JD INSTITUTE, BANGALORE STUDENTS TUTORED BY AN INTERNATIONAL DESIGNER

 The concept of sustainability is skewed and is generally perceived to concentrate on just one aspect of the incorporation of eco-friendly or earth friendly elements into the design. Though in part this is true, it is not limited to just the inclusion of eco-friendly materials. Sustainability also means giving a new lease to a product to increase its life.

JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore was proud to host Swiss artist and designer Ms. Mariel Manuel at the Brigade Road campus for 4 days to tutor students from Fashion Design course and Interior Design course. Her designs revolve around Sustainability, which is one of the core ethos of the institute.

Ms. Manuel combines various discarded materials which are usually considered as waste. She does not follow the traditional route of brainstorming and sketching but tries to understand the texture of the materials. Her inspiration can be derived from anything be it her travels, culture and environment of the place, poetry, words or photographs. She pens down all this in her sketchbook, before she starts her work.

Before the commencement of the workshop, the students were asked to collect different types of materials like scraps of fabrics, onion and fish nets, metal wires, rods, metal parts, vehicular light, cement bags, etc. found in their homes or around them. These were then segregated into different colours. The students were then divided in groups to maximize the output of work. Ms. Manuel encouraged students to get a feel of the materials, before conceiving the idea inorder to understand the surface they would be working with. Once they understood the material well, they were then asked to sketch the idea and thence began the process of bringing their vision to form. The groups were a mix of fashion and interior, which was an interesting partnership to have to different fields come together to work together to create works of art.

The 4 day immersive experience helped students break from the mould of traditional design and look at design as a dialogue and be more observant of the elements around them.