Session 104 summary
Anuj went to study at NID in 1996 and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a designer. Design for him was one of the possibilities which was suggested by his friend to go and do it because he could draw well. But on actually reaching NID he realised that there were so many people who could draw better than him and he realised that it was pointless and eventually he came to a conclusion many years later that one doesn’t need to draw well to be a designer. For most of the design that one does there needs to be an inspiration. For him the inspiration was largely from his own upbringing from Rajasthan. Rajasthan is a state which allows one to understand the resources, and play with them very carefully. So, he has seen actual conservation of resources right from his childhood, not from just that but every other place faces these lack of resources. His inspiration for most of his works comes from Rajasthan or his own laziness which he says that “it can be good if put into the right direction”. He always wanted to do things which are faster, quicker, cheaper and safer. Button masala was one of such collection which he did.
After NID, he went through many things, later he started doing Lakme Fashion Week and that was when the actual fashion design work for him started because before that he was working with the craft sector, teaching in various places but when he started doing fashion shows he had to come up with new concepts and new collections which really got him into looking at design in a very different direction because till then he was just helping people do embroidery works in villages and simple good looking garments and he used to wonder why he was doing it. He too wanted to help the craftsmen but he also knew that the craft cannot really help them. He believes one cannot help the draftsmen as a designer because design is about 35 yrs. old in India and craft is about 2000 yrs. old. So, more or less he wasn’t really sure where he was going but he also does not questioned the space and time what was happening – if it is happening naturally he stays happy, keeps following it and it eventually shows the way. So, every situation leads to another situation, if not questioned too much one will reach a path. So Anuj is not a big questioner or a person who questions too much around or says what is happening with him, is he going in the right direction, if his life is right or wrong etc. Button Masala was one of the collections which he did in his sixth Lakme collection. One of the posters Anuj did for the Button Masala collection and he did it as a Lakme show. It all began when he once saw a man buttoning his shirt wrong, if the shirt is buttoned wrong then there is a gap and that gap looks like a mistake. So, he thought what would happen when there are many buttons and many button holes, that would make it into a pattern and there would be many mistakes which would create patterns. He believed if a mistake done alone, it is a problem but done in a group or as a whole then it becomes a festival. So he put buttons on a piece of fabric every two inch and he put buttonholes in every two inch on a strap – he was simply looking at the combination of that. He didn’t know what was going to happen. He asked one of his tailors to put buttons and buttonholes on straps like that. Once the fabric was ready he hung the fabric on the dress-form and with the change in button and buttonholes he could shift the garment up and down. That became the basic concept. He tried another piece where the buttons were put more properly, hence the distance and gaps were done properly so it was a more accurate piece compared to the first one. At first he used single buttonholes which would change the garment into various forms creating different pieces, then he started using them separately other than the bigger strap, with the help of those he could change the garment in a different way. Once that was done he knew that it was possible so he picked up a nice fabric which was thicker and heavier, and built a collection. He picked up 3-4 colours, one single size of button and he started making the collection. When Anuj went for the fashion week he asked the models to change the garment but they all refused saying, “we can’t do this”, “You are the designer”, “What if it doesn’t look good” but Anuj encouraged them saying not to worry and go ahead and change it, he is ok whatever happens. But they were very scared, they didn’t want to change and that is when he realised that it is not the design that needs to be changed, it is the mind-set which is the problem. One cannot keep changing the designs, one cannot keep changing the objects or the processes but one needs to change their mind-set. If someone is changing something, they must look into the eventual change in the mind-set and behaviour of the people through the design, the product or the object they are introducing in the world. So, even if one is bringing in food then what is it going to do after people eat it? What everyone hopes is that after someone eats the food they become happier and then their happy behaviour will transfer to other people as happiness. When somebody wears good clothes what is expected by them to do? It is expected of them to behave well after that. But most of the designers design clothes on the basis of how people look, it has nothing to do with what happens after they wear the clothes and that is quite a problem.
