Noida Portfolio

Pearl Academy, India’s leading institution in design, fashion, business and media hosted Portfolio 2019 - its annual graduating showcase in its Noida campus. The 2 day event witnessed a diverse range of innovative projects being showcased to industry guests, media personnel, design intenders and parents. Eminent personalities like Neelam Arora, Creative Head, Fab India Overseas Ltd; Sundeepa Bamval Mandal, Head Designer, Zara; Samant Chauhan, Founder Designer, Samant Chauhan Fashion Label; Nishtha Gill, Founder & Creative Principal, Treemouse; Lakshmi Chand, Partner, RLDA and Founding Partner, HomesByDesign and Preeta Agarwal, Jewellery Specialist took center stage and shared their valuable inputs with the students.

Students presented their final projects in an exhibition format and shared their thoughts on the role of innovation in design and fashion. Nikita Bhuttan’s collection was inspired by deconstructing trash for fashion. With an aim to focus on Sustainable Thinking, Nikita showcased the latest in eco-fashion by upcycling waste from dead dry tree and unconventional materials such as zippers and yarns. Another project by Radhika Rathi touched upon Unconscious Gender Bias. Radhika incorporated design-thinking to present a human-centered approach towards fighting the gender bias, a social issue extremely relevant today. Rishieka Jaini, a student from Interior Architecture Design created a module app on Sexuality and Gender Awareness (SAGA) that imparts a comprehensive knowledge to children, parents and teachers on sexuality. Created with a purpose to generate empathy and equality towards different genders, the app targets the urban middle class and high school students. Through her project Supriyaa, My Mother, another student, Tanmaya Bhatnagar, tried to revisit the memories of growing up with her mother suffering from Schizophrenia. The project presents the story of a mother-daughter relationship caught in the complexities of the disease. Tanmaya uses a creative approach to change the general attitude of the people towards those suffering from mental illness and the stigma attached to the disease.

The exhibitions were followed by a panel discussion on the topic - D for Design | D for Deadlines. The discussion focused on indulging in creativity within the confines of time and how the best of designers continues to excel and innovate within the constraints placed by the ever growing market and industry.

Different kind of immersion workshops on jewellery design, communication design, journalism and photography, were also organized for young school students thereby making them aware of the various creative domain. The event ended with an award ceremony felicitating the works of the students.

Students with their outstanding work were also felicitated. Tanmaya Bhatnagar and Rishieka Gupta from Communication Design were awarded for their projects title - Supriya My Mother and Sexuality & Gender Acknowledgement respectively; Ishita Gupta and Nikita Ahuja were from Interior Architecture & Design were felicitated for their projects - Nature Escape and Customizing a Car Club respectively and Jewellery Design student Shailja Tandon was awarded for her project Carnival of Love.

Commenting on the occasion, Prof. Nandita Abraham, President, Pearl Academy said, “As an educational institution, we provide our students a culture of innovation, design and creative thinking along with the right mentors to make them successful. Portfolio empowers our students to utilize their creative thinking potential and set trends for the future. It is a proud moment to see the work of the graduating students today and I wish them the very best for their future endeavors. I would also like to congratulate the Campus Director, Alok Baraya and all the faculty members of Pearl Academy Noida for bringing out the best in students.”

Pearl Portfolio has been a signature event of Pearl Academy for more than 26 years and has been an annual launch pad showcasing the work of graduating students. In the recent times, students have also showcased their work at India Fashion week, Pune Design Festival and other global platforms like New York Fashion week, Dubai Design Week, London Graduate Fashion Week, Milan fashion Week etc.