The Flouna Hastakala collection of JD Design Awards 2022 was presented by C. S Reethu Rekha and Preeti Pragyan Hota from B.SC FAD. Their collection was derived from Fauna, Flora and Hastakala (Sanskrit word for handcraft). Their aim is to inspire a community of an art called Pattachitra with the help of handcraft. Pattachitra is an art that is practised in a small village named Raghurajpur in Odisha. Pattachitra is recognized for its mythological inscription. The designers chose a fanciful flora and fauna border of vibrant shade that is hidden on black Indus valley drapes with a western twist, to create a creative and edgy party wear collection.

The art is entirely handmade and only natural products are used. The art makers extract around 130 colours from six primary colours. The primary colours are extracted from the natural products like turmeric, charcoal, coconut husk, says the designers. According to them, they feel that their inspiration has direct relation with the theme of JD Design Awards as the processes involved in making this art is sustainable and the materials used to make this art is sourced from nature. The task for them was printing and how are they going to bring their inspiration into the garment. Their collection is for Spring Summer. The designers say that they were in a dilemma whether they should come up with the same design that the community does or to come up with something unique and new.
For them to work on Hindu inscription in their garment was not possible so they choose to work on Flora and Fauna print as Pattachitra is also commonly known for it and as it adds beauty to their collection as well as their painting and this is their market gap. The designer’s collection is of Indo-western party wear which will be a common platform for all. The ideology behind choosing this theme according to them is one of the designers is from Odisha and she is very well aware of the art and her family also suggested this art to her. She then discussed this art with her other partner as she also felt this art to be interesting, they both decided to work on it. They visited Odisha and stayed there for a few days to get the hand painting done in the fabric. Hand Painting the art in the fabric took a lot of time and the investment is more, says the designers. The designers try to convey the speciality and importance of Pattachitra through their collections and their aim is to make the people aware about the art.

Collection