Design Story: HENNA TATTOO

Method: Ink on paper card

Artist: Ami Patel

Artist Quote:

Henna has been around for centuries and is thought to bring good luck to the wearer. The mystic, glamour and good luck surrounding the ancient form of body art, known as Mehendi has been significant part of wedding tradition in India and the Middle East. Designing the Legskins became a journey into the feminine. The free flowing ever expanding female energy as it embodies birth and creation. Using traditional shapes and placing them in specific areas on the body tells a story of what being a woman can entail. All of our curves and complexities, our softness and our strength. This is my inspiration.

From the Heart:

Persephone Singfield, Heart Director of Courage My Love says this about Henna Tattoo: I met Ami Patel in her home the first time. I had arranged a meeting with her after hearing about the quality of the Henna art she creates. She is very popular in the community for henna tattooing Middle Eastern women with traditional wedding tattoos. I was really fascinated by what this form of tradition was all about. In the past I thought it was purely decorative, however, Mehendi is actually a form of storytelling. The brides to be are tattooed with their life stories and family heritage. Ami would fill in time between ceremonial and traditional work with the more decorative style of henna tattooing you see at fairs and festivals. She has also been known to create art on a pregnant womans belly before the birth and on a cancer patients bald head after chemotherapy. It seems the art lends itself to any right of passage. There’s something very attractive about the adornment of this art without committing to a lifetime tattoo. I shared my vision about Ami’s art on our active wear and yoga clothes. Ami had never worked on this type of project but was really excited about the challenge. When she began her residency, she spent hours interpreting her creative style for our brand with a black pen on white paper. I chose to keep the traditional colours for the finished products, which allows the wearer to feel tattooed when wearing the clothes, but easily slip off the tattoo at the end of the day.