Practice

Craft, performance, and process

A Working Method

The practice is built through direct engagement.

It begins with spending time within environments of making, understanding how work is carried out, how materials behave, and how processes are sustained over time.

The approach is not to introduce a system, but to work within one.

Engagement with Craft

The studio works with established textile practices in regions such as Bhavani and Chennimalai, Tamil Nadu, India.

This involves:

• working alongside weaving communities
• observing loom-based production
• understanding material and construction

Each textile is approached through its existing logic: how it is made, how it holds structure, and how it performs over time.

Engagement with Performance

The practice also engages with performance traditions, including Therukoothu from the Purisai lineage.

Here, the focus shifts from material to the body.

Movement, costume, and transformation operate together. The performance is understood not as a reference but as a system in which expression is built through repetition, timing, and physical control.

Observation and Documentation

A significant part of the work lies in documentation.

This includes:

• recording processes
• conducting conversations with artisans and performers
• observing workflows within studios and performance spaces

Documentation allows the practice to remain grounded in what exists, rather than constructing narratives externally.

Translation into Form

The work develops through a process of translation.

Textiles are extended into form by working with their structural properties.
Performance is translated through movement, proportion, and presence.

Garments emerge through this process, not as reinterpretations, but as continuations of underlying systems.

Presentation

The work is presented within contemporary fashion contexts, including international platforms such as London Fashion Week.

These presentations situate craft and performance within a different frame, placing them in dialogue with global fashion while retaining their origin and structure.

Continuity

The practice does not aim to isolate craft or performance from its context.

It operates through continued engagement, allowing these systems to exist within new spaces without separating them from their source.

About the Studio

Vino Supraja is a Dubai-based craft-led sustainable and ethical fashion designer known for couture and red-carpet work rooted in heritage textiles. The studio works at the intersection of craft, culture, and contemporary fashion, engaging directly with artisan communities and cultural practitioners.