Roop | The Restoration Project
Beauty (Hindi: roop) has the powerful ability to restore, balance and heal. Beauty is also subjective. For Priyanka's mother, this philosophy was a way of life, a passion to refit heirloom and vintage fabrics with a gentle touch of hand and needlework. In her mother's words, innovation is the designer's ability to bring the old to life, to make something new of it. As a young girl, Priyanka was fascinated at a seemingly disposable fabric's ability to restore, renew and become golden again.
The Restoration Project is a garment memory project at the Priyanka Raajiv studio. Clients' garments of sentimental value, such as heirloom saris, find a spot in the limelight. The rehabilitation focuses on touching up old embroidery work, stitches and other detailing on the garments, restoring each one's wearability and resilience, and uplifting pieces with new embroidery where required. We also repurpose vintage garments into new, wearable pieces, transforming saris into gowns, lehengas and more.
The project has restored 150-200 pieces of emotional and heirloom value. Over 200-300 kg of textile remnants have been upcycled through this endeavour.