Suta Bombay, the artisanal brand synonymous with lovely saris, perfect for everyday wear, workwear or occasionwear, finally opens doors to an address in the City of Joy. It is located in the heart of south Calcutta, on Rashbehari Avenue. So, what took the sister duo --Taniya and Sujata Biswas--- so long to bring this to their Calcutta loyalists? “We wanted to be here since the day we started and hence we opened an office here. Since we did not have a lot of money to spend, we opened a warehouse first, where people actually came all the way to buy, and then we opened a temporary store to see the response and it was crazy amazing. We have been planning on this perfect spot and it also had to make sense. We needed a lot of space and we did not want to spend a lot of money unnecessarily to be present in a mall. Most of it is done by our own people. We love Calcutta. The vibe, smelling the food, looking at the people, the adda culture… we have never lived here but whenever we could, we came here. It holds a special place in our hearts. Now it is permanent,” say, Taniya and Sujata, who started the brand back in 2016 and have expanded across India. The Calcutta launch marked their fourth store.
Sujata and Taniya sport a summer-apt pastel palette in their cotton zari and screen-printed saris. Who is a Suta woman? “When we opened for the first time, during the initial months we used to open our notebooks and write this. What the Suta person is like? We think the Suta person is very confident in their own skin, is not scared to show the whole world who they are and not pretend to be someone else and not scared of taking decisions. They do not change their decision based on someone saying they don’t look good in something. They know what they want and what the skin feels good in,” they say,
Both sisters have an MBA degree. Their creative streak comes from their mother. “Bangaliana is deeply rooted inside us. That is how our parents wanted us to grow up. We belonged to a lower-middle-class family. So, ma made sure we don’t look at clothes like something that comes home new during every festival. She would make sure we think differently. She used to collect fabrics from weavers or local stores and tell us to think about a design that we want. Did we want puff sleeves or full sleeves? She would then get it made accordingly. She used to ask us to get involved in the design. She was very creative and both of us love designing since childhood. We both know how to paint and stitch. We had a basic understanding of it and we loved textiles. Marrying design and management is what made our journey easy,” they say.
Their aim with Suta is to bring comfortable, easy-to-drape and affordable saris to people.”The corporate structure helped us understand how it works. But we noticed there are many women who want to look beautiful, stylish, feminine and Indian. That is when we realised there is a huge gap. People wanted that attire but did not get it anywhere and hence Suta is also influenced by that. It is mostly like what every girl is like. I cannot think of the same thing every day. If I like a tie- and-dye, I would also like a jamdani or a kantha or different art forms that are deeply rooted here. Since we travelled a lot due to baba’s transferable job, we also saw a lot of art and craft with our own eyes, we touched and felt it. That is very deeply rooted in Suta. Suta has a deep touch of Bengal, but also very global in how we design our clothes,” add the sister duo.
Beauty lies in simplicity they feel. “Working with a lot of weavers was one of the visions, we did that but we made sure that we reduce the design element a little bit because it becomes unaffordable otherwise. Our plain mul mul is a signature and people love it. In the beginning, our relatives and mom used to tell us who buys these, “Nyata kapor...tomader dekhtey bhalo lagchhey but key porbey egulo?” (Both of you are looking good but who else will wear them),” say the sisters.
What awaits the Calcutta people at the new store? “We are bringing Calcutta to Calcutta because West Bengal has a lot of art and craft and we will make sure that we will have a celebration of it in our designs. We are also bringing a lot of contemporary saris at a unique price. We have a section of discounted saris and many one-of-a-kind things. The art forms which we couldn’t bring online... those we will do and a lot of men’s and kidswear. Menswear is exclusive to the store. We will also display brass jewellery, which we started making but couldn’t make in volumes. So that is only available in stores now,” they smile.