JOIN USWithin seconds of the music being turned on, a few youngsters from the crowd step forward to the centre and start dancing. This flash mob appeared like another attempt by students of Pearl Academy to explore design sensibilities in new realms.
At the three-day event ‘Portfolio ’15’, held recently at NSIC Grounds in Okhla, the graduating students of the institute left no opportunity unexplored to prove their brilliance in designing. From fashion and textile to interior and communication, students from each department exhibited an impressive idea that spoke highly of their artistic sensibilities and talent.
The Foundation Course students experimented with materials to unleash their design creativity. A nuance of this is a cocktail dress made by twisting paper napkins!
While the fashion shows in the evening and an appearance by designer Manish Malhotra took away most of the limelight, certain projects left an imprint on Metrolife.
From the Fashion Styling & Image Design department, the students went to the extent of designing and printing a Delhi Style Directory. A student Avani Juneja has focused on the dressing of transgenders while her classmate Niyati Jain shows how convertible garments can be created and worn in different ways.
Amidst the various mannequins on display, one wearing a white dress captured everyone’s attention. Nupur Sharma, student of MAFT (MA in Fashion Textile) final year, the creator of garment worn by this mannequin explains, “This is made from nylon powder which is cut with the help of laser printing and left to cool down.” The motifs of this dress inspired from Rococo art period of Europe makes it all the more exciting.
From the Textile Design department, Shaifali Khandelwal’s theme of Indus Valley Civilisation strikes instantly. As the girl sits cross-legged showing her samples, she informs how she “went to National Museum to research about the motifs in this period”. Quite contrary are the sarongs designed by Neelam Singhal, which make use of Adinkra fabrics which are used in Ghana.
In the Fashion and Media Communication department, Avisha Chaudhary has won the award for Most Innovative Project in Digital Future for designing an app for men to understand their fashion needs. Another app, but by a student of School of Communication and Media, named ‘Happy Troop’ imparts important information about oral hygiene for the young ones. The latter is quite an innovative invention and can be adopted as a learning tool in mainstream education.
Amidst designs that were in each and every artifact at the venue, the pale pink Toy Train designed by Shubhi Mishra from Product Design department drew attention. “I designed this with the aim to teach children to learn how to store their toys,” says a humble Mishra as Metrolife marvels at the thought process of these budding designers.