch-worked fabrics inspired by the rugs. The collection is the result of a journey that Vino took to Bhavani in Erode district two years ago.
A weaver with the jamakkalam
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“I wanted to explore the region’s handwoven jamakkalams,” says Vino, who has also worked with a weaving cluster in Chennimalai for her line inspired by the folk art form of therukoothu. At Bhavani, Vino saw broken and dusty looms covered in cobwebs. “I did not meet many young weavers, with the existing seniors themselves not getting much work,” says the designer who is now based in Dubai.
She feels that the rug format may not do much to revive the craft. “Jamakkalams were traditionally spread on the floor for special occasions,” she says: “But people have stopped sitting on the floor these days.” Vino wanted to reimagine the rug as a fashion product. “The striking patterns are on a par with the Gucci stripes or the Burberry pattern,” she says.
From Vino Supraja’s collection featuring the Bhavani jamakkalam
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While jamakkalam bags are not new, Vino’s idea was to craft premium products that she can market in Dubai and Singapore where she retails. “I wanted to label and package it well,” she says. “The story that most luxury brands promote is that their products are entirely handmade. How is the jamakkalam any lesser? It is a heritage product, and I wanted to do my part for it,” she says.
The R&D took almost a year, with challenges in working with the fabric. “The way colouring is done has changed over the years,” points out Vino: “In the jamakkalam, horizontal lines are coloured and vertical lines are white, but in the end product, weavers employ a technique such that the white is not visible.” This feature proved to be difficult to overcome while making the bags. “The white tended to be visible when we bent the fabric,” she says.
Designer Vino Supraja
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Diligent R&D helped resolve such issues and Vino worked with master weaver Sakthivel Periyasamy to come up with a line of handbags in green, red, and purple. Vino is from Vandavasi near Thiruvannamalai. An architect by education, she has dabbled in radio jockeying and television presentation before finding her call in fashion designing. This is her second time at the London Fashion Week; her line Purisai was showcased at the event in 2023.
From the J Collection by Vino Supraja
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Her upcoming showcase will be kicked-off by a performance by classical dancer and theatre artist Vaanmadhi Jagan. “She will introduce the jamakkalam to the London audience,” explains Vino. Vaanmadhi’s piece, lasting a little over a minute, has been choreographed by Palani Murugan, a therukoothu actor from the Purisai Duraisami Kannappa Thambiran Therukoothu Manram, to music composed by Paul Jacob.
“In keeping with the folk beats of the track, I have picked foot movements from devarattam and thapattam for the piece,” says Palani, adding that the dancer will be holding the fabric in hand. “Towards the end, she has also incorporated eye movements from Bharatanatyam,” he adds. The piece will set the stage for models to walk the ramp, also to “playful, foot-tapping music” by Paul, Vino says.
When she conceived the show, Vino looked for music rooted in Tamil folk traditions. “I also wanted some English rap on top of it,” she says. She spoke about this to Paul, who offered her a track he had composed years ago, featuring the voices of Chinnaponnu and Anthony Daasan. “He has used instruments such as the parai and kombu in it, and the lines are inspired by a Bharati poem that talks about the environment and saving our forests,” she says.
Vaanmadhi, who visited Bhavani with the designer, came up with a motif for the piece that was inspired by the meditative, rhythmic clackety-clack of the loom. “The visual score for the performance is based on the swing of the straight lines and colourful bands of the jamakkalam,” she says.
Music, says Vaanmadhi, is the most important element in a fashion show. “It sets the tone for what the designer is set to showcase,” she says. Takers for the jamakkalam may be on the decline; perhaps the fashion world will turn the tide.
The London Fashion Week is on from September 18 to 22. Bags in the J Collection are priced from ₹9575 onwards.
Published – September 18, 2025 01:53 pm IST