Cool and quirky marks the Tiger Marrón X Nitya Arora collaboration collection of bags. Titled ‘Tiger Fish’, the range includes a variety — from belt, bags to minis and totes. Tiger Marrón is a luxury fashion house specialising in leather fashion accessories and home accessories and was founded by Saahil Tiger Nandrajog in 2017. A chat with Nitya on the collection.

The bags look so functional. Can you tell us about your experience of designing them? What was the most exciting part?

I’m inspired by my life and myself when I design. So I design and create based on what I love, where I am, how I’m feeling, what serves me and would use/carry all the time. I’m constantly on the move, I work a lot on my mobile phone and it seemed like a very important function to have an external phone pocket in my purse, which I don’t often see in handbags but it seems like an obvious design solution, so I decided to create it. I had a ball designing them because it’s a piece of fantasy. I spent so much time on the beach, it’s my happy place and I imagined translating it into design in my studio, which is my other happy place. I think creating the series of shell bags was the most exciting part, especially when you see the first sample, it’s like seeing your newborn baby’s face for the first time and it’s not quite what it will eventually look like but it’s yours and you made it and it’s so cute!

Plus, Saahil is so great to work with, he gave me all the freedom I wanted, which is a creator’s dream. He supported my ideas and processes and his energy is so positive and great. I learnt a lot from him because he’s very passionate about what he does and is very good at it. He was always so particular about the tiniest details like the finish, the quality of leather, the durability, the findings etc. I was excited to go into every meeting because we were on the same page.

I designed my first collection of bags at fashion school and made them with my own hands. I created my first proper collection sometime in 2013 for my brand Valliyan. They were Japanese-inspired pure leather handbags that I showed at Lakme India Fashion Week. But I think it was too ahead of its time and the market wasn’t ready then. No one in the country was doing designer handbags back then. Now the time is perfect and the market is ripe and more Indian brands are making designer handbags.

We are also loving the gender fluid part of it! Tell us more...

I’ve grown up in the fashion industry where the men are more stylish and adventurous than the women, so I’m surrounded by fashionable men, both friends and colleagues, like Gaurav Gupta, Parmesh Shahani, Dhruv Kapoor... who all carry the most amazing handbags and wear the best jewellery. It was very natural for me to have Malkiyat (the male model), who is so stylish himself, be a part of the campaign shoot.

What are your personal favourites when it comes to bags?

It keeps changing. Right now, I’m really into Loewe, Balenciaga, and Bottega (Veneta).

Are you a big bag person?

Absolutely! I’m a big accessories person in general.

What are we most likely to find in your bag?

Jewellery, lip balm, sunglasses, wallet, keys, battery pack and charger, phone, a pen and a notebook.

What makes Nitya Arora a perfect fit for the collaboration?

Nitya appreciated how we function, furthermore, in the early stages of designing, Nitya physically went to look at materials with me and my sourcing team. Seeing her be a person who keeps her ear to the ground like me gave me a lot of confidence.

Additionally, about two years ago, we became friends. Our conversations were design centric, seeing her passion and aptitude in this realm, I enthusiastically decided to give her a platform to express her research and join the Tiger Marrón family. It’s been a pleasure working with her and I have enjoyed our journey.

Parameters and requisites set by me with respect to design engineering, feasibility and materials were taken very well by her, and in turn I wanted her to have as much freedom as possible when it came to bringing the pieces to life.

Ultimately our collaboration was the perfect amalgamation of creativity and experience, we wanted the pieces to be beautiful, yet durable, novel yet perfectly engineered, and they absolutely are. Her designs are generated from her heart and she loves each of our creations personally. We also paid heed to one another and trusted each other’s approach. All of this and some sugar and spice and voila, you have the Tiger Fish Collection. — Saahil Tiger Nandrajog, founder, Tiger Marrón