Buttons Are All That Keep These Dresses Together

Artist Anuj Sharma, founder of Button Masala, gives buttons an ancillary position in garment construction.

Buttons have mostly assumed a functional role in garments. They keep the shirt together, the neckline in check... But they have perhaps never assumed centrestage in a garment. Artist Anuj Sharma, Founder of Button Masala, changes exactly that and gives the objects an ancillary position in garment construction.

A Loose Fabric and You

The NID graduate doesn’t use stitching or other restrictive techniques of binding a fabric together forever. Instead, he uses buttons and rubber bands to create dresses, shirts, skirts and jackets out of sheets of fabric.

Recycle Old Clothes The Button Masala Way

Anuj’s brand borrows its name from the Button Masala grid technique, a joinery system that he says is possibly the cheapest in the world, and probably the greenest for the environment, in that it doesn’t require any electricity or machines to be created, and that it can be used to recycle clothes over and over and over again.

You Too Can Design It

The most wondrous thing about Button Masala as a technique, as Anuj tells The Quint, is how almost anyone can be taught it. Anuj has taught students in Indian colleges, and in countries like Sweden, and they have successfully created their own garments as part of the workshops.

Anuj’s personal gripe is how garments are handed over to consumers, with zero participation in the designing process. Through his brand, he aims to initiate a conversation with his patrons. A change of a button here, adding a flare there, could possibly democratise the process of designing, says Anuj.

DIY Upholstery

This technique can be used to create even upholstery and bags. Through left-over fabric and pins, one can create comfy cushions for themselves.

Anuj has explained the philosophy of Button Masala in a little more detail here.