Weekend picks

Published on November 16, 2007

A journey to India many years ago led designer and entrepreneur Winyu Ruangsrigumtorn to discover beautiful Indian traditional cotton fabrics. When she returned to Bangkok, she launched a collection of colourful handmade cotton-based home decor items and home furnishings, imported from India under the label Bharat.

 "I long had a passion for French fabric or Provence textile, which later I found actually originated in India," says Winyu, 37, a graduate of Tuebingen University's Faculty of Political Sciences. "Many years ago while touring India, I discovered Indian traditional printing techniques. So when I came back to Thailand, I opened Bharat to offer products featuring Indian traditional designs."

The first shop opened in Suan Lum Night Bazaar in 2003. At the time, the line was limited to cotton tablecloths, bedcovers and pillowcases. Winyu opened a second store in Siam Paragon's Passage Zone, and with that she branched out her product line to cotton-based home decor items, home furnishings, clothes and accessories. 

Most materials come from Mumbai and Bangalore, homes to great textile mills that create cotton fabric with traditional printing techniques that were popular in the royal courts of India. Bharat's designs feature Indian traditional designs like lotus and vines. Some collections are inspired by architectures of India's palaces, like the Taj Mahal.

There are tablecloths, napkins, bedcovers, pillowcases, quilts, curtains, handbags, sarongs, skirts, shirts, bracelets and mirrors, in vivid shades of pink, green, yellow, purple, orange, red and white. Apart from printed fabric products, the store produces handmade embroidered items like bedcovers and quilts in muted shades of green, brown and green.

"I plan to create fabrics of my own designs that are inspired by Thai flowers in the future," says Winyu.

The store displayed its collections in the annual Elle Decor and Baan Lae Suan fairs. In addition to Suan Lum and Paragon, Bharat has stores at Chatuchak Weekend Market and CentralWorld.

Shine a light

Ceiling lamps, with white cotton shades, come in different shapes and range in price from from Bt1,200 to Bt1,800.

Cushioned comfort

Just right for the cool nights, colourful and soft quilts are filled with cotton wool padding. Prices are Bt3,600 to Bt5,600.

Homespun variety

Cushion cases featuring flowers and leafs, range from Bt350 to Bt785. Cotton bedcovers with red flowers are priced at Bt2,950.

Brand new bags

Handbags come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colours and patterns, including flowers and animals. Prices range from Bt520 to Bt1,950.

Bright shiny

Indian-style costume jewellery bracelets are made of aluminium (Bt630).

Stacks of sarongs

Handsome sarongs, fit for any occasion, come in many colours and designs, including simple floral patterns (Bt780) to sarongs trimmed with strings of colourful beads (Bt1,100).

Right setting

Compliment your next table setting with bright, floral-pattern tablecloths and placemats (Bt3,030) and a matching set of four cotton napkins and placemats (Bt1,840).

Pattarawadee Saengmanee