The document provides details about a fashion collection inspired by Ganjifa cards, a traditional Indian card game. It discusses the origins and history of Ganjifa cards in India. Research was conducted including interviews, surveys, market research, and case studies of other designers who have taken inspiration from Ganjifa cards. The collection features Indo-Western silhouettes in fabrics like khadi silk and cotton silk. Motifs from Rashi Ganjifa cards are incorporated through techniques like embroidery. Five design concepts are presented with sketches and fabric swatches.

1. “GANJIFA- A RETROSPECTION”
By: Tasrifa Sultana Hazarika
M.A in Fashion Design(2017-18)
Apeejay Stya University

2. INTRODUCTION
The inspiration of the collection is Ganjifa cards, a dying heritage of
India. Ganjifa is a card game, which was originated in Persia and came to
India, became popular during the Mughal emperors reign in 16th century.
The name Ganjifa comes from the Persian word “Ganjifeh” which means
playing cards. Playing Ganjifa cards was a part of Indian culture and each
region in the country had its own form of the game. There was the
Sawantwadi Ganjifa from Maharashtra, Navadurga Ganjifa from Orissa,
Rajasthan and Gujarat Ganjifa, Kashmir Ganjifa, Nepal Ganjifa and
the Mysooru Ganjifa. Indian artisans adopted the card making art depicting
the stories of Holy Scriptures of Ramayana, Mahabharata using Indian folk
Painting with the depiction of Hindu Gods, human figures, animals, birds
and floral motifs etc. The border of the cards is decorated with lines, dots
and floral motifs keeping the back with a solid colour. The cards are
traditionally hand-painted and over a period of time, Ganjifa Cards evolved
into an artform and unique antique item for collectors. In current time,
Ganjifa is considered as a dying artform which went into oblivion due lack
of patronization and awareness

3. FEATURES OF GANJIFA CARDS
 Mostly circular in shape
 Use of Patachitra painting(origin: odhisa), Nirmal
painting(origin: karnataka), Kalighat painting(origin: west
Bengal)
 Comes in a hand painted wooden box
 Use of Natural dyes and Colors
 Symbolic characters from holy scriptures
 Practised in most of the Indian Reigons
 Social, cultural,riligious influence in each type of ganjifa cards
 Dying Artform that needs serious attention.

4. MUGHAL GANJIFA CARDS

5. INDIAN
GANJIFA

6. MODERN GANJIFA

7. STEPS OF RESEARCH
 The topic of the research was recognised.
 Visited museums and libraries to find the available
information for the topic.
 Primary and secondary information was collected
from different sources.(Visiting museums, handicraft
stores , Interviewing ganjifa artists, case study,
survey, market research, fashion forcast)
 Analysed the information .
 Created a Design collection on ganjifa cards.

8. INTERVIEW
During the research period I interviewed an Odhisan Pattachitra artist
Mr. Surendra Sahu in Crafts museum, New Delhi, who is into the card
making art for more than 30 years. Having a conversation with him
unfolded facts about the artform which helped the researcher in the
research process. He showed some of his Pattachitra patintings which
was done on handmade paper, palm leaves and fabrics and some samples
of Ganjifa cards. The colours he uses are natural colours extracted from
stones and tree leaves. He showed how scroll painting or Pattachitra
paintings are done on palm leaves using a sharp iron stick colouring with
lamp shoot.

9. SURVEY ANALYSIS
Yes
25%
No
75%
1.Do You Know About
Ganjifa Cards
17%
0%
25%
0%
8%
0%
50%
0%
3. Who Inspires Your Clothing Style
Friend
Family
Celebrities
people in my local
area
magazines
Fashion Blogs
Styles in store
Other
58%17%
25%
2. Do You Follow Current Fashion Trends?
Yes, I follow them closely
Sometimes
No
A Customer survey was conducted keeping in mind the design project, in Select
citywalk Mall, Saket where I found customers coming for shopping. There were
10 participants for the survey who belonged to NCR and most of the customers
were working women of 25-40 years age. Here are the analysis of the survey.

10. 0%
25%
17%
8%
33%
17%
0%
4. Mark the two best suitable statement
I buy clothes I like, regardless
of current fashion
I buy new fashion looks only
when they are well accepted.
I am not as concerned about
fashion as I am about modest
prices and wearability.
I prefer to buy well-known
designer labels rather than take
a chance on something new
I am confident of my own good
taste in clothing.
I am not afraid to be the first to
wear something different in
fashion looks.
I like clothes that make the
most of my figure.
yes
64%
no
7%
May be
29%
5. If a garment collection is
launched, taking inspiration from a
dying artform of India, would you
like to wear it?