For the Button Masala Collection Anuj won many awards. They are very simple straightforward garments, he didn’t do anything fancy for the fashion show – just a straightforward simple collection. After the show he went back to Ahmedabad and he was invited to do a shoot with two pieces of fabric and few straps, he made about 18 garments in an hour. The reason that these garments happened is not because one is imagining the garment but one is actually helping the material tell what it wants to become. His philosophy is that he doesn’t pre-plan a garment ever – he has never drawn a garment, he has never imagined a garment. He has always taken the fabric in his hand put the buttons and let the fabric tell him what it wants to become. When he was going for the shoot he had no idea what he was going to make, all he did was ironing the fabric very well, when the fabric was ironed it was happy and when it is happy it is going to tell the designer what it wants to become. All the drapes were done unplanned and within 3 minutes, so it is one of the fastest system in the world. After returning from the shoot he pondered; “what can he do? How can he use the technique in the craft sector?” To these questions he came up with ideas such as; what if embroidery can be done along? So, craftsmen can make a bag which can be converted into a skirt. So he took a batik fabric and started converting the batik piece into another bag, cushion cover and garments. Somewhere in the last process there is a rubber band there – while he was shooting he had a rubber band in his hand and he knew that nobody is going to see the picture of the back, so he thought that instead of attaching the buttons with the buttonholes, what if he can just use the rubber band. Moving forward with that, the process of tying with the rubber band happened very fast which amazed him that it saves a lot of time. So, he thought why not let him try? He realised that he can save a lot of money and time if he didn’t have to make the straps with buttonholes. Going forward with this idea, while trying with rubber bands and buttons, he soon realised that he can actually tie the buttons inside the fabric with a rubber band. So, it eventually converted from being buttons + buttonholes to buttons that could be put inside the fabric and the rubber bands would tie it and the same rubber band will hold the fabric and the buttons together. One can also attach one button to the other with a rubber band. It was a very simple and he started using that largely, the only thing here to notice is that design actually really tries to make one stubborn it tells: “Wow what a great idea Button Masala”, and if Anuj had gotten stuck there then he would’ve never tried another technique. Hence, if one is not stubborn and there is an opportunity that comes to them then they should try it out, sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t. But Anuj thinks, one of the biggest problem with design is ego – the only thing which stops design from moving ahead is the thing that gives its designers in the biggest number which is the quantity (ego) and that is actually a very big problem. Anuj always believed that designers, if they can learn to leave the ego aside they have so much more that can happen with them and they can start seeing so much more because design doesn’t really have to be done, it exists but because of the ego designers are unable to see it, all the drapes exists in the garments/fabric, so one doesn’t really have to create it, it is just there, they just have to hang it on the body and it will happen.
Anuj started exploring with cotton and trying out the fabric which existed with him. Then he started knits and jersey. Then he started looking at checks because checks gave him the freedom of avoiding marking. Then waste fabrics, gamchas and then he thought of trying a little bit of menswear. He started looking at the possibility of attaching fabric to the buttons of the shirt itself he started looking at the shawls as a possibility. Then he started looking at the kids wear.
Someone had asked Anuj to do an art piece which he accepted. But for an art piece he could not change the fabric instead he thought of using the buttons differently. For this he started looking at the 3D buttons and then various objects started coming into the play e.g. plastic balls, plastic cups, balloons, etc. then he started making the pieces quickly. Since it was originally a fast technique, so he was able to actually create a 3 dimensional structures very quickly. He started looking at how those buttons can be in pieces, as earlier they were just embellishments. One can actually create a turban “pagadi” which initially used 5-10 meters of fabric, with a smaller size but still get the height and air. So, someone can actually build an environment around with the help of those. Later he was also looking at toys like rattle and displays for that they focused at doing 3D structures for some time. He was also invited by Fashion Week, Delhi to do an installation. He began the installation with plastic, bulbs, pipes, bangles, etc. then someone said that they wanted to use metal with it and Anuj tried metal too. By using metal a person can actually carry all their boxes in their clothes while traveling.
They also looked at: dance costumes, sound based garments, design of garments for the military i.e. bulletproof garments, attaching different objects to the garment, they made a boat for themselves where one can actually float and they experimented with many more things. One can add button masala to any structure, even bags which are weight bearing bags not just good looking bags. They also started doing a lot of foot wears, they designed it in such a way that the shoe remains the same but different fabrics can be attached to it. For interiors, they do a lot of furniture and curtains (curtains with light), lamps, and furniture.
Anuj has also done a lot of workshops, teaching people the art of Button Masala. Apart from that they have various students across the country, with whom during the pandemic they did a lot of projects and a lot of online internships. The workshops which they did focused on making clothes, toys, bags, upcycling and recycling garments.
About the Speaker
Anuj Sharma
He is a fashion designer, synonymous with Button Masala – a simple but innovative method of constructing garments and products. Anuj Sharma works mainly in the areas of craft development and sustainability. His other areas of interest include teaching fashion and understanding human behaviour with the help of fashion. Anuj is a regular in Lakme Fashion Week, Mumbai and he has also showcased his collections overseas in countries like Japan, UK, Sweden, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Anuj did his Post graduation in Apparel Design from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and Masters in High Performance Sportswear Design at the University of Dabi, UK under the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship in 2002. Anuj has come up with a unique method of constructing clothes without any machine, tools or stitches which he calls Button Masala. This method has led to Button Masala Collection which has been shown internationally at various platforms and has been a part of travelling exhibition, connecting concepts by Dutch Design DFA and part of the exhibition Blitz at the Taiwan Design Expo 2011. Button Masala was selected as one of the top 10 most sustainable projects in the open category by the State Of Fashion, Holland and the work was exhibited in Arnhem, Holland. Levis, India has also earlier collaborated with Button Masala to come up with signature pieces using this technique. Anuj has taught this method to over 40,000 people across various countries namely – Holland, Sweden, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Uganda, Denmark, Bangladesh, France and India through various works and projects.
