Being a designer wasn’t Rohan Arora’s first career option. Always creatively inclined, with a love for music, Rohan toyed with the idea of being a DJ, even calling up a DJing school while in college to enquire about their course. But, “their fees were just too high!” — probably a blessing in disguise as the 29-year-old Kolkata resident is now considered the most promising shoe designer in the country.
Rohan’s handcrafted, customised shoes are unlike anything you’ve ever seen, which is why leading designers like Sabyasachi, Shantanu-Nikhil, Rohit Bal, Manish Malhotra and Anamika Khanna have all associated with him to create footwear that goes along with their collections. In just the four years since he launched his eponymous label (although he was working on shoes right from 2008) Rohan has travelled a long way indeed.
It all started in 2007, when a fresh-out-of-college Rohan saw a group of women trying on shoes at a swish store, but leaving empty-handed after 45 minutes, because they either had a problem with the colours, or the heels. “I was a Commerce student — and business ideas come to us even in our sleep! — so I thought, why not do customised shoes?” Rohan says, of how he ventured into shoe design. “Then in October 2007, my cousin was getting married; she had worn this expensive designer lehenga with some high-heeled Kolhapuris. And when she climbed on to the wedding stage, her heel broke. She was so embarrassed, nearly in tears. That’s when the idea came back to me… I felt there was a lack of good shoes. Plus, I love women, and women love shoes, so this was one way to be close to them!”
Rohan knew that making the kind of shoes he wanted to would require a certain expertise. There’s a well-known story about how he got the cobblers working in the Moula Ali area of Kolkata to impart lessons to him, showing up in a torn vest and shorts, asking for a job. “I told them I was unemployed, used the vidhva ma, andhi behen line!” Rohan says with a laugh. “I was hired to fetch their beedis and chai at a salary of '200. They are the reason I learnt so much.” Those lessons also ensured that he never suffered from the lack of formal design education. “I think a design school teaches you how to make, not what to make. What to make comes from your own imagination, how to make comes from practical experience. Design schools limit you in what you can and cannot do. We are always trying new things, we’re able to think out of the box,” Rohan explains.
The Rohan Arora label turns out two major collections every year (Summer/Winter), but new designs are added to these collections every three months. Previous collections have included Naya Daur (a vintage Bollywood line, where posters of classic films were hand painted onto boots), Kal, Aaj Aur Kal (a collection reflecting concerns over inflation), and Item (a quirky line dedicated to the item girls and boys of B’wood). Rohan’s latest collection is inspired by Florentine, Mughal and Persian art. The inspiration for his collections come to him “from anywhere at all”.
While his workshop in Kolkata has been the hub of Rohan’s design work (he started in a 200 sq ft space in 2008 with one karigar, then moved to a 500 sq ft workshop on the ground floor of a building — a building his workshop now completely occupies, except for the top floor) he is now looking forward to the launch of a signature store in Kolkata. He may soon be setting up one in Mumbai as well. Rohan, however, is very modest about his achievements: “I think I’ve been very lucky, I’ve got to work with all the designers I admire… Sabya, Manish, Anamika, Rohit… these are all people I’ve looked up to, people who’ve really helped me.”
He also feels happy that the shoe design space itself has changed so much since he first started in 2008. “I do feel the perception towards shoes has changed. When I started, to survive I had to do a lot of production work for local brands. People would really not want to invest in good shoes. They would pay '5 lakh for a designer outfit, but wouldn’t want to spend more than Rs 2,000 on a good pair of shoes,” he says.
Rohan’s own designs are priced to appeal to a variety of budgets, retailing for anything between Rs 2,000 - Rs 15,000. “For me, success is about how many people wear my shoes,” he says. “Not how much they are sold for.”
