Month: January 2022

Blast From The Past

For centuries, Bengal has been a pioneer in many aspects. One can locate its excellence in various disciplines throughout its history; let’s not forget to flip through the lesser turned pages. There were days way back in the Middle Ages, when the art and crafts made by the gifted artisans from Bengal, boarded the beautifully designed ships and sailed through the sea to faraway places. Merchants from the foreign shores were ready to pay quite a lot only to place their hands on those magnificent pieces of art. The artefacts from this part of the world, managed to get tons of praise from all over the world because of its unique style and absolute rarity. Those were certainly the glorious days, the good old days indeed.

Tradition, Culture And Heritage

The past glory of Bengal regarding its rich art and craft can be located in various forms of documents. It can be easily traced in several literary texts, scriptures, architectural marvels, folk songs, paintings, sculptures, official letters and declarations etc. If anyone, even in the twenty first century, decides to introspect the array of folk-art forms across Bengal – Vadu, Tusu, Gambhira, Chou, Alkap, Baul, Palagaan, Bhawaiyaa; then he/she will be mesmerized if not spellbound. On the other hand, the famous Patachitras of Kalighat, commonly known as the Kalighat paintings, used to attract patrons from all over Europe. They were in great demand during the nineteenth century and though it’s dwindling for the last few decades, it continues to create jaw dropping reactions among the art enthusiasts. There is a suburban place called, Ghurni, close to Krishnanagar, where one can find the amazing collection of awestriking Galar Putul or Shellac Dolls. Interestingly, they are now having admirers across the globe. These are just a few examples from the huge arsenal of art and craft which Bengal possess.

Going Slow, Slow Build-up

Nowadays, we are gradually becoming well aware of the dangerous sides of fast fashion. The very fact that, fast fashion produces one garbage truck of textiles per second, is enough to raise the alarm bells. It’s high time, that we become conscious of the several adverse effects of fast fashion and act responsibly. It’s a pleasure to witness that the artisans who are into slow fashion, most of them living at the fringes of the society, are getting the recognition which was a long overdue. Jute bags, manufactured in Kolkata are now being welcomed by customers from not only Bengal but also beyond the geographical barriers. The artisans must be hailed for promoting safe fashion by encouraging people to embrace eco-friendly jute products and go green in style. Thus, they are initiating the much-needed change to protect our planet.

Let’s Go Green – The Need Of The Hour With its wide range of supreme sustainable jute bags, Ecolook invites you to go green! Let’s unite in our fight against fast fashion and make the world a better place to be in.

The Bubble Has Burst

It’s often said that myths are meant to be broken. Since time immemorial, myths came into being and enjoyed its fair share of popularity. They grew around each and everything. When we look around ourselves in the twenty first century, we find that there are urban myths too. Myths are quite interesting in nature. Way back in 1957, famed philosopher, thinker and writer, Ronald Barthes in his renowned book, Mythologies, showed how myths operate and become unquestionable after a certain point of time by creating a strong notion of truth. With the passage of time, myths fall apart into pieces, often at the stroke of a gentle touch, in a certain given circumstance. Likewise, there were various myths regarding the fast fashion, which were fabricated by the industry over the years due to some obvious reasons, in a very subtle manner. In recent times, those myths have faced serious resistance. This has resulted in our crystal-clear understanding of the other side of fast fashion – an array of health hazards and environmental risks. 

Alarm Bells, Ringing Fast

Lately, we have encountered with several reports regarding our environment which document the sharp rise of global carbon footprints. These reports indicate the sheer downfall of our ecosystem and the possibility of an even worse scenario in the near future. These stats are bound to create jaw-dropping reactions as they continue to pass on the disturbing information that the alarm bells are ringing fast. One has to take a note of the fact that, unless these reports are taken seriously care of, until we make conscious moves by acting responsibly, we would be inviting trouble. We must remember that if the ecological balance of our planet gets disrupted, we would be in a complete mess. We need to take rapid actions in the form of making necessary changes in our basic approach towards the long journey called life. Without further delay, we have to start the rebuilding process and that too on a war footing.

Safe Passage, Green Passage

The only way out from this topsy turvy situation happens to be going green. We need to opt for the eco-friendly fashion gears and accessories as soon as possible. There are a lot of popular misconception regarding slow fashion, most of them gradually getting shattered into pieces though. The reality is, slow fashion produces some of the finest clothing gears so far as the style quotient is concerned.

The Made Easy

Are these much-needed changes seem to be too difficult to execute? You don’t need to worry about it, even a bit, with the sustainable jute bags from Ecolook at your side. It’s high time that we switch to jute bags for shopping and contribute to the continuous efforts made by this Kolkata based slow fashion brand and at the same time remain stylish with a difference. They deserve a huge pat on their back for upholding the beautiful creations of the gifted artisans from several corners of India at the global stage, apart from creating mass awareness about our environment and initiating green way of styling.  

On Beauty

What is beauty? This question has been there since so long and people have tried to look at it from different angles, went on to address it from various viewpoints through the ages. But one thing is pretty clear; it’s not something which can be clearly defined in black and white. Rather, the problem lies in the tendency to define everything in black and white. We need to understand that ‘there are more things in heaven and earth’ which occupy the space in the grey areas. Grey – a colour which remains in between black and white. So, if we manage to shun this problematic habit of trying to analyze everything in terms of black and white, we would be able to look at beauty without any burden set by the market or conditions dictated by the society. Then, only then, we can appreciate its true self – the real beauty. If we don’t go by the fairness cream advertisements, we would realize with our long earned emotional quotient, imaginative faculty and reasoning, what the great Romantics suggested some centuries back. In the words of John Keats, the great poet who died at an early age of twenty-five due to tuberculosis, which turned into an epidemic then, much like the present covid-19 pandemic, “beauty is truth, truth beauty”. The same Keats, who portrayed nature in an impeccable manner and suffered from melancholia, which unlike today was regarded as a disease then, penned the lines – “a thing of beauty, is a joy forever”. On the other hand, more than two thousand years ago, the renowned philosopher, regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of all time, Plato, ideated, “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. If we deeply introspect all of these thoughts and take every other aspect into our consideration, then we would understand it in a crystal-clear manner that, in the end it entirely depends on one’s perception. Furthermore, in some way or the other, everyone is beautiful in this sweet little world and eagerly waiting for our ability, compassion and sensitivity to find beauty in them.

Risks, Hazards Galore!

Today, with the alarming rise of the adverse effects of the fast fashion, thinking otherwise has become the need of the hour. Anything other than the eco-friendly jute products, comes with several environmental risks and various health hazards.

It’s A Must

In this light, opting for green products like the sustainable jute bags, which help us to reduce the alarming carbon footprint, becomes a must. It should be implemented without further delay as there’s no room left for error.

It Can’t Get Beautiful Than This

With the arrival of Ecolook in the scene, the much-needed change has taken place. Embrace the change, make a responsible move and amplify our continuous efforts to make a greener tomorrow with the wide variety of top-notch absolutely biodegradable fashion gears and accessories, especially the jute bags, which speak of sustainability and reflects class along with compassion.