The Journey Of Safomasi: A Chance Meeting To A Designer Brand

It is not often that a chance meeting leads to something big and beautiful. However, for Sarah Fotheringham and Maninder Singh, it was just that. In 2010, they met in Delhi and the designer homeware brand Safomasi was born two years later.

Sarah moved from London to Delhi to take up a job as an art director. Whereas, Maninder had moved back from Melbourne to Delhi after completing his education. They both met at a photo shoot and things clicked. Since Sarah is an artist and illustrator by profession, and Maninder had experience in production as well as fashion, they both decided to start a homeware brand that focused on their strengths. As both are from different backgrounds and cultures, there was a lot of amalgamation of cultures and influences. Sarah told us,

“Our backgrounds are diverse and different, but we have similar interests and tastes. We both love to travel and have similar tastes in terms of design and style, but different skill sets so make a good team!”

Their brand Safomasi was launched in December 2012, and their main objective is, as Sarah puts it, “to make beautiful hand-crafted pieces with a soul and a story, that bring joy and a small part of our colourful world into other people's homes”. All of their fabrics are natural - cotton and cotton linen and are locally sourced in New Delhi.

They are big fans of hand screen printing, and their patterns are inspired by travel and other experiences both Sarah and Maninder have been through.

Screen printing at Safomasi

All of their pieces are handmade. They are big fans of hand screen printing, and their patterns are inspired by travel and other experiences. Sarah explains what screen printing is, "Screen printing is a method where an image is imposed onto a fine mesh silk screen, and ink forced through with a squeegee (flat, smooth, rubber blade) to make a print onto the surface below. Each colour is printed separately, so the design is dissected and a screen made for each layer of colour. "

Their products range is wide and includes home textiles, quilts, table linens, rugs, bags and a lot more. Sarah adds, "Each collection is inspired by a different travel story, so our process starts with organising all the ideas we’ve gathered from that journey. We’ll look through all our notes, photos, sketches, research some more, jot down ideas and begin to form patterns - patterns of ideas that interest us, and actual pattern designs."

Safomasi is nothing but a combination of the names of the founders.

Safomasi is thriving online because of its unique designs and creativity that is put into each product. Sarah told us that the future plans for the brand is, “To keep on growing our collections and range. We’d also love to work on more collaborations and commissions with interior designers or brands; creating bespoke prints for interiors or products.”

Production process at Safomasi

A wide range of collections, some beautiful designs were the outcome of a chance meeting - and it is not often that we hear stories about people from two different cultural backgrounds coming together to make something artistic and beautiful!

Pic credits: Sarah Fotheringham and Kassia Karr

Also read: Shikha Nambiar On Falling In Love With Bangalore Again

Read more stories by Nikhita Sanotra