Suta ‘comes home’ to Bhubaneswar with the launch of a new retail store in the city

Bhubaneswar : Home-grown artisanal brand Suta is further expanding its retail footprint with a new store in Bhubaneswar. Located in Samanta Vihar, Chandrasekharpur, this store is Suta’s seventh brick-and-mortar store and further cements the brand’s lasting relationship with the city.

Spread over 1,600 sq. ft., the store is located in the bustling and easily accessible city centre of Bhubaneswar. With its earthy tones, elegant arches and touches of stained glass, it is a rejuvenating oasis for lovers of India’s rich artisanal heritage. Paying homage to the city’s rich cultural roots, the interiors feature a variety of indigenous crafts including pattachitra, chitta and metal craft, all made by local artisans. This is a conscious extension of Suta’s commitment to empowering local artisans as well as preserving native crafts. “We’ve used swathes of traditional fabrics to reignite memories of our customers’ first experiences with a saree. The store space showcases a unique mix of textures and colours, and efforts have been made to retain the inherent qualities and character of the materials we’ve used. The store is centred around a ‘chapual’, which serves as a resting place for our customers while also being the interactive heart of the store,” says Sujata Biswas, co-founder of Suta, of the store’s design ethos.

But there’s also another, more personal reason why this store holds a special place for Suta. “Su and I moved to Bhubaneswar in 1991 – our father’s transferrable job saw us moving all over the country. But we’ve lived in Bhubaneswar for nearly a decade, off and on, and have so many special memories of growing up here. In fact, this is where the seeds of what eventually became Suta were sown. In many ways, opening a Suta store in Bhubaneswar feels like coming home,” adds Taniya Biswas, co-founder of Suta.