A shade apart: David Housego's journey into handcrafted Indian textiles

From interviewing finance ministers and heads of international companies as business journalist to knocking on the doors of lifestyle stores to pitch handcrafted textiles to creating a brand of his own, David Housego’s switch-over is an enviable success story. It’s been 31 years since he set up textile brand Shades of India in 1992, where contemporary design merges with creative workmanship of traditional crafts, but his thirst for collecting all things beautiful is far from quenched.

His personal collection is proof. It is a repository of textile products and accessories from 19th-century Central Asia that Housego and his wife, Mandeep Nagi, have accumulated over the years, particularly during his travels in the region, a part of which was showcased at their first-ever exhibition recently. Titled Bukhara, it featured suzanis (tribal textiles made in Tajikistan), carpets, chapans (a coat type of garment worn in Central Asia), shawls, traditional jewellery and more. 

Shades of India, he says, was set up in defiance of the prejudice in the West against Indian textiles. The brand’s first collection used organdy—traditionally used for apparel—for home linen, including table cloths, curtains and bed canopies, and subsequently, managed to secure space at Maison et Objet, the exclusive interiors show in Paris, which unbelievably kept out Indian companies.

There’s been no looking back since. Together, the couple has built a brand with a singular aesthetic that celebrates the best of Indian craft through a modern, international lens. Working with over 900 artisans across the country, they have been steadfast in bringing the colours of India to the world. 

As the brand’s design director, Nagi has been constantly traversing the country to identify and work with various crafts and textiles groups. “I have worked with women’s groups in Banaskantha in Gujarat on embroideries, travelled through Kutch studying different embroidery techniques and hand block printing (ajrakh). 

I have spent time in Lucknow and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh inspired by traditional embroideries and handloom fabrics. I feel fortunate to inherit this vast legacy of fabrics, techniques and designs that is unique to our country,” she says.

A seamless blend of texture, colour, balance and comfort is at the heart of the brand. Almost every collection starts with a colour, to set the mood. “I love adding an element of surprise and bringing opposites together. 

I am excited about interpreting fine traditional artisanship through a minimalist western sensibility––by the combination of masculine and feminine elements and an unexpected contrast of colours such as mixing orange with blue, or red with a limp grey,” says Nagi.

The brand, which has created a legacy of its own, has also won awards in Paris and New York. “Inspired by the richness and endless possibility of crafts, we create pieces that have an inherent simplicity and exquisite detail. We treasure what we do as textile art—be it the beauty of a trim on a dress or the surface treatment of a cushion. We design each product with inventiveness, for example, by layering varied techniques on fabric—printing with foil, texturing and then embroidery,” says Housego.

Shades of India has two exclusive boutiques each in Delhi and Mumbai along with an extensive partner network across India. They also retail through their website.