As South Asian designs and clothes become more mainstream (Ed Sheeran just wore a custom Manish Malhotra sherwani in Mumbai!), older traditional textile art forms are not as common. We spoke with Nikita Shah, a Kalamkari textile artist and founder of Untitle by Nikita about her journey into learning Kalamkari work, and how she’s continuing to inspire South Asian artists in the U.S.

Nikita grew up with a single mother in Mumbai, and at a young age, was interested in traditional Indian textiles and artistry. She dove deeper into textiles when she completed her undergraduate degree from NIFT in India, and worked closely with a textile community in Madhya Pradesh. She spent five months living with the community learning handloom work and Nikita felt truly at home. Experiencing a tight-knit community meant that traditions and community rituals were a way of life and made her desire to continue delving deeper into the textile art form.

Since her time living within the rural Madhya Pradesh community, Nikita has lived in more than 14 different artisan communities to learn the techniques they use to create and innovate contemporary textiles. Through her journey, Nikita felt like Kalamkari work was true to her and helped create a balance between innovation and tradition.

“How do you create a balance? So, in the end through that journey, I came to Kalamkari, which I felt for my own artistic expression, it was the perfect kind of conversation between art and textile traditions.”

Nikita’s parents were very supportive of her interest in textiles, and were open minded about whichever career Nikita wanted to pursue, which she credits to allowing her to live within these communities. Nikita fell in love with textiles as she saw her mother wearing handloom and cotton clothing on an everyday basis, and taking the time to starch and iron each of her crafted pieces, where most other women were wearing polyester.

When Nikita came to FIT with a suitcase full of fabrics, she wanted to push the boundaries on what she could create. She worked with her professors to use Indian fabrics and textiles to create projects they were assigning, and started creating modern clothing using hand loomed textiles for an audience living in the west, because she wanted to break the association that hand loomed textiles had: that handlooms were only for weddings and festivals!

“My professor would be, ‘You need to buy fabric that’s 80 inches of width, and I’m like ‘No, the handloom can’t take 80 inches, it can only take 40 inches, so tell me how do I get that silhouette in an ikat?’ which was I guess kind of frustrating for them initially, but then a challenge that we both enjoyed.”

As she became more integrated within the South Asian and fashion community in New York, Nikita learned that people’s association of Indian clothing was limited mainly to Bollywood, even within the South Asian community. She started consulting with Nest, one of the world’s largest NGO that works with textiles and crafts from across the world, and realized that brands and consumers need this expansion and knowledge.

Untitle by Nikita is Nikita’s brand, and she describes it as a form of creative expression that allows her to explore hand crafted textiles. She wanted to create high end clothing that people could wear on an everyday basis, and currently designs and creates custom pieces.

“People will spend so much money on a wedding lehenga that they wear for four hours, but people are not willing to spend money on something that they want to wear and that’s close to their skin a lot more in their life.”

For Nikita, it’s a way to help foster people to change their mindset about where they’re putting their money. She explains that self-expression through clothing is incredibly helpful to be grounded to our ancestors and land, and that directly correlates to the types of clothing we seek out and shop. Several of her pieces are reversible, investment pieces that blend Eastern craftsmanship with Western silhouettes.

Nikita also aims to change the ideal around fast-fashion in the Indian clothing industry, especially for everyday wear. She explains how finding your own style can help you figure out what pieces you want to invest in, and the fabrics you feel the most comfortable in. In a world where South Asian Americans and even Indians living in India tend to splurge on one-time outfits for weddings or events, Nikita’s goal is to bring back cultural textiles and traditional wear in a modern sustainable way to bridge the gap between both groups.

Follow Nikita on socials:

Instagram: @untitlebynikita

Nikita’s mentor into Kalamkari:

KalamCreations by Mamata Reddy

@kalamcreationsofficial

Organizations mentioned:

Nest: www.buildanest.org