Shilpa Jhaveri is a Fine Arts graduate who moved into textiles purely by chance. She explains: "My mother wanted me to design some embroidery for her sarees which I did. These sarees were liked by her friends and cousins, so I began designing for them. Slowly it got me busy the whole day, so I thought, why not make a career of it?" Her pure Kota sarees with simple but exquisite embroidery are very appealing. Now, of course, her Saaz Creations have expanded to include a vast range of stitched garments as well as those she designs in consultation with her clients. Shilpa has a large variety of traditional and contemporary embroidery designs that are all executed by her talented embroiderers who work from her home under her supervision. She does both hand, machine as well as "khatla" (zardosi, tikki, etc.) embroidery. She designs entire trousseaus, bride and groom co-ordinates for the various ceremonies, men’s kurta ensembles (complete with angvastram), embroidered blouses, ghaghra-cholis, Indo-Western outfits, kurti-pant and salwar-kurta sets, all of which are tailored to her specifications. Her skill with the paintbrush comes to the fore when she hand-paints motifs on her Indo-Westerns as well as her printed sarees, and this marks them out as truly exclusive. Shilpa also specialises in sarees that are dyed, hand-printed (and then painted over, especially the shaded parts) in desi Tussar, silk, crepe de chine and chiffons. Her Indo-Westerns are mostly done in crepe and linen. Shilpa also experiments with different textile materials and her latest find is a unique jute-blend fabric that looks good and falls well and in which she has crafted some stylish Indo-Western tops.

A major part of Shilpa’s clientele comprises NRIs, especially in the UK, USA and Canada. She is planning to visit the USA this May-June and is interested in collaborating with local boutiques, garment stores and entrepreneurs on the East and West Coasts to hold Exhibition-Sales during the duration of her stay and for long-term business relationships in the future. Those interested may please e-mail her before March 31, 2005.

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