Amber & Ayesha - Our Story

It all began with a travelling circus and a brass band from Rajasthan....

We are Angie Breakwell from Shrewsbury and Farzana Neazi from Jaipur. Together with our partners Graham and Danish, we manage and tour Circus Raj and the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band in the UK. Endless summer days spent at many, many festivals with the riotously colourful Rajasthani artists cemented our friendship and love of festival life.

Then the pandemic happened and everything stopped.

No events meant no work for our artists or ourselves. In India Farzana looked closer to home for inspiration and began designing a clothing range for the Indian market using the beautiful hand block printed fabrics Jaipur is famed for. The centuries old tradition of carving blocks and hand printing each colour creates a beautiful and unique product that machine printing just can't replicate.

In summer 2021 Angie suggested they create a collection of womenswear to bring to the UK festival market and Amber & Ayesha was born. Clothes to love wearing when you're enjoying life with family and friends, listening to great music, getting creative and being playful. Beautiful patterns in fabulous colours and easy to wear styles that require no 'styling' for an effortless summer vibe.

The collection has quickly grown to include childrens wear and a small menswear selection. Designing the core styles, refining patterns, sizing and choosing fabrics has been a true collaboration between Angie and Farzana, and all achieved on two separate continents over many hours on video calls. Samples came back and forth until the final collection was agreed.

Central to the whole ethos of Amber & Ayesha is that our clothes are produced ethically. When we began this project Farzana chose the block printing company carefully. She took a job designing clothing for them and conducting tours in English for tourists so she could understand the factory and how it operated. We know first hand that workers there are paid fairly and proportionally to their skills and the working environment is safe, light and airy. When it came to finding a stitching factory that was more complex. The solution is unique to us amongst suppliers. Farzana set up a studio in her home and we have employed the services of a pattern master and two tailors, who are fairly paid and have a light and cool working environment. Our pieces are created without exploitation and we are a good and fair employer.

Responsibly Sourced

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Fairly Made

The Grand Indian Bazaar

The Grand Indian Bazaar is the result of the journey taken when creating Amber & Ayesha, a recreation of an Indian street scene with the sights and smells of an Indian market. Authentic Rajasthani dishes being made in the Jaipur Kitchen, a Mehndi Parlour offering henna body art in traditional patterns, the Sanganeri Block Printing workshop to have a go at printing onto cotton, Textile Junkies studio where you could make a festival headdress from remnants of sari silk and a Dressing Up Box with turban and sari tying demonstrations plus Circus Skills and Bollywood Dance workshops. At the heart of The Grand Indian Bazaar would be Amber & Ayesha offering high quality contemporary clothing made from traditionally hand block printed fabric and upcycled sari silk.

In 2022 Amber & Ayesha will have outlets as part of the Grand Indian Bazaar at two major events and one smaller gathering.

This continued through 2023 with Amber & Ayesha being present at more events through the summer and even into winter!

Ethical clothing made to be worn easily and loved always.

Our Values and Beliefs

We create pieces that are beautiful and unique by using fabric printed traditionally by skilled artisans and crafting it in our own studio. We are offering something rare within the fashion industry. When customers buy our pieces I want them to know their provenance and value the ethos with which they were created.
When you value something you look after it, wear it with joy and treasure it. One garment at a time we are challenging the prevalence of fast fashion.
We have created a range of kimonos made from pre-owned silk saris. There are many kimonos and robes produced in India that utilise hand block printed fabric or are made from second hand sari fabric, but ours are unique in their production. Each sari creates one kimono. The Pallu is the most beautiful and decorative part of the sari, the 1.5m of silk that falls over the shoulder and is on display.
We create each kimono to make the best use of this fabric so depending on how much is undamaged and useable we will use the pallu in either the front panels, the back or on the sleeves. Each piece is bespoke according to the sari it begins with and Farzana and the team's skill in designing it. No factory can replicate this way of working.
Our pieces are created without exploitation and we are a good employer. Farzana works closely with the factory and employees to ensure an excellent standard of work place.