Filmmaker Payal Kapadia carried a piece of Kolkata with her when she walked onto the stage at Cannes 2024 to receive the Grand Prix Award for All We Imagine As Light on May 25. She was wearing an outfit that was exclusively crafted for her by Kolkata-based artisanal clothing brand Maku Textiles in less than a week.

The Telegraph Online recently caught up with Maku Textiles founder-director Santanu Das, an alumni of National Institute of Design, to know the thoughts and craftsmanship that went into Payal’s outfit.

The Telegraph Online: What was your first thought when you came to know that Payal Kapadia wore an outfit designed by you to receive her Grand Prix Award at the Cannes 2024?

Santanu Das: We are part of history now. It was a very special moment. We understood her achievement is going to live forever and with that we will also be attached to her. I wrote to Payal just after I got to know about her Cannes win. It’s wonderful.

Did you know Payal Kapadia before she ordered the outfit from you? How did she come to know about Maku Textiles?

Santanu Das: No, I didn’t know her before that. Maybe that’s because I am not very social and prefer to live in a cocoon.

I don’t know how her team got in touch with me. Things happened very fast. We had to finish the outfit and deliver it in less than a week. I had to send it to Mumbai, and the last person from her team travelling to Cannes hand-carried the outfit.

Could you decode Payal’s Cannes outfit for us.

Santanu Das: We had two pieces — a jacket and a sleeveless silk dress. She wore the jacket at the screening, but it was designed in such a way that you could see the dress from the front. While collecting the award, Payal wanted to open the jacket.

When we were talking about the outfit, Payal wanted something blue and I had something black — but not very black, black. Our signature colour is indigo, so we created a different tonality of black indigo. We also considered that it could be an emotional as well as a vulnerable moment for her and that’s why I wanted her to feel guarded in our design. We talked about how the design needs to be ironed and what earrings would go with it.

Did you speak to Payal to understand how she actually wanted to present herself on the big stage?

Santanu Das: Oh, yeah, we talked a couple of times. We had a long call where we discussed how to go about the styling. We tried to understand what she generally wears and what she would feel comfortable in as we didn’t want to impose anything on her. We were very aware that she is a film director. She is from the creative world, so anything she wears must match her personality.

You are into artisanal fashion. How do you elaborate on it?

Santanu Das: It’s a segment, which isn’t open and big. This specific segment has only a handful of people coming up with handmade signature designs but in a small batch. We do everything by our hand, making it part of a sustainable network. We mix our identity with the neutral cloth to add character to it.

Your label is made in Kolkata and was founded in 2012 but your focus has always been international…

Santanu Das: Our focus has always been on international sales and curation. We want to invest in developing new things. We are present in Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, the US, Europe, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Stores buy our clothes and then sell them.

In Kolkata, we have an atelier-cum-factory for people who are too keen to visit. We invite them by appointment. Our team comprises 60 people. We have 200 weavers from West Bengal, and our fabric is handwoven. We do everything such as fabrication, stitching and merchandising in Kolkata.

But some people love your work in India…

Santanu Das: I don't know if anyone in Kolkata knows about Maku Textiles. A few people in Mumbai and Delhi know about us. More than actresses, we get filmmakers, cinematographers and art directors as clients. Anvita Dutt (creator of Bulbbul, Qala) has all my saris. Meenal Agarwal (production director), Konkona Sen Sharma, Tillotama Shome and Dia Mirza wear Maku Textiles. Anushka Sharma also visited our Kolkata studio while shooting for Pari. Both Anvita and Anushka came to know about us from Meenal.