'Deidaa’ offers a range of garments and co-ordinated jewellery, day bags and fully hand beaded clutch bags, shawls, scarves and ties. ‘We research continuously and travel extensively to create ranges that blend fashion forecasts to artisan crafts. Accent is on natural fabrics, handcrafting and traditional techniques,’ says Deidaa designer Samita Bhattacharjee 

An alumnus of National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, India, Samita has completed a Masters degree in fashion with honours from Auckland University of Technology. For her Masters degree, Samita worked with block printers in India and Tongan Tapa artisans to create the Poly’nAsia range of garments.  In a career spanning over almost two decades, Samita has worked closely with buying and fashion houses in the United States of America, Europe, Australasia and the Middle East. She has dressed models, beauty queens and film stars including Sherin Peace, Mrs World, 1st runner up 2005 and Pooja Chitgopekar, Miss Earth Air 2007. Covered widely by print and visual media, Samita has appeared on the Indian national television network and Television New Zealand. She has written fashion columns in India and New Zealand. A finalist at the Style Pasifika Fashion Awards in Auckland for two successive years, Samita is currently based in Melbourne but divides her time between Asia, New Zealand and Australia. 

Daughter Shilpi says ‘I have practically grown up with fashion’. A second year student of Bachelors in Fashion, Shilpi coined the name ‘Deidaa’, an endearment she originally used for her grandmother ‘who started it all’.

 With clients in Sydney, Melbourne, Dublin, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne, Samita and Shilpi work for leading designers and sell through select stores.

 Samita and Shilpi work with tribal communities in Eastern India, one of the poorer regions of the country, to produce ‘Deidaa Eco’ – a range of scarves and ties made out of wild silk. Samita says, ‘I worked with artisan crafts when others were talking ‘techno fabrics’ and ‘assembly line production’. I knew this was not only the ‘right way’ but the ‘only way’. 

 ‘I hope ‘Deidaa’ can be the bridge between artisan crafts and contemporary fashion that will ensure the survival of the earth we call our own.’ says Samita.