Bhavan

Bhavan, in its simplest form, means a House.

Rawjee Bhavan is the Johannesburg home of Rahim Rawjee. An atelier residence where the private and working life of the House exist together.

Much of what lives here has been collected and carried forward through generations. Furniture, objects, books and works of art sit alongside patterns, cloth and the instruments of the atelier. Some belonged to my mother, others to her mother before her, and some carry a family history reaching back almost two hundred years.

Bhavan is not an archive in which these things have been removed from life. They continue to be lived with, used and added to.

Home, atelier and quiet archive all at once.

Clients are received at Bhavan privately and by appointment.

Measurements are taken, patterns are discussed and fittings take place within the private rooms of the House. Time belongs to the commission and the relationship remains between client and tailor.

The life of Bhavan extends beyond tailoring.

Artists, makers, collectors and friends pass through its rooms. Conversations take place around the same table at which cloth may have been considered earlier in the day. Works are encountered, meals are shared and ideas exchanged.

This cultural life is not separate from the atelier. It belongs to the same belief that has shaped the House from the beginning: knowledge is accumulated through people, objects, practice and exchange.

Bhavan continues to change as new things enter it and older things remain.

It is a House still being lived.