Odia Boy Awarded For Taking Odisha Handloom To The World

Odia Boy Awarded For Taking Odisha Handloom To The World

The handloom of Odisha is no alien to handloom lovers across the globe. Its fame has reached far and wide and has seen it flourish on a global stage. In yet another proud moment for Odisha, Sujit Meher, a Bengaluru based Odia designer has branded Odia handloom at the international level. For his promotion of the exquisite handlooms, he has been awarded with the ‘Best Designer For Social Impact’ award by Star India recently. My City Links got into a candid chat with the awardee.

“This award is given to people who are doing something worthwhile in any field of art, science, literature, medicine or social work which benefits the society in some way. Any work that impacts the society positively as a whole,” informed Sujit. “I have been awarded for promoting the handloom, textile and designs of rural Odisha,” he added.

After graduating from NIFT in 2013, Sujit took a keen interest in the work of the artisans and weavers of Odisha and wished to represent their work at an international level in a way that they could be benefitted. Belonging to the Meher community, who are basically the creators of handloom, he takes it upon himself to take the tradition of his forefathers ahead. “Mehers are confined mostly to western Odisha and being a son of this community, I aim to take handloom to a top notch level and create a new revolution in this sector.”

The award ceremony was scheduled in April 2020, in Mumbai, but due to the  new normal brought about by the pandemic, it was held virtually recently. His brand, Tilottama, aims to reintroduce Indian art and design to the current generation in order to salvage Odisha’s forgotten culture. Through this home brand, Sujit has initiated a way to send Odisha handloom sarees and dress materials abroad. Over 200 artisans and weavers have been deployed in the work from Gopalpur, Sambalpur and Berhampur. 

“The award has only pushed my dream further ahead. It has been possible because of the love that people have for Odisha and its handloom. The artisans make the designs and send them to me in Bengaluru. My expert team then stitches the materials into clothes of different designs and makes them into sarees and dresses to send them abroad including the US, Dubai and some European countries. I have a vision to adopt the same fabric into modern trendy clothes and attract the younger generations mostly. Gen Z is very influential and that’s my target audience,” he informed.

On being asked about his future plans in Odisha, he revealed that he has been planning and working on designing wedding attires using the handlooms of Odisha. “I have already started experimenting on the designs in my mind and what I really want. I am already in talks with a couple of handloom designers across the State, from Berhampur, Gopalpur, Nuapatna and Sambalpur. I have also roped in a few artisans from Rajasthan  to train around 15 women of the Kalahnadi district in stone work,” he further added.

Belonging to Kalahandi, Odisha, Sujit has taken upon himself to promote his handloom heritage globally. “I want to shift my work  base to Odisha so that more Odias can be a part of my work. This way there will be proper marketing and outsourcing of their work. Odisha is losing it’s own identity. Its traditions, designs, art, heritage and crafts are vanishing day by day because of rapid industrialization. So as a designer, I have to emphasize on the craftsmanship of India and bring a new evolution in Indian designs,” he signed off.

Besides being a visionary designer, Sujit is also a multi-talented person who is a good orator, motivational speaker, writer and a storyteller, who has penned a bestselling novel in 2015, titled ‘Dreams Beyond Grades’ that talks about his own journey from rags to riches. A role model for many, he considers himself to be a designer for a cause.