About
A shop the size of a room.
Sorrel opened in 2022 in a lane off Pali Hill with three designers and a rail. It has six now, and a shelf, and the rule has not changed: a few pieces from each, chosen in the workshop, carried until they are gone.
Why six
Six is as many as two people can know well enough to choose for.
We do not carry collections. Twice a year we go to each workshop, sit with the designer and the pieces for a day, and choose a few: the ones we would wear, in the sizes we can stand behind. Then we carry them until they are gone, and when a piece is gone we say so on its page and ask the designer for the next few, which takes a month or two.
Six designers is what two people can keep up with. When one of them stops, another comes; the shelf has had nine names in four years and never more than six at once.
The six
Who is on the shelf
Ahilya
Jaipur
Block printed cotton in loose shapes, printed by hand on a farm outside the city, in the three prints of a season and no more. The printer's daughter draws the prints; the first one was a marigold.
Ahilya's pieces →Noon
Goa
Undyed linen for the day, cut wide, made by four people in a room above a bakery in Assagao. One dress, two trousers, three shirts, and nothing in a hurry.
Noon's pieces →Tilak & Rao
Mumbai
Tailoring for the evening and the cold, from a workshop on Chapel Road: coats in wool, a jumpsuit in silk, a dress in velvet, every one made to a pattern that has not changed in six years.
Tilak and Rao's pieces →Perch
Bengaluru
Knits in merino and heavy cotton, the shapes plain, the weights honest, the colours from the dye house down the road. The cardigan is knitted a size wide on purpose.
Perch's pieces →Oriel
Kochi
Bags in vegetable tanned leather, a handful of shapes, each stitched by one person from start to finish and signed inside. The scarlet one is the only piece that is not brown.
Oriel's pieces →Basanti
Delhi
Jewellery in brass, silver and gold, with stones from Jaipur, made in a workshop of three in the old city. The pearls are knotted between every one, by hand, which takes a day a strand.
Basanti's pieces →
The two of us
Who runs it
-
Rhea Lobo
Chooses the pieces
Worked for a designer in Mumbai for eight years and learnt which pieces people came back for. Goes to the workshops.
-
Aman Vaz
Runs the shop
Keeps the shelf, the bag and the parcels, and measures the pieces for anyone who asks. In the shop six days a week.
We answer every request ourselves, within the day, Tuesday to Sunday. Write to us.
The visit
Come and try things on, with the rail to yourself if you ask.
14 Pali Hill, Bandra West, Mumbai 400050, in the lane behind the bakery. Tuesday to Sunday, eleven to eight; closed on Monday. Everything on the site is in the shop, and a few things are only in the shop. Ask for an hour with the rail to yourself and we close the door.
