Future collides with past and present
A showcase of latest designs by students leaves one and all spell-bound as the designers mixed traditional arts with present needs keeping the future in mind

By Jyotsna Singh
New Delhi, December 11: Apeejay Education Society recently held Design Showcase 2009, which was an exhibition-cum-placement event for the students who are in final year of their graduation at the Apeejay Institute of Design (AID), New Delhi. The design specialisations were in the areas of fashion, interiors, textile and graphic design.

The students came up with the most amazing and innovative ideas to suit the modern lifestyle and the needs that it throws up. If Ayesha Singh renovated an existing normal public rest room to suit the needs of children and nursing mothers, then Tanvi Gupta designed a kitchen-cum-living room for a working couple. Singh’s rest room boasted of a separate space and facilities for nursing mothers that can help them change diapers for infants. There was also a special toilet for kids which had a low pot and had enough space for an adult to help the kid. The rest room complex also had a toilet, keeping the needs of physically challenged people in mind.

Smriti Chaturvedi had designed bridal wear, lehangas and sarees using the traditional art of zardozi. She traveled to her hometown Lucknow and met the artisans there to get a first-hand experience of zardozi work. She designed and produced clothes using their expertise. She said, “It’s an effort to bring market to this traditional form of design in which 30 per cent of artisans of Lucknow are involved.”

But it was not only tradition, which mingled with the present. Future was also brought forth to the present. Shailendri Verma designed futuristic clothes keeping 2030 as the year of her clothing. Hers was a range of outfits along with accessories with inbuilt features. She showcased aroma and compression clothing. A dress which was temperature and PH sensitive had threads running through it which could measure crucial aspects of one’s body. No wonder, Verma was a science student in Kanpur before joining AID.

Most of the students are in the process of finalising their internships with organisations like Q2A Media, DK Publishing House, UK, Versace, ABC Consultants etc. Some had been already placed in companies like Marks & Spencer, drawing fat salaries.

Sushma Berlia, vice-president, Apeejay Education Society, seemed happy by her students’ works. She said that designers should design for the ordinary people and not just for ramp walks. She asserted, “The students of AID seem to be focusing on this aspect.” On asking whether the grass root worker is benefited when traditional art forms are used by the students and designers, she said, “In the compulsory six-month internship many students work with the artisans in different parts of the country. It is a two way process. The students learn art from them and at the same time try to contemporarise their work. They also give the workers some marketing tips.”

We are still to see how much these efforts by different institutes in the country are capable of transforming the landscape of traditional arts. But nonetheless, we should appreciate the work done with good and genuine intentions.