Benarasi maven, designer Pinki Sinha is opening doors to her first flagship store today at Queens Park, Ballygunge. Her brand, Vishwa by Pinki Sinha which completes a decade this year is now no longer only about Benarasis. Its first physical store opens as a luxurious textile hub, with Benarasi taking centre stage, of course.
t2 was welcomed at Vishwa’s 1,000sq ft new store for an exclusive preview by Pinki, along with her daughter Vanisha Agarwal. With a new store, Pinki’s passion project, Vishwa, gets a spin, with daughter Vanisha joining her as the business head of the brand.
“Our main idea of opening this place is to make it a luxurious textile den. Her (Pinki) brand has always been known for luxurious Benarasi weaves. People have always loved us for that but we want to incorporate different textiles now, like patan, Kanjeevaram from Kanchipuram and bandhani from Jaipur. Our main mission is to bring these textiles in a luxurious form to Calcutta, as people who shop from us don’t come for Benarasi only, they can come for other textiles also,” said Vanisha, who recently completed her business degree from London Business School.
Pinki, who looked extremely happy to have her daughter by her side in a business that she has passionately built over the last 10 years, said: “I have loved Benarasi and Benarasi still remains my first love. I used to always incorporate other textiles into Benarasi. But when my daughter told me that she wanted to make it a house of textile I was rather excited because it was going to be a complete experience for our clients. We are designers, and we are doing our work, but to promote the weavers is to promote our art and culture. There will be different art and culture in one den, so I am very excited about it.”
Explaining her role at Vishwa, Vanisha said: “My mother has started our brand and she definitely will spearhead it. She continues to be the designer for the brand, but after studying at London Business School, I thought I could bring the business perspective that was required for the brand to take it to the next level. I thought her design sensibilities combined with my management skills would help this brand.” Explaining her choice of joining the brand leaving behind the prospect of a career abroad, she said: “This is the 10th year of the brand and I have always seen her work on it. After completing my Masters, I felt that fashion is something I really enjoy. Seeing the luxury brands open and having worked on some bullet projects there, I thought why not open our own homegrown luxury brand for the world.”
The shared responsibility definitely makes it easy for Pinki to focus on the designs better. Talking about the same and giving a peek into the display, she said: “With Vanisha handling the business part, I can now totally concentrate on the design part. The brand has been known for its Indianwear, so the silhouettes are going to be Indian in other textiles as well that we have introduced. We have Indian with contemporary as well. Indianwear will especially be our focus during the festive and wedding season, but in December, we will experiment with some pantsuits too. Our display will have designs as per the trends and seasons.”
Talking about her business perspective in impacting the clientele of the brand, Vanisha said: “Now that we have a physical presence, we are definitely expecting clients from most parts of India to reach us. In the future, we want to open the store in different parts of India. But our presence at the multi-designer stores remains as it is.”
A t2 walkthrough of this new fashion den:
The Benarasi section showcases lots of motifs, starting from the traditional jaal to the more contemporary geometric. There are different silhouettes, too, like lehnga, kurtas and saris.
“We have tried to give a homely touch to the place. Generally, people shop for their weddings and festivities from us, and families are at the centre of such occasions, so we wanted to make it homely and give a relaxed and peaceful setting,” said Vanisha.
“For me, Kanjeevaram totally resonates with Rekha, and when I was curating the Kanjeevaram collection with the weavers, I told them that I want the collection that Rekha wears. She does it so gracefully,” said Pinki about her Kanjeevaram display, featuring silver, copper and golden zari work and tone-on-tone colours.
Pinki with daughter Vanisha
A t2 shoot with Pinki’s Benarasi saris from the new collection housed at the store
This Paithani sari in an ombre orange shade has buta work all over and is designed with dainty lotus and ashrafi motifs on its broad zari border.
The orange tone and motifs give a festive vibe to it.
A metallic sari is an easy pick for the Diwali night party. This multi-tonal metallic drape is perfect for channelling glam for a party night.
This unique Benarasi sari is Pinki’s ode to Calcutta. The Royal Bengal Tiger motif is woven in a regal liquid gold finish. Contemporary and ohso- royal!
What: Vishwa by Pinki Sinha Flagship Store
Where: 8C Queens Park, ground floor (next to Birla Mandir)
Timing: 11.30am to 6.30pm