Couture and canvas

If styling clothes is plain work for fashion designer Rohit Gandhi, art is a passion mixed with business sense.

That's why, while he plans to take his men's pret line brand H20 to cities like Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai this year, he has moved his art gallery, Palette, from Delhi's Ambavata complex to Golf Links.

Though Gandhi claims the gallery needed to be centrally located to draw visitors, saving money on rent could also be the reason for relocation. Gandhi runs his stores H20 and Cue from his Golf Links home with partner Rahul Khanna.

The gallery's relaunch began with an exhibition of 27 artists and nearly 23 works "" priced between Rs 30,000 and Rs 3 lakh "" were sold. "We want to bring artists like Jitish Kallat who are not so popular in Delhi. Part of our work will be to recommend art as investment," he says. The gallery will also have a live-in studio for artists.

But proving that a designer can be a serious collector hasn't been easy. "Generally, art critics have fixed ideas and look down upon designers. It has taken a long time to convince them to take us seriously," says Gandhi, who has amassed a collection of 150 works in the last five years.

Future shows at the Palette include a glass sculpture show by Hemi Bawa next month and a retrospective show of 10 masters including F M Souza, M F Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Bhupen Khakhar in mid-September.

But at the end of the day, it's all about maintaining the right balance. "We will continue keeping works that sell well even as we continue to promote new works," he says. And on mixing fashion with art, he adds, "both will be independent of each other".