11. CASE STUDY
A close study and deep analysis upon the designers who have done their work upon
the topic will help to understand their perspective study and development on
ganjifa cards. There are a few designers like Parinitha MN, Sneha Asawa, Aashi
Purohit who have worked upon Ganjifa Card
Case Study 1
Parinitha MN is a Bangalore based fashion designer who creates Bespoke Indo-
Western Womenswear under the clothing label Pariha. She has been working in
the garment industry for more than 10 years. Pariha's core philosophy is "Cultural
Rediscovery". It is a divine amalgamation of traditional silks and fabrics with
designs that blend Indian Tradition with contemporary trends to create looks that
are Universal yet Indian in Spirit.
Parinitha Malavalli Nagaraju
Fashion designer
CEO and creative director of Pariha
@PARIHADESIGNSTUDIO
Website: www.parihadesignstudio.com
Bangalore, India

12. Parintha had participated in Vancouver Fashion Week Spring Summer 2019
Season with her collection name ‘Square Peg’, inspired by Ganjifa cards. This
collection draws attention to the struggle and uncertain future of this art form
and its silent and never-ending war with the fast paced digital and modern world.
This collection has a unique blend of digital printing, tea dyeing, bleaching and
surface development with buttons, threads etc. Fabrics used are predominantly
khadi, cotton and linen.
The featured brand is hugely inspired by the vast cultural heritage of India - folk
art forms, crafts, history and an eclectic mix of unique identities.

13. ESSENCE
Her Indo western ensemble draws attention to the traditional card game and
she added on to it by using traditional tea dying and bleaching techniques
with modern digital printing. She played with the intricacies of silhouette
by pairing a floor length dress with a tuxedo waistcoat tied with a waist-
belt. Her other garments bears the same symmetrical balance of Indian
and western silhouettes. The cards were placed as
◦ An appliqué with boarders finished with fringes which hold the centre-
space of the whole garment. The appliqué has embroidered the figure
of God Jagannatha which resembles to the Odhisan School of Ganjifa.
◦ Digitally printed the cards having circular motifs on a contrasting
fabric and placed in different parts of the garments like sleeves and on
the outfits such as Tops, dresses, trousers and waistcoats.
The ensemble designs of Parinitha speaks up about personifying Indian
Culture across the World. Inspired by the vast cultural heritage of
India, Pariha celebrates the past while looking to the future. Her
collection square peg bears the sign of it. It is a divine amalgamation of
traditional silks and fabrics with designs that blend Indian Tradition with
contemporary trends to create looks that are Universal yet Indian in
Spirit.

14. CASE STUDY 2
‘LETS TRY ANOTHER ROUND’ BY BHAVNA CHHABRIA
Bhavna Chhabria is a graphic designer based in Mumbai. She had redesigned the
ganjifa cards bringing out the cultural trend of India in the year 2013. Her
objective for the project is to understand the art of ganjifa and create a design
development in order to revive the almost extinct game of ganjifa.
“The cards designed will bring out the religious trends of Indian culture taking a
step towards preventing this wonderful art and game form from facing
extinction. The game designed is a simple one in which the players have to
match the image on one card to the relevant text on the other and form pairs
hence making this game simple, entertaining and educative. Ganjifa now looks
to a new generation to try another round.”- Bhavna Chhabria
There are certain rituals in Indian Culture including, greeting people with
Namaskara, married women putting Kumkum on their Forehead, offering food to
the Lord, lighting oil lamp etc which are prevailing in India from ancient times.
There are many things which have significance in Indian Culture like Lotus,
conch, oil lamps- she was inspired by these rituals and recreated the ganjifa cards
keeping these as the theme.
She intricately played with the theme of the cards keeping the border simple while
making design intervention in the cards.

16. MARKET RESEARCH
Being a vital part of the project, a contemporary market research
was conducted in various market places of New Delhi. Through
the market research, the I was able to find the current trend in
terms of silhouette, fabric and colours. I covered three different
types of markets starting from the high end designer brand
outlets to designer and multi-brand stores. The high end designer
brands or” Pret” were located in Meharauli area where the
researcher visited designer brands like Payal Singhal, Gaurav
Gupta, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and multi-designer stores like
Ogaan.
The Designer brands were followed by designer stores and
boutiques in Shahpur Jat, New Delhi is a strange mix of the hip
urban belt of designer-wear and the authenticity. Devnaagri,
White Champa, Bhoomika Grover, Bageecha, Abhinav and
Sneha, Smanat Chauhan, 1600 A.D by Naisha Nagpal are the
designer label stores that I had visited during the market
research.

