Bengaluru’s luxury label Advaya reworks paisley for the modern heirloom

Six years ago, Advaya, the luxury design house by the House of Angadi, launched a series that reflected the brand’s ‘ongoing  exploration of the modern heirloom’. Titled The Eternal Series, the first edition explored the chintz textile and now, with Eternal Series II, Advaya’s founder and creative director KH Radharaman has leaned towards the paisley motif and its journey across time. 

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“At Advaya, we operate with a textile-first approach,” says Radharaman, at the terrace of the Advaya Design Lab on a warm October morning. “Every stage of the creation process, from creating the yarn to the finished garment, is undertaken in-house. Which means, the lead time for every series is longer,” he says, explaining why every launch is years in the making. Every series at Advaya starts at the yarn stage. “We study the fabric we require, the motifs, and design language we want to incorporate, and we then move on to the craft interpretation,” he says, adding that every series at the brand “has a fundamental idea that anchors it”. 

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For the recent festive-themed drop, the team has crafted Kanjeevaram saris woven with contemporary paisley brocades, and the motif extends across hand-embroidered blouses, tailored achkans, and bandhgalas for men. Featuring woven jacquards, intricate brocades, zardosi, placement embroidery, and pearl work, the series comes in a palette of off-white, bottle green, cardamom, carbon black, and dual toned orange.

As we walk through the Design Lab, designers are busy tracing intricate floral motifs that are later interpreted into varied outcomes: printed, woven, or perhaps embroidered textiles. For the latest campaign — set against the backwaters of Kochi — the team has drawn from the region’s rich architectural heritage and also, the evolution of destination weddings. 

Elaborating on the latter, Radharaman says a core focal point of the new drop was to craft apparel that speaks to people across India. “We wanted to focus on bridal wear as the category is very conventional in India. Saris don’t have the character of say an embroidered lehenga. We are trying to break that mould by designing textiles that talk to people from across the country. The paisley, for instance, is seen on a woven Kanjeevaram, an embroidered blouse, a men’s garment, and a shawl. It is the same design language that penetrates everything,” he says, stressing on how the “motivation was to create something that is truly cross cultural”. 

“For instance, Kanjeevaram weaves are immediately associated with South India, a stereotype that we are trying to break. My goal is to promote region-agnostic designs that appreciate with time,” says the designer, who says his “first love” was architecture. “Having said that, I cannot draw! But, I can think. And I think of design like a thought experiment that involves textile engineers and tactile technologists. I imagine the outcome I want to achieve, and then figure out how to get there.” 

Another interesting shift at Advaya has been their foray into menswear that began in 2022 and continues to grow with Eternal Series II. “For us, menswear is the most attractive space. I may have started working on it recently, but I have always thought of myself as a more competent menswear designer,” says Radharaman, as he points to an image of a model sporting a pair of satin trousers. “The market for groomswear is limited with a majority of embellished offerings. This trouser, for instance, is crafted in satin but it is light on the skin as it has been engineered to function that way,” he explains. 

Lastly, Radharaman explains that every drop at Advaya is a series rather than a collection as they keep adding to it, “layer after layer”. “Nothing is ever discontinued because all these designs are timeless. These are products that appreciate with time; like a Hermes bag. You use it and then pass it on as an heirloom; that’s the journey of our products,” he concludes. 

Eternal Series II is priced upwards of ₹2 lakh and is available in-stores and online