Amrich a textile and clothing label from Delhi, India, is a labour of love of RICHARD Pandav & AMIT Vijaya, two graduates of the renowned National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, India.

Richard Pandav, having graduated with a degree in Information Technology with Computer Applications, pursued his passion with a post-graduation in Apparel Design and Merchandising faculty at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He interned with one of India’s leading fashion designers – Anamika Khanna.

Amit Vijaya, a science graduate, turned to art ushering in digital graphic designing and printing in Kolkata. Creating promotional material for his clients in the textile and fashion fields, inspired him to using textiles as a creative output and led him to study Textile Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

Beliefs / Philosophy / Practices – “Hand-crafted Luxury”

Even though they have a part to play in the big bad capitalist world of Fashion, the designers firmly believe that customers should be made aware to “buy less but buy better”. Although the clothing lines are presented seasonally, they take extra care to create pieces of hand-crafted luxury that are timeless and global in appeal and can be worn for years to come. Special attention is paid to the life of each and every product and its quality from the natural fabrics used to the finishing and tailoring.

The fabrics developed by the company through their artisan partners come from across India and their tailoring is all done at the workshop in Delhi. Mass production is not something that appeals to the designers. From the surface treatments signature to the label to the garments, all are created in small batches. The finishing of each garment is done using various hand skills from the hemming to the button fastenings.  Some pieces patterned with the art of their signature shibori techniques may also be created as one-of-a-kind.

Each and every Amrich product is a statement to the luxury of being loved and cared for by a number of people from their creators to the end consumers.

Their signature technique - SHIBORI

The designers have been working with and reinventing their shibori techniques for about two decades. The shibori dyeing that the label is renowned for is done in their Delhi workshop. The technique is a labour of love for the designers themselves and they love the thrill of creating new patterns through this wonderful art form. Initial samples of the shibori patterns are done by the designers themselves and artisans in the studio have been taught the various resist techniques over a period of time and have become quite adept at the many intricacies of this technique. The dyeing of the natural fabrics are done using AZO free dyes or natural dyes and special care is taken for the processes to be as conscious about the environment as possible.

The technique of shibori with its deep resource of texturing and patterning is a constant inspiration for the designers and they tend to incorporate this in the other techniques that the label is known for – from the space-dyed and ikat textiles, to the hand-embroideries and the block prints that they offer season to season.

Conscious Design Practices / Sustaining livelihoods

India is a repository of traditional craft practices that play a big part in community building from the rural sectors to the urban areas. At Amrich we pride ourselves of our ethical business practices which have helped build successful and sustaining relationships with artisans from across India over the years. We work closely with our more than hundred and fifty artisan partners season upon season to develop natural textiles from yarn to fabric. Drawing from heritage skill sets and traditional craft techniques, we work tirelessly to add novelty in the construction and quality of our textiles.

We respect and adore the rich multitude of traditional techniques that our country (India) has to offer. Our passion drives us to study these techniques to stay true to our ethics by adding our own design interventions to create new avatars of traditional textiles. This in turn allows the artisan partners to keep updating their skills and also introduces them to new design vocabularies. This helps them to widen their client base and improve their livelihoods.

Apart from the craftspeople who they support through the label, the designers also provide design and marketing intervention to craft clusters and organizations from across the country in the form of projects and collaborations. This is something they constantly engage in as it’s mutually beneficial for their own personal growth and the growth of the artisans through the knowledge and skill that is shared.