Vivek Karunakaran experiments with Kalamkari prints at Kochi Fashion Week

KOCHI: With salt and pepper hair and big funky glasses, Vivek Karunakaran looks like a traveller perpetually on the move, rather than a fashion designer. He doesn’t have any airs of being one of the ‘Generation-Next designers’ either.
He was in the city in connection with the ongoing Kochi International Fashion Week.
When Vivek, who is 31 years, thought of taking up designing as a career in the 1990s, his family was shocked.
“All my cousins are either doctors or engineers, and I still stick out as a sore thumb at get-togethers. Now it doesn’t matter as my family has realized that one can be a success in my line of work too,” said the graduate from NIFT, who resides in Chennai.
Success in terms of recognition and value of work has come in short and small steps for this native of Thiruvananthapuram. “This is a creative field and there are times when you feel suicidal, but I am still here only because I am passionate about designing and creativity,” said Vivek Karunakaran.
Today the label ‘Vivek Karunakaran’ is a known name in the fashion industry and at high fashion retail stores across the country.
Vivek also belongs to a small league of Malayali fashion designers who have made their mark in the national circuit. Though he considers it a credit, he doesn’t want to be ‘caged’ in by the identity.
His latest collection showcases Kalamkari prints in more edgy and deep colours and form.