Weaving memories

BENGALURU:  In the ever-changing cycle of fashion trends, one attire remains eternal. The saree. Mumbai-based aesthete Joy Bimal Roy is in the city this weekend to host ‘A Touch of Joy’, a show where he displays his collection of ‘upcycled sarees’ created using materials from old Gadwals, Kanjeevarams, Kanthas and Dhakals. 

Born to legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy and India’s first woman photographer Manobina Roy, Joy grew up privileged. He took an interest in everything that was ‘beautiful, poetic and gracious’ and was deeply influenced by his parents and three accomplished sisters. Joy’s tryst with sarees began during the pandemic, when he lost his sister Yashodhara. After seeing his sister’s prized sarees lovingly stored in her room, Joy decided to give away those sarees to loved ones as a way to preserve and cherish her memory. 

“My sister always dressed in sarees. People would joke and ask, ‘Are you going to leave this saree for me?’ And when she passed away, instead of leaving all her sarees to rot, I thought ‘Why not give them away?’ Old sarees are like heirlooms; they are filled with memories. Every saree has a story behind it. If a saree was worn by someone you deeply cared about, it can be hard to part with it. So, giving it new life allows people to preserve those memories,” Joy shares.

Joy enjoyed sharing those sarees with loved ones, but soon realised he was running out of sarees and would have to stop. “I had to dig out sarees from odd places around the house. But it made me realise that I was enjoying giving away sarees so much that I didn’t want to stop. So, I started asking people to donate their old ones,” he says. 

Joy soon started giving new leases of life to people’s old sarees that were forgotten and tucked away. “It is like working on a jigsaw puzzle,” Joy says, adding, “Some of these old sarees had their borders torn while their body was perfectly fine; some others were the exact opposite. I began playing around, contrasting full sarees with materials from a few; I discovered that the process is called upcycling, I didn’t even know that it was a thing,” he adds.

Later, Joy approached a store that sold artisanal and environment-friendly products in Mumbai, hoping to sell his upcycled sarees through it. “I approached ‘Artisan’ in Bombay, which sells handcrafted items. They also started a bank where people could donate old sarees,” he adds.

Joy donates parts of the proceeds he receives from sales to a cancer charity. Having lost both his parents to the disease, Joy finds this to be his coping mechanism. “I always felt I hadn’t done enough for my parents when they had cancer. I decided to donate parts of the proceeds that I would get from this work to charity.”

Joy looks forward to sharing his work in Bengaluru, which he feels is more appreciative of his work than other cities. “I have various memories of Bengaluru; I was very young when I first visited the city, but I remember it very clearly. I’m delighted to be hosting a show here because I feel like Bengaluru has a sense of the aesthetic. There are more women in this city who wear sarees compared to Mumbai. So, I feel like there will be an understanding and appreciation for my work,” Joy concludes.