The Designer Behind Durga Designs
Shanti leads Durga Designs on Stratford Road, Sparkhill. She designs traditional and contemporary South Asian dress, with a particular interest in Sindhi and Thari dress: the traditional forms of the Thar Desert region, and how they can be made for women living in Britain today without losing what makes them what they are.
She proposes innovations on traditional forms — the cut, the placement of motifs, the combination of colour and technique — and sends the designs to Tharparkar, where they are interpreted and embroidered by hand by the women who hold this tradition.
She works with the artisan women of Tharparkar through Thar Textiles in Mithi, a long-standing partnership — designing here in Birmingham, and having each piece embroidered by hand there.