Last year, the challenge presented to participating designers was to take inspiration from local crafts, such as sheetol pati, shokher hari, shondesh, and paper craft, to name a few. This year, the challenge thrown to the (larger) pool of designers is a list of nine heritage sites. Over the next few weeks, we'll take a closer look at the sites as well as the designers taking inspiration from them.
This week, we start with the graceful columns and sublime facade of the Baliati zaminder bari selected by Lipi Khandaker of Bibiana, and Shaibal Shaha of Indigo.
Lipi Khandaker
This year, Bibiana celebrates fifteen years of operation. Fashion designer and Charukola alumnus Lipi Khandaker's brain child has grown from a modest boutique specialising in local ethnic fashion to a chain of outlets mostly in Dhaka, but also maintaining presence in Sylhet and Chittagong.
Working with almost 15,000 artisans, Lipi Khandaker's designs start right at the hands of weavers, spinning yarn into beautiful canvases for her artistry. With a muse as elegant as the Baliati palace, Lipi Khandaker has her work cut out for her.
Shaibal Shaha
Back in 1995, designer Shaibal Shaha, who loves travelling, made his way to a festival in Germany, where he saw an indigo stall. The colour impacted him in such a profound way that he came back,
and in 2012 launched his design outlet Indigo. As the name suggests, the colour blue features prominently in his work, and restricting himself to this one colour has forced him to be really creative with his designs.
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