A hunt to find India's best designing talent

A plethora of young designers from across the country competed for this dream destination. However, only the most promising among them could become the winners of National Textile Corporation’s Young Designer Hunt.

 Last year in December, the National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC) announced the biggest search for the most talented designers across the nation - a part of its strategy to recruit creative heads for its new retail offering: Brand-India.

 No less than 1400 aspirants applied for this competition. 36 were shortlisted on the basis of their portfolios and recently, in the Grand Finale at the Ocean Pearl Retreat, 10 fashion enthusiasts were chosen as the NTC Young Designer Hunt’s winners.

 These were selected by no less than ace Indian designer Raghavendra Rathore and his team who assessed the participants right from the time of CV submission to the on-the-spot assignments culminating the contest.

 On the happy occasion, Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman, NTC, exclaimed, “India is known for its talent especially in the field of design and textile. We feel extremely proud to have hand-picked the best among them to work on Brand-India.”

 “Not only have these individuals bagged an excellent work opportunity but also given their careers a head start working with names like Raghavendra Rathore. Rathore will now personally train these designers to make the best products for Brand-India.”

 The man who made Jodhpuri bandhgalas and heritage styling a rage on global ramps was equally happy. “It’s an honour to be a part NTC Young Designer Hunt. Frankly, the participants were so good it was hard to choose just 10 of them,” said Rathore.

 “But,” he added, “It was as great a learning opportunity for me as them. These youngsters came from all over the country bringing the flavour of textile and designing from their own particular regions. It became a cultural melting pot at the end.”

 Applications were invited in five categories: Apparel, Accessories, Home Décor, Furniture, Handicrafts and Heritage.

Interested candidates had to first submit their CV and portfolio and were then called for a test and interview. The winners were decided on this basis.

 One of the lucky chosen Narendra Pal Singh informed Metrolife, “I won in the category of Handicrafts. I was always keenly interested in this field and worked with the tribals of Chhattisgarh after completing my fashion designing course at NIFT, Hyderabad.”  “This is my career’s first big award in fashion designing and I hope, just like NTC Young Designer Hunt, many more laurels will come my way.”