Bhubaneswar:Raksha Bandhan festival, since ages, has been an occasion to celebrate sibling love. Whether it’s a bond between a brother and a sister or two sisters or two brothers, the festival is all about loving, caring and protecting each other irrespective of gender, age and tradition.
However, the pandemic is set to dampen the spirit of the celebration with shops selling ‘rakhis’ are yet to put up their stalls. Expectedly, many families are planning to give the festival a miss given the situation the country is facing. But well known fashion designer Reemly Mohanty thinks otherwise. She has come up with an idea to make rakhis using handloom fabrics and deliver them to the customers online.
Speaking on her unique idea, she says, “A couple of weeks back I was searching online for some designer rakhis for my brother but couldn’t find anything of my choice as most of them looked old fashioned. It made me think to make my own designs which would look classy, attractive and at the same time it shouldn’t hurt the pocket much. Therefore, I zeroed in on ikat fabric to make my rakhis which was perfect for my purpose. I kept the designs simple and elegant and that worked. So far, I have delivered more than 1,000 pieces of rakhis across the country.”
Making money by selling rakhis was not her motto, says Reemly. “ I want to promote Odissi handloom in the country through these ‘threads of love’ made from ikat fabric,” adds the designer. Her team is also home delivering these traditional rakhis in the city, it was learnt.
Reemly claims that she is the only designer in the state to sell ikat rakhis. Apart from offering more options to the buyers, she is also helping her team to survive in these dark hours, she says.“My workshop remained closed for several months following the outbreak and the workers left for home. However, they soon wanted to return and work after failing to find any source of earning at their villages.
“I was not in a position to run my boutique as orders had stopped coming. Left with no choice, I first started making designer handloom masks and now ikat rakhis. I am happy that the workers are now earning something to survive. I hope, things will change for the better if we can hang on,” says the designer.
Ikat fabric has always been popular for its distinctive elegance, says Arta Ranjan Mohapatra, the marketing manager of Boyanika.The global fashion has always looked up to ikat, therefore, I hope these rakhis will certainly catch the fancy of customers, he adds.
Chaitali Shome,OP
