Owning a good quilt is underrated. It’s not only the thing that keeps you warm almost half of your life, but it also decorates the most intimate space in your house. Instead of investing into another pair of heels (hey, there’s nothing wrong with that), perhaps it’s time to spend your coins a bit more wisely. Knowing us better than we know ourselves, master embroiderer Ashish comes to rescue with the first chapter of his interior collection. The Indian-born, London-based designer is known for his craft-oriented approach to design, consistently using traditional techniques to create dialogue between the past and the future. His collections are always politically charged, embodying a freedom of sexuality and discussing current affairs in an unapologetically rainbow kinda way. The same notion follows into The Delights of Lovers, a collection of one-of-a-kind blankets created with the traditional method of Kantha embroidery. Using found textiles and fabrics from the past collections, Ashish Gupta imagined this new venture as an extension of the sexual liberation. Tongue-in-cheek graphics, patterns and poetry written by Ashish himself is referential of pop culture while making a statement of a creative utopia. Each of the quilts is hand-made in India, making the East-West connection in Ashish’s work even stronger. Rainbows, Disney characters and a lexicon of (very sexy) gay slang – it’s all you want to wake up next to, now available to shop exclusively from Matches Fashion.
As we sipped on the neon cocktails while desperately trying not to ruin the quilts with the sound of a live sitar in the background, we couldn’t resist to take Ashish through our rigorous questionnaire in order to find out more about him. He has a degree in fine art. He can’t swim. He is bilingual. But what else do we not know about the master of sequins? Read on and find out.
Dino Bonacic: Which famous artwork would you like to cover in sequins?
Ashish Gupta: Fountain by Marcel Duchamp
DB: If you were a superhero, who would the supervillain be?
AG: A rancid orange manchild in badly-tailored suits with the ability to f*ck the whole world up. Oh, wait….
DB: What skills do you wish to learn?
AG: I’d love to learn how to play the sitar.
DB: How did you first fall in love with fashion?
AG: Growing up with state-controlled TV in India, I craved images from the “outside world” which arrived in the form of my mum’s imported fashion magazines. Combined with her glamorous sense of style, it was love at first sight.
DB: What’s your best bedroom advice?
AG: Mirrors…
DB: What’s the last film you watched and how many stars would you give it?
AG: The Favourite starring Olivia Colman. *****
DB: Who is the best-dressed person we don’t know?
AG: Suzi Leenaars.
DB: Which is your favourite quilt from the collection?
AG: I love them all, but the ones with poetry have a special place in my heart.
DB: What’s the best thing about living in UK right now?
AG: That we are still in the EU.
DB: Would you rather have seven legs or seven arms?
Seven arms, so I could multitask.
Photographs by Darren Gerrish
‘The Delight of Lovers’ collection of embroidered Kantha blankets by Ashish is available to pre-order online.
