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    • Experience a full sensory work-out at RAAGA held in ARAKU Coffee, Bangalore in a collaborative exhibit with Yali

    DEC 15, 2021 | By Twinkle Tolani
    Panel 2 at the RAAGA exhibit represents the sense of sound to take you through a wholesome experience; Photograph courtesy Longform
    Display is the exhibit of sight that employs colours to showcase different cycles of plant life; Photograph courtesy Longform
    In the final installation of the exhibit, the create combine all the senses in the most delicious way possible; Photograph courtesy Longform
    Food becomes the perfect element to experience all five senses at once at the RAAGA Exhibit, Bangalore; Photograph courtesy Longform

    Raaga—The Harmony of Cotton & Coffee, an exhibit that engages all five senses, is all set to be permanently engraved in the minds of its visitors. It has been curated by two homegrown Indian brands, ARAKU Coffee and Yali with collaborators Aditi Dugar,  (Chief advisor – ARAKU Retail & Lifestyle), Rahul Sharma (Head Chef), Ragini Vijaya (Brand Communications), Shalini Raman (Brand Communications) and for Yali, Ahalya Matthan (Founder, The Registry of Sarees), Kshitija Mruthyunjaya (Creative Director) and Priyanka Jayanth (Retail Designer)

    It commenced on the 27th of November 2021 and will continue until the 18th of December 2021 at ARAKU Coffee in Bangalore. Aimed at bringing forth an experience that will help visitors understand their work with local communities in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the exhibition also aspires to pursue new strides towards living consciously and mindfully with their offerings. 

    Raaga is symbolic of the reverence of ARAKU and Yali’s shared communities, ecologies, and identities. The installation reveals how detailed trajectories run through cotton and coffee, making them significant products in our everyday lives.

    Cotton and coffee grow with the cadence and the nurturing gaze of the lunar and solar cycles; Photograph courtesy Longform
    Each item made at YALI and ARAKU Coffee unravels the various harmonies involved; Photograph courtesy Longform
    The seven-course-meal at the final installation must be booked 24 hours ahead; Photograph courtesy Longform

    Following beliefs inspired by transparency such as Land to Loom and Seed to Cup, emphasis is laid on the process of creating cotton and coffee. Capturing minute details of the ever-evolving narrative is an important part of the display. 

    The collaborative exhibition will take visitors through a journey tied together by the shared connections between cotton and coffee; narrating the parallels in their processes of production and but also highlighting the enmeshed ways in which they are rooted in the ways of the land and the lives of several communities who are the backbone of the identities that our fraternities are built on.

    Experience the aroma, texture and fragrance at the installation inspired by smell; Photograph courtesy Longform
    Feel like the part of a process at the Sensory Bar in RAAGA exhibit brought forth by the collaborative efforts of ARAKU Coffee and Yali; Photograph courtesy Longform

    The exhibition will also include several interactive workshops like food and fragrance pairings, creative dinners, typography, botanical drawing, dyeing, and embroidery. 

    A total of six panels—one dedicated to each sense and one main display take centre stage at the event. Specifically, Panel 1 located on the lower floor is called Sensory Bar and represents the sense of smell. Coffee grown in the Araku Valley and Cotton from the Dharwad Plateau assist in comprehending the subtleties of aroma, texture and fragrance. 

    Using food as the medium to connect Cotton and Coffee, this installation takes you through the shared stages; Photograph courtesy Longform
    The experiences deeply connect the landscape of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to its communities and culture; Photograph courtesy Longform

    Next, Panel 2 on the same floor is called the Map Area and is associated with the sense of sound. The philosophies of soil-cup-soil and soil-cloth-soil borrow from the natural response of plants to grow towards the sound of running water. The sounds are articulated in the Schumann Resonances and have been amplified into a soundscape that the human ear can perceive.

    Panel 3 is the main panel, and its installations mark the union of cotton and coffee through the principles embraced at YALI and ARAKU Coffee. The focus is on the process of creation that respects the material’s natural cycle over the demands of the market and leading trends.

    The RAAGA glossary is a song that deciphers the many patterns closely related to celebrating Cotton and Coffee that are a part of YALI and ARAKU Coffee everyday pleasures; Photograph courtesy Longform
    YALI and ARAKU Coffee follow a soil-cloth-soil and soil-cup-soil concept where every piece of cloth and cup of coffee chronicles a circular journey; Photograph courtesy Longform
    Witness the process, by interacting with the display that responds to the rhythmic movements that are involved in the process of making cotton and coffee; Photograph courtesy Longform

    The sense of touch is represented in Panel 4, called Curiosity Corner, at the exhibit. To appreciate the soft to and fro nature of the regenerative cycle, an undulating installation portrays the finest nuances of cotton and coffee. Colours signify the cyclical representations of the different collections of cotton and coffee.

    Located on the upper floor, Panel 5 Display, signifies the sense of sight. Using food as the medium to connect, this installation takes you through the shared stages of production beginning with the soil, seed, leaf-flower-fruit, ginning-pulping, spinning-drying, dyeing-roasting, weaving-grinding and returning it back to the earth.

    The five senses of sight, smell, sound, touch and taste come together in the final panel with the ephemeral RAAGA; Photograph courtesy Longform
    Dinner immerses the audience in the various nuances of RAAGA’s collective journey; Photograph courtesy Longform
    The seven-course meal is priced at Rs4,000 plus taxes (+ Rs2,500 for wine pairing); Photograph courtesy Longform

    Finally, Panel 6 on the ground floor brings us to Dinner, where a first of its kind experience culminates with a seven-course sit-down dinner.  Rahul Sharma, Head Chef at ARAKU Coffee, along with Kshitija Mruthyunjaya, Creative Director at YALI create a palatable journey by translating the installations onto a plate. 

    Raaga runs till 18 December at Araku Cafe in Indiranagar, Bengaluru. Entry free. The seven-course meal is priced at Rs4,000 plus taxes (+ Rs2,500 for wine pairing); the meal must be booked 24 hours ahead. The exhibition is accompanied by talks, workshops on botanical drawings, typography and dyeing.