Unique, one of a kind Benarasi sarees on display
Shanti Banaras’s newest store at Ambawatta One, Mehrauli, in Delhi, has opened with dramatic Benarasi-clad acrobatic dancers, in a space that redefines how Benarasi textiles are presented and experienced.
Located close to the Qutub Minar, the store is structured as a sequence rather than a single visual field. Built almost like a maze, each section reveals itself gradually, allowing the textile to be encountered in parts, with focus and pause, rather than as a continuous display.
Reams of Benarasi weaves
At its core, the space is a curated presentation of the brand’s most defined pieces – the Benarasi metallic lehengas, real zari weaves, and hand-embroidered sarees developed with high levels of detail and finish. These are placed in a way unlike the traditional gadda-based format of displaying Benarasi sarees, and instead isolates each garment so its structure, weight and intricacy can be read more clearly.
A saree by Shanti Banaras
Every element within the store carries a reference to the process. The chandeliers are constructed from loom punch cards, translated into metal taking a coded weaving system and reworking it into a physical object. Small Shanti insignias appear within details across the space, embedded rather than overt.
The display language follows the same thinking. Mannequins are abstracted, moving away from conventional forms. Furniture is clean, linear and controlled, built to support the textile, not compete with it.
Installations featuring the woven magic of Benarasi silk sarees by Shanti Banaras
Threads and yarns moved through the space in varying states - stretched, twisted, suspended - holding a sense of work mid-way. Mannequins carried ‘gathris’, referencing the way weavers arrive with bundled textiles, presenting the final pieces within an ongoing process. Overhead, chandeliers constructed from punch cards cast a coded light, quietly pointing to the precision behind each weave.
Silk and woven Benarasi fabrics inside the store
“The intention was not to reinterpret Benarasi, but to re-edit how it is seen,” says Khushi Shah, creative director and co-founder of Shanti Banaras. “By changing the format of display, you begin to notice the discipline of the textile in a very different way.”
A visual from the Banaras Circus performance
The launch evening built directly on this idea. Entitled ‘The Banaras Circus’, the experience drew from the underlying chaos of the city where multiple things are happening at once, yet something precise continues to emerge.
The installation leaned into the mayhem that defines the city and the craft. The constant activity around the loom, the repetition of punch cards, the handling of threads - all of it translated into an environment that felt dense and alive. Elements of Banaras were brought into the store with intention: boats, umbrellas, bamboo structures, and lighting that echoed the street.
The Shanti Banaras Circus performance at the new store
Through performance, sound and movement, the store is activated in a way that mirrors this condition. The maze-like structure of the space becomes part of the experience, guiding how people move, encounter and engage. For the evening, the store shifts from a place of display to a live environment - where the textile remains central but is experienced within a larger, more dynamic setting.
With its new address at Ambawatta One, Shanti Banaras presents not just a new store but a clear point of view on how Banarasi can be positioned, seen, and engaged with today.
A musical band performs during the launch evening at Ambawatta One
