King Charles III, Queen wear Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s shola masks at Animal Ball in London

KOLKATA: King Charles III and Queen Camilla wore the elephant ‘shola’ masks made by celebrated Kolkata-born fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee at the Animal Ball 2023 in London.

The Animal Ball, one of London’s most treasured charity fundraisers and is being held after a gap of three years. King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted the 20th anniversary of the NGO, the Elephant Family, which aims to protect Asian wildlife. The royal couple posed with the finely crafted ‘shola’ masks against the backdrop of life-sized elephant structures.

Given all guests were expected to be dressed in sustainable animal masks, King Charles III and Queen Camilla chose to wear the ‘shola pith’ masks created by Mukherjee, thus paying tribute to the rich heritage of Bengal’s craftsmanship.

Taking to his official Instagram, Mukherjee said the shola masks presented to the royal couple have been made by hand using age-old artisanal techniques and materials as a collaboration between the artists from the Sabyasachi Art Foundation and the master craftspeople of Bengal.

The iconic designer also spoke about how ‘shola’ is used for decorations during Durga Puja, which has now been listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in 2021.

“The masks celebrate the continuity of one of Bengal’s most treasured heritage crafts that are practiced by about 5,000 artisans. Shola is the craft of carving sholapith, the spongey cork from the aquatic plant that grows in the marshlands of Bengal. Every year the craftspeople make decorations for the deities and entire structures during the Durga Puja celebrations — that is a part of UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Shola Masks are made in homage to Bengal’s living heritage and culture,” Sabyasachi wrote.

The designer also mentioned in the note how he likes to tell “hyper-local stories” through his designs. “I like to tell hyper-local stories to the world in an attempt to create economic sustainability for heritage crafts and craftspeople,” he said.

Sharing a photograph with the royal couple, Sabyasachi, who is also seen holding the shola mask, wrote: “The Elephant Family and I are committed to similar but different missions. While I aim to preserve endangered heritage crafts, they conserve endangered animals and habitats. It’s my privilege and honour to be a part of their cause.”

Mukherjee also created a one-of-a-kind jewellery piece paying homage to the Bengal tiger. “The Bengal tiger necklace is crafted in 18k gold with a 109.95 carat Zambian emerald and a 5.06 carat old mine cut diamond with multicoloured and organic gemstones, and brilliant cut diamonds,” he wrote.

Apart from Mukherjee, famed designers Anita Dongre and Manish Malhotra also represented India at the Animal Ball 2023 in London.