Pushing the right buttons

Simple, humble buttons have much more to them than being fastening accessories for clothes, believes apparel designer Anuj Sharma. His creations make it possible to play around with the shape and folds of a dress — all by experimenting with buttons. “A piece of fabric, few buttons in different sizes and colours and a handful of rubber bands can be combined in million different ways,” says Anuj, whose product label is called Button Masala.  

Anuj stumbled upon this technique when he saw a man who had buttoned up his shirt in a haphazard fashion, but “appeared like an interesting draping”. He observes, “It is one of the cheapest and fastest techniques of production, as it involves no machine or tools. The design for me opened up a whole new array of possibilities of using buttons.”

As a designer, Anuj prefers using a fabric according to its natural flow of a fabric. This, he believes, is key to a great design. “I don’t even draw a sketch before I get to designing. I personally think that fabrics shouldn’t be played with. However, most designers go against the flow of fabrics by cutting it in desired shapes and patters. It is a very Western way of tailoring apparel, where they focus on sharp cuts and patterns. Indian textiles are all about drapes and not cuts. You should help a fabric being happy and allow it to assume its natural form. If a drape is happy, then it is a nice ‘design’ to me.”

His concept, Anuj reveals, can be learnt by anyone and it can be used to design clothes or other products. The designer has taught the technique to over 15,000 people across the world. He says, “There is no stitching, machine work or sewing involved. You can simply insert the buttons or coins using a tie and dye technique. Instead of threads, we use rubber bands to connect buttons across the fabric. It is one of the fastest means of production and you can have an amazing range of sustainable products like bullet-proof jackets, bags, upholstery, curtains, furniture, etc,” He adds, “If I have done it; you can do it too. There are zillions of other possibilities waiting to be explored.”

As a core philosophy, Anuj believes in picking up the simplest fabrics and raw materials that are locally sourced. Calling quality an “overrated concept”, he says, “Most times, people who use it aren’t aware of the quality of the product that they are wearing. As a designer, you could create exceptionally high-end quality product, but suddenly you scare the customer, who is worried about maintenance. If quality has to be defined, it should be defined on the basis of sustainability and resourcefulness.”

Anuj is of the belief that there is nothing new about an “innovation or design” since every sketch, motif or pattern has already been created. For Anuj, design is about discovering a new pattern. He says, “People look at design as a problem-solving activity or they like to call it their creation. However, for me, design isn’t something you can create — there is nothing like a new design or innovation. I think design is something has been done a thousand times before we could even approach it. The cuts and patterns have always been around.  It is a mere ego boost to associate yourself with a particular design. Design is about discovering a pattern or a technique and exploring its variations.”