New Delhi : Jiyo! Live it – a 19 day exhibit cum outreach programme, being organised by The Asian Heritage Foundation till 20th October has received a great response so far. With people from different walks of life joining the movement and applauding the works of the artisans .

After Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Raghu Rai, Amitabh Kant, Ela Menon among others, recently the undisputed King of Fashion Manish Malhotra visited the Jiyo! outreach programme, and was taken by surprise by the breadth and depth of design innovation at display. On this occasion Japanese Ambassador to India H.E. Kenji Hiramatsu along with wife Patricia Hiramatsu were also present.

Manish shared his thoughts on the short-lived fashion cycles juxtaposed with the necessity of revival, the latter being on the rise. During the Up-close and Interpersonal session, Malhotra admitted that he comes from a very different background, but “after having visited Rajeev’s Foundation, I go back almost educated”. He further expressed his sincerity to collaborate after looking at the clothes, the designs and products at display. He also cited how the younger generation today is more inspired, interested, and a lot more knowledgeable, than before.

Speaking on the event, Manish said, “I have known Rajeev ji and I have been here before .It always fascinates me, the foundation that he runs and the passion that he runs it with. Every time I come here, I gain more knowledge of various crafts and how passionately he curates them. It has been a very enriching evening. There is a lot to see and learn from Rajeevji and all artisans. It is simply amazing to be here and it is tremendously beautiful to see how they are supporting so many different crafts.”  Manish believes that for last few years there has been a whole movement by designers to support crafts and artisans but what Rajeev does, is very different. “He goes out and looks out for crafts and methods that are completely not visible today…”

Known for his innovative and breathtaking designs in the film industry, Manish who always experiments with the contemporary looks with the traditional ones feels that traditional clothing is coming back in a big way. He says that there has been a big hand-loom movement in the last two years by the designers. There has been a lot of discussions, talk, movements. He admits that traditional clothing is something that is going to grow as we all are very proud of the Indian heritage, culture and all the beautiful hand-loom textiles that we have and it is going to only enhance more.