Brand Abraham & Thakore shifts to a new location in New Delhi
Designers David Abraham, Rakesh Thakore, and Kevin Nigli have unveiled a new location for their handcrafted apparel and home brand, Abraham & Thakore, in New Delhi’s upscale Defence Colony. This store, co-designed with Studio Organon, a Delhi-based architecture and design firm, features polished, white-marbled walls subtly veined with black streaks and square-mesh-patterned terrazzo flooring. The minimalist interiors align with the brand’s aesthetic, showcasing open closets lined with garment rods, black shelves displaying delicate ceramics, and furniture accentuated with linens and carpets.
This is the brand’s third store in the capital, replacing a nearly 12-year-old outlet in south-east New Delhi. The brand also has stores in The Dhan Mill, near Chhatarpur, and DLF Promenade, Vasant Kunj, which focus primarily on fashion.
Abraham & Thakore’s design ethos centers on Indian textiles and crafts. Their autumn/winter 2011-12 double ikat silk houndstooth sari and shirt are part of the Victoria & Albert Museum's permanent collection in London. Since 1992, the brand has expanded internationally with stores in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Rome, and Kuwait. However, significant expansion within India began in 2022 after Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL) acquired a majority stake. The brand currently has six stores in India, with two more opening in Hyderabad next month and Mumbai by September.
The brand’s success stems from its ability to convey complex designs simply.It focuses on the essence of a technique, asking itself if many patterns are necessary when one suffices, or if multiple lines are needed when a single line can express our design languages.
This philosophy is evident in the brand’s latest spring/summer home and apparel collection, Body Language, now showcased in the new store. The collection features playful typography with numbers, alphabets, and symbols, and explores techniques such as ikat, ajrakh, brocades, badla, sequin, and fine laser cut work. “Each collection is a composite of diverse elements — silks from Varanasi, industrial tencel linen blends from Surat, Maheshwar silk cotton woven on handlooms, and ikat fabrics from Telangana. We work with various techniques across multiple clusters, incorporating a bit of everything in each collection,” David elaborates.
The brand recently displayed its textiles and ceramics at the AD Design Show 2023. The new store features napkins and table runners with signature kantha stitches, porcelain bowls, marble cheese plates, scented candle sets, ikat bed linen, and artwork centered on the dot motif. The brand collaborates with approximately 30 to 40 vendors and suppliers nationwide, varying according to textiles and techniques. Their association with ikat weavers dates back to their first collection.
