DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
AN ARTFUL MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE
New Delhi-based designer Riddhi Jain draws heavily on historic textile traditions that form the
essence of her brainchild Studio Medium. Brinda Gill notes.
“I pretty much grew up with textiles in my mother’s studio,” says
designer Riddhi Jain. Having been born and brought up in Kolkata,
Riddhi spent many happy hours in her mother’s studio, which
was stocked with ethnic and bridal wear, surrounded by different
kinds of resist-dyed textiles—particularly bandhani. “My mother
was not formally educated in textiles and design but she had an
intuitive designing process and a distinctive take on varied textile
techniques,” Riddhi says. It was her mother’s creative outlook and
the textiles that she grew up with, that led Riddhi to develop an
enduring interest in naturally dyed clothes. Result: she went on to
study fashion and textile design, and eventually founded a design
space named Studio Medium.
STUDYING FASHION
Riddhi’s inclination towards textiles and garments organically led
her to take up a course in fashion design at National Institute of
Fashion Technology (NIFT). It was during the seventh semester
of the course that her interest in textiles really blossomed as she
studied surface design, which required her to develop interesting
surfaces through plenty of techniques.
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I APPAREL I
December 2019