The Nomad

Nomad. The word finds its origins in an old Indo-European term, nomas, which refers to a member of a wandering pastoral tribe. From the earliest documented nomads—the Scythians, Persians, Turks, Huns, Mongols, Arabs, Maasai and Bedouins—these wanderers have shaped our world, extolling the virtues of a lighter, less cluttered and more mobile life. 

The imagined relationship between movement and freedom is encapsulated in the contemporary figure of the nomad. Draped and mysterious, members of a tribe of travellers crisscrossing through stateless societies, nomads have long been exoticised and romanticised. They have, at once, represented both a threat and a source of wonder to settled populations. Often, this has widened the schism between the conceptual figure and the living nomad.

What, then, does a nomad look like today? 

This question lies at the forefront of the first issue of Object. The study of the nomadic experience is perhaps fitting for a magazine devoted to fashion, culture and travel. The Rabaris lead this issue—their mobility and search for greener pastures often at odds with the rapid development and corporatisation of their lands. Despite this, when the grasses dry up, their caravans set out into hauntingly beautiful unknown terrain in search of fodder for their herds of animals. To render a nomad sedentary, to push them into homes, is to remake a bird without its wings.

While humans began to settle and learned to domesticate crops and animals around 12,000 years ago, the process took a long time. Now, with 4.4 billion settled into urban lives, we note—our cities are in crisis. The need for a new way of living and thinking has never been more necessary. 

At the heart of nomadic life is the dependence on the natural world. Respect for the environment is governed by simple codes. A nomad must live lightly and take only what can be carried. Agility and flexibility in thinking is crucial in a world held hostage to shifting climate, a lesson the fashion industry—the second largest polluter worldwide—is slowly coming to terms with.

THERE IS AN inherent nomadism within the fashion set. From city to city, with fashion weeks dotted across the globe, as pieces from collections move with designers, models and make-up artists in tow, the fashion set comprises what can only be likened to a tribe.

The nomad as a muse is a tried-and-tested formula in fashion. In India, several designers have sought inspiration from tribal designs—from Tarun Tahiliani’s decades-long fixation with the Rabari to Aseem Kapoor’s NIFT graduation project titled ‘Wandering tribes gather no dust,’ which has now developed into a full-fledged label, and Bibhu Mohapatra’s interpretation of the ‘urban nomad’ in gowns. The use of drapes, mirrors, coins, leather, feathers and embroideries offer an enormous wealth of tribal design inspiration.

Further ashore in Paris, when Christophe Lemaire replaced Jean Paul Gaultier as creative director of Hermès in 2010, his first collection paid homage to nomadic attire instead of the luxury house’s signature Birkin and Kelly bags. His favourite item from the collection was an orange jacket sculpted by hand out of a single piece of cloth by a Mongolian artisan.

There are nomads in the literary tradition too. Seminal texts, from Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and George Orwell’s Inside the Whale to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, illustrate the virtue of getting your shoes dirty and hitting the road. This is the foundation upon which Object is built.

The nomad in literature is, more often than not, an enlightened rebel who refuses to conform to a settled life. The wayward traveller in Kerouac’s Beatnik philosophy created the space for an alternative culture that focuses on individual liberty, and opposes mainstream institutions and societal expectations. In its modern manifestation, the nomad, hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic, has allowed techno-utopianism to transform into reality.

The term ‘digital nomad’ coined in 1997 by Tsugio Makimoto, a Japanese semiconductor scientist, and David Manners, a British journalist, suggested that advances in communication technology would make us geographically independent of our homes and offices, leading to ‘cerebral nomadism.’ In this world, people travel the globe hunting down information and relationships, much as our ancestors stalked the plains for prey.

So, dear reader, Object is for the wanderer in you, searching, seeking and celebrating an open world. We welcome you on this journey with us. We hope you enjoy the ride.