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Design
Chandni Chowk has its main offices, warehouse and design studios
in deepest beautiful Devon. From here the design team create
the Chandni Chowk collections.
Inspiration:
Many of
our designs draw on the wealth of costume and textile
traditions of the East. However garment patterns, print
designs and colour-ways are especially tailored for our
Western (largely UK) market and to fit Western houses and
bodies!Our
initial design concepts are often developments drawn from
within the tradition familiar to the artisan producers .Their
techniques (block printing, hand embroidery or weaving) will
then be combined with our thoughts to develop Chandni Chowk
colour palettes, shapes and styles. We draw inspiration from a
wide variety of sources: from the world around us, from
plants and nature to antique textiles and fine art.The
result, we feel, is an exciting marriage of Eastern textile
skills and design with a Western appeal. The collections we
offer are large enough to allow our customers to put together
a very wide range of personal styles from traditional Indian
style to an entirely Western and contemporary look.
The Ranges:
We produce 2 major garment collections annually, along with
several satellite collections throughout the year. With each
change of season the colours and the prints will be new.
Some of the most popular garment shapes will continue from one
season to the next, but there is always a good selection of
new shapes introduced with each collection. The interiors and
accessories follow a less structured schedule, allowing us to
develop new ranges as and when we feel inspired .
The Design and Sampling Process:
The design process evolves through a variety of different
routes until any final (and many initial) decisions are made
by our Devon team. Each group of people we work with requires
a different approach, depending upon their design ability and
the process of development which suits their particular method
of working. In general the process goes something like this:
The Devon
team will get their heads together and put down initial ideas
on a rough specification sheet. We are usually working between
6 to 16 months in advance of the desired delivery date. These
“spec “ sheets are handed over to the supplier who will
interpret our ideas. Occasionally things turn out exactly as
we had intended, sometimes they change dramatically from the
original concept. Next the initial sample swatches will be
made. Our producers are spread over a wide area, mostly in
Northern India. It may take a weaver from one of the more
remote regions several days travelling (often by public
transport) to bring samples to one of our meeting points.
Sometimes they come to Devon. The Chandni Chowk team go
through the sampling, either on site in India or in Devon, and
the process of changing and developing ideas proceeds with
input from all, until finally a design is approved. Working
directly with the producers gives us a high degree of control
over the finished product. Orders are placed, and, whilst
production is underway, the Devon team will work out pricing,
coding, cataloguing and shipping the ranges, at the same time
as keeping our 7 branches running smoothly.
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