Amrit Kumar, left, and Mriga Kapadiya returned to their roots to launch NorBlack NorWhite in 2010.Tenzing Dakpa
It is often difficult to part with the remnants of a country you grew up in. For designers Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar, who were raised on a diet of 1990s R&B and hip hop in Mississauga, Ont. and Toronto, respectively, the drive to reflect the diverse perspectives of their upbringings as part of Canada’s diaspora continues to motivate them creatively, despite home for them and their fashion label NorBlack NorWhite now being Delhi.
Initially, the duo wasn’t planning on moving to India. Kapadiya was born in Hyderabad, in the country’s Telangana state, and continued to visit her grandparents there after her family relocated to Kuwait and in 1990, during the Gulf War, Canada. Toronto-born Kumar’s parents are also from India and she made her first trip there when she was 13. In 2009, the pair booked a trip to Rajasthan to learn about an old-school tie-dye technique called bandhani. While exploring the state of Gujarat’s Kutch district, they stumbled upon an NGO dedicated to preserving the indigenous textile trade by creating opportunities for local artisans and decided to stick around. They launched NorBlack NorWhite in Bombay in 2010.
“We were excited to experience a new way of living, to connect to a different lifestyle and study Indian art and life from an informal anthropological lens,” says Kapadiya. “This informs the way we make things happen, how we design our life and work.”
A look from NorBlack NorWhite’s Velvet Vixen line highlights the label’s knack for creating unique textiles and prints.
Determined to keep their silhouettes as simple as possible, she and Kumar focus instead on experimenting with fabric, patterns, colours and styling. One of their main creative motivators has been reimagining a definition of “Made in India” beyond mass manufacturing. To them, it means creating space for Indian skills, stories and trades that are becoming extinct, and connecting them to a more contemporary and international style of fashion.
Last summer, they collaborated with Adidas on a T-shirt project that played up their strength in textiles, but it’s their 2018 A Woman was Harassed Here collection of apparel and accessories that’s resonating in a world paying close attention to gender-based harassment and violence. It benefits the Dharavi Art Room, which focuses on empowering women and children through the arts, and found a champion in electronic music artist Madame Gandhi. (The label’s growing list of fans also includes fashion critic Suzy Menkes and former Gucci designer Frida Giannini.)
“We have so much right here in front of us, so why not work with it and create relevant stories to our personal journey while making a living,” Kapadiya says. “It’s interesting to become aware of our immigrant background, answer questions of why and how some of our ancestors made certain decisions, understand the journey of how our families landed where they did in Toronto and then it coming around full circle in a sort of reverse migration.”
For more information, visit norblacknorwhite.com.
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