17. MARKET RESEARCH ANALYSIS
 GARMENT TYPES:The Indo- western collection includes classic embroidered
lehenga paired with variety of tops like blouse, crop choli, peplum top, bustier blouse,
cape top, jacket off shoulder blouse etc. Low crotch pants paired with high-low kurti,
peplum top. Cape top and medium length kurtis. Plazzos and shararas of different
cuts and lengths paired with tops and kurtis. The other silhouettes include floor
lenghth asymmetrical dress, saree with ruffles and jumpsuits.
 Fabrics: the fabrics which is being used by the designers were is raw silk, khadi silk,
cotton silk,velvet, linen, silk organza, georgette, crepe, shimmer fabric, etc.
 Embroideries and prints: A variety of hand embroidery was done on the garments
like zari-zardozi, cutdana, French knots, mokeish work, mirror work etc; the intricate
mixing of two or more types of embroideries was the striking feature of the
collection.

18.  Embellishments: the embellishments include tassels , fringes , buttons , gathers ,
ruffles, beads (bugle beads, delica beads, tiny pearls, seed bead) etc.
 Sleeve: simple short sleeve, butterfly sleeve, to layered bell sleeve, bishop
sleeve, puffed sleeve etc.
 Colours: pastel shades like rose pink, beige, ivory, mint, powder blue, ice blue,
pale yellow, aqua blue, mouse grey, blush etc; and other colours including emerald
green, navy blue hot pink,ice blue, ice green, ash blue, rose pink, ivory, aqua, lilac
taupe, silver grey fuchsia, hot pink, rust, salmon red, deep red, olive green, military
green etc.
 Pricerange:20,000 INR TO 5,50000INR.

19. MARKET RESEARCH BOARD

20. FASHION FORECAST
there are many websites like HARPERS BAZAAR, WGSN,
PROMOSYL, FASHION NETWORK.COM, ELLE, VOGUE etc.
Where I found trend forecast for SPRING SUMMER 2020.
 Draped silhouettes, Tea length, chemisole and princess dress,
 Plunging, asymmetrical, one shoulder neckline
 Ruffles, fringes, fishnet, sequins, mixed patterns, puffed sleeves
 Sunshine shades, hue shifting, lavender shades.

21. Colour pallate for SPRING Summer 2020

22. CONCEPT BOARD
TARGET DESIGN/
COLLECTION/LOOK
PARTYWEAR COLLECTION INSPIRED BY RASHI GANJIFA
CARDS
SPRING SUMMER 2020
PARTYWEAR COLLECTION
INSPIRED BY RASHI GANJIFA
CARDS
INDOWESTERN (A- LINE, H- LINE)
SKIRTS, TROUSERS, DRESSES, OVERGARMENT
IDENTIFICATION OF FABRIC
TYPES
KHADI SILK, KHADI COTTON, COTTON SILK, GEORGETTE
COLOUR SCHEME PANTONE 12-0815 CREAMY WHITE
PANTONE 065 80 23 NEO MINT
PANTONE 13- 0849 HABANERO GOLD
PANTONE 17-0530 GUACAMOLE
PANTONE 19-1557 CHILI PEPPER
PANTONE 19- 3815 EVENING BLUE
CONSTRUCTION STYLES AND
DETAILS
VOLUME AT BOTTOM
SURFACE DECORATION
ELEMENTS AND TRIMS
DABKA EMBROIDERY,
BEAD EMBROIDERY,
THREAD EMBROIDERY
LEATHER TRIMS
ACCESSORIES HEELS, EARRINGS

23. GANJIFA CARDS

24. Indo western

26. FABRICS AND TRIMS
FABRICS: COTTON SILK KHADI SILK GEORGETTE LEATHER
THREADS: ANCHOR THREAD ZARI DABKA SEWING THREAD
TRIMS: BUGLE BEAD SEED BRAD PEARL ZIPPER HOOK SHOIULDER PATCH

27. MOTIFS INSPIRED NY RASHI GANJIFA

28. SWATCHES AND SAMPLE

29. Design 1
style no. GR01
Description: halter neck top with front slit plazzo
FRONT BACK
Halter neck with
shirt collar, placket
Fabric: khadi silk
Embroidery: zari
and seed bead
Front slit plazzo
with side zipper
Zipper length 8’’
Fabric: khadi silk
Keyhole at
center-back
georgette

30. Design 2
style no. GR02
Description: Cowl dress paired with a high low jacket
FRONT BACK
Tuxedo collar
High low jacket
Fabric : khadi silk
Lining: brocade
Fabric: cotton silk

31. Design 3
style no. GR03
Description: cowl draped front slit skirt with short jacket
FRONT BACK
Chinese collar
overlapped jacket
Fabric: khadi silk
Fabric khadi silk

32. Design 4
style no. GR04
Description: Asymmetrical jacket with panelled Plazzo
FRONT BACK
Chinese collar jacket with
asymmetrical hemline
Fabric: cotton silk
4 panelled plazzo with
side zipper fabric cotton
silk

33. Design 5
style no. GR05
Description: draped asymmetrical jumpsuit
FRONT BACK
Full length
jumpsuit
Fabric: khadi
silk

34. RANGE SHEET