He saw how his father repaired an old umbrella, or sewed mom’s old saris into a mattress for 9 kids, Saurabh Maurya from Singrauli understands substantiality as he has lived it!
By Asmita Aggarwal
Saurabh Maurya is from a non-descript town of Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, better known for the NTPC power plant, coal reserves, and mining, where most locals are employed. Like most impoverished children growing up in rural India who aspire for government jobs, Saurabh did too. He was encouraged at home to try for engineering and medicine, to give stability to his siblings, but it was a senior studying at NIFT who changed the course of a young, impressionable boy’s life forever. Saurabh decided to follow his heart, study fashion design in Bangalore-in hindsight it was the right move. He launched his label post graduating in 2019 believing that Margin or his brand Margn, will channel sustainability. “Isn’t that what margin means you have space to alter? I must confess where I came from no one even knows the word fashion,” he smiles. Quite apt!
Eight years he has been working with the Lahaul, Darcha, Jhanjeli, and Spiti (Himalayan region) intermixing indigenous handcrafts with eponymous knits, creating a pool of 62 artisans, though he started with just three. “We added hand crochet and knits to this brewing cauldron along with my co-founder Rohit Yadav. This was part of our college project which made our hearts sing, so we continued,” he says.
Rohit and he are vastly unique, the former loves finance and maths, Saurabh is free spirited, more creative. “I realised while living in Lahaul, tourism generates enormous waste-specially paragliding, he put that to good use along with recycled cotton. Parachutes were transformed into wind sheeters, trousers and work wear essentials like puffer jackets using mostly layering and appliques. “We mix knits with insulated material, but we haven’t forgotten Lahauli motifs, geometric, vibrant, multi-coloured nomadic patterns, which have won a GI tag too. As well as fruits, plants and flowers,” he explains.
Most artisans don’t work in summer, they grow crops to sustain through the harsh winter, so Saurabh gave them more work when they are at home-warm, knitted caps, to covers. This wisdom came from watching his father crafting new things and repairing by age-old hand techniques. “He had no choice. I came from an impoverished family of 9 siblings. He taught us how to make things last as buying new or discarding broken things wasn’t an option,” he adds.
His father resisted his attempts to work in fashion, he still doesn’t understand what he does, but after NIFT and much convincing he came around. “I had to tell them I could do it, give me a chance even though I had no angel investor or bank balance. When you are a farmer’s son, you are busy saving resources, you learn to live on little. I saw my father repair an umbrella with recycled plastic cover, make mattresses using my mom’s old torn saris,” he affirms.
His CDC line is an homage to his indomitable spirit–titled “Origins”, how staying with him in the fields, sowing crops, he learnt life lessons, “how he would sell his crops, his strong ideals, perspective everything helped me reach where I am today,” he concludes.