Summer Craft Carnival 2018

𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎!

I'm back with a story to tell and pictures to treat your eyes. 

I completed two months of my Summer Industry Internship and am back in Mumbai for the beginning of a new Semester. For the people who are reading my blog for the first time, I am pursuing my Master of Design Space in NIFT Mumbai after my Bachelor of Design, Fashion Design from NIFT Delhi and a year of working as a Social Media Manager for brands. 

All it took was a twist of fate driven by introspection to get where I am today. I started off as a young fashion design aspirant, star struck by the glitz and glamour of the fashion world to slowing learning much more about design philosophy than what meets the eye. To stand where I stand now, which is a humble step high enough to see what our society needs and high enough to realise all the dimensions I have to yet explore of what our region has to offer, and not taking the plunge is almost a sin. Today I see the helping hand I can be in upbringing the very people responsible to keeping our roots alive.

This internship was a ladder I had to climb. As a part of the curriculum, the post graduate students are supposed to work under any institution/brand  for two months. I have had a connection with Aqua Weaves before. If you remember the Expose' 2016 collection I did in Aizawl (CLICK HERE) I had water hyacinth bags as accessories to my collection. The demand for the bags were high and the trend kept evolving. Long story short, I ended up designing a collection for the very brand I was a fan of. 

Aqua Weaves is a brand by NEDFi (What is NEDFi?) as a part of their CSR activity. Thus, the water hyacinth weavers are local artisans who earn directly from the customers. There is no intervention of a middleman if bought from the showrooms in Guwahati and Noida or from the artisans themselves. 

Aqua Weaves have been following the same designs for years, and this was the first time a design intervention was taking place. This very fact was a challenge and a treat. The artisans I worked with were so accepting and patient with me. I had to learn the craft before I designed any product, and that meant handling my ignorance and teaching me the nitty gritty of the craft. The whole internship was knowledge being passed laterally. Below are some pictures from the shoot I did for my products.

The NEDFi R&D Centre where I work with the artisans is located in Khetri, which is approximately an hour away from Guwahati. The showroom there also have the latest products showcased for sale. This collection of mine was recently launched in the Craft Exhibition from 9th August 2018 in NEDFi House, Ganeshguri.

The wicker trend has been surfacing across fashion reports, followed by brands coming out with every possible shape and size. These handcrafted products are works of craftsmen and vary from one product to another. This makes it different from ones produced by machines in mass. Each weave is carefully twisted for you and every penny paid for it makes a difference in the lives of people. 

For design process, inspirations, details of orders, etc. mail me or DM me on Instagram 😊

Until next time. xx