Of fashion, fusion and food: a glimpse into Bengaluru’s divergent Sunday Soul Santé

The Sunday Soul Santé is a perfect melange of the modern world giving an ode to the contemporary form of arts and crafts. Being one of Bengaluru’s most celebrated events, it presents myriads of opportunities to budding ‘art-repreneurs.’

The event, held roughly every two months, attracts hundreds of young entrepreneurs and acts a perfect launchpad. One can see people from all walks of life showcasing their talent in the form of painting, craft work, handmade jewellery, stationary etc.

Sanam Malhotra, Co-founder of Sunday Soul Santé, tells us how the event has helped pave the way for many young startups each year. She says ,

Our journey started off in September 2010 and ever since then we’ve seen budding entrepreneurs carve their way into the industry and we’ve wholeheartedly provided them a platform to begin with. Forty percent of our clients come back to put up their stalls in every Santé that we hold. In fact, Chumbak and UrbanLadder also hit the road through us.

The recent Retro-Summer edition Santé was held on May 15, at Mapho Spectrum, Hebbal. Adding to the quirkiness of the place, there were several stalls with unique names. Here are some eccentric stall names and the merchandise they sold that made it impossible for us to look away:

HappyKnots

HappyKnots happens to be a family dream project that was conceptualised by Anne and Rakesh. This is a premium brand of exclusive handmade fashion accessories and dream catchers. They launched this company at Sunday Soul Santé four years ago, and haven't looked back since then.

“The acceptance from our customers has been the corner stone of our success and has been our driving force behind treading into new horizons of creativity. We set our baby feet into event décor HappyKnots and are into wedding and venue styling. We realised it never really is too late to find your passion,” chirps Anne.

Price: Ranges between Rs 100 and 1,000

Satee:

Hailing from the city of art - Bhopal, Mayur Saroj Rajput wants to make his niche in the bow-tie section. He makes personalised bow ties with prints on them. You name the print and he has it made for you.

“Experimentation and high fashion is my forte. That's what differentiates me from others. The name of my brand is Satee because Satee (Lord Shiva's first wife) has been my inspiration,” says Mayur.

Price: Ranges between Rs 400 and 1,300

Dots to Lines:

The brand Dots to Lines is all about hand-crafted home decor products, designed by Aditi Mahajan and her mother.

“We hand paint as well as decoupage. We fuse various techniques and hence our decoupage is unlike what others do,” say the duo.

Price: Ranges between Rs 150 and 2,000

Ommel:

Ommel is a fashion brand for women, established by Amrita Sokhy and Unita Chandan. ‘Ommel’ literally means ‘to stitch’ in Finnish. The duo have created a niche by combining international trends and styles to craft exclusive outfits for women.

“We saw such amazing trends internationally but there was no place in India to buy it from so we began to create clothing that is stylish, exclusive and in line with the latest trends. With the understanding of a desire to stand out, we ensure that our styles are created in limited number of pieces,” adds Unita.  ​

Price: Ranges between Rs 699 and 2,099

LOL Studio:

‘LIVE OUT LOUD’ is what LOL stands for. Started by Poornima Shetty and Shruthi Kallichanda, LOL studio caters to clothing from tops to saris, along with some unique jewellery and accessories. Being avid travellers, they pick out exclusive designs from all over the country.

“It is our attempt to help individuals experience fashion of one’s own perception,” says Shruthi.

Price: Ranges between Rs 50 and 6,000

QuirkSmith:

The name ‘Quirksmith’ combines the essence of quirkiness and handmade artistry of Silver Smithy. The exclusive crafted jewellery ranges from tiny nose pins to chunky neckpieces.

“We wanted the name to communicate the language of uninhibited freedom and free spirited attitude channelised via exclusive handmade silver artisan jewellery,” say founders Pragya and Divya Batra.

Price: Ranges between Rs 500 and 5,000

Tuile:

“My husband, sister and I went on a Paris trip, which was really the inspiration behind Tuile. Tuile is a thin wafer generally used to decorate a dessert. We fell in love with French desserts so were sure of a French name fit our business. We also like our desserts to look delicate and wanted a name that had a feel of this. So Tuile just felt like the perfect name,” says Hindola A, the founder of this bakery. Treats ranging from custards, caramel to chocolate, Tuile definitely had some yummy desserts.

Price: Ranges between 75 and 1400

The Sunday Soul Santé allows you to bring along your pets, a rarity in Indian public events. With a holistic vibe, the Sunday Soul Santé is, undoubtedly, a feast for the eyes.

Sunday Soul Santé website: http://www.sundaysoulsante.com/