There is something that my colleague and I often discuss: how hard-hitting subjects are used for propaganda and then nothing is done about it. ...
UNI EVENTS
There is something that my colleague and I often discuss: how hard-hitting subjects are used for propaganda and then nothing is done about it. Even the most passionate of supporters can be all talk (and no action). Closer to home, Nida Khan, a graduate from Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture, is different. When we finally had a chance to talk, Nida was clear why she chose to work with kachra (garbage) for her thesis.
The Degree Show 2017 at IVS featured the thesis work of the graduating students of Architecture, Communication Design, Fine Art, Interior Design, and Textile Design. What mesmerized us was Nida’s creativity while working with garbage and making apparel with it.
“I live in North Karachi and while travelling every day to Clifton, I’d observe a lot of kachra. Someone had to do something about it because there is so much of it - after every chowrangi, on the roadside, in front of houses, in parks, empty plots - and it’s polluting so much of our environment. If you’ve seen Gujjar Naala, it’s so huge but there’s more garbage than water!” Nida stressed.
As she started her research, she came across other material like paper, vegetable and fruit peels, etc. but they were biodegradable; and then there was non-biodegradable stuff, too, like plastic, which stays there for 500 - 000 years.
In the four months from conception of the idea until presentation, Nida had to collect plastic waste to stitch and use it as a fabric: “I had these posters all around Indus; initially, I did not get a lot of garbage. I’d empty the bins at campus daily, but the activity was of little to no avail. Nevertheless, I carried on and gradually people started giving me their plastic bags and things like that. Still, it wasn’t enough. I had to cover more sites. For that purpose, I visited different factories.”
After that, she had to rack her brains to come up with an idea to work with the materials. “It was tough indeed to produce a design following critical analysis from teachers and suggestions from friends, yet keeping it original. Plastic was a very different medium. You can’t really stitch it so I put the waste in transparent tracing sheets and heat press to make sheets out of it and use that as a fabric.
She makes it sound so easy even though it was one of “the biggest challenges” to make the garments because obviously the plastic is not a stitch-able material. There is a lot of effort required behind the scenes. “There was a lot of surface treatment going on,” Nida recalled. “Many structures were being made. It wasn’t just the difficult task of sewing; one also had to note that these garments were not normal garments. They were more like statement pieces - something bold and unique, that is. The latter is an important factor because there was a purpose behind the pieces; I wanted people to understand how much garbage is lying around all of us and that it can be reused and reutilized!” Makes sense when you know the girl idolizes Ali Xeeshan, Alexander Mcqueen, and Dior.
However, this “amazing” and “exciting work” in particular was inspired by another local hero - Nargis Latif, owner of Gul Bahao, who is doing a lot of work with plastic.
People were both supportive and approving of Nida’s idea that something must be done about the garbage issue. In simple words, they loved it.
As a student of Bachelors of Textile Design, Nida’s experience has been thrilling. According to her, “it’s a great opportunity for anyone who has a creative side to themselves since it polishes your skills. I’d recommend IVS, Asian Institute of Fashion Design (AIFD) and The Textile Institute of Pakistan (TIP) in Karachi, and Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) and National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore to people who wish to study textile designing.”
There is no doubt the field has picked up pace locally in the past few years due to increased branding. Should we be worrying about “its scope”? I guess you and I both know the answer to that question! As for Nida, there’s no stopping her; she aims to pursue her Masters from Saint Martin’s School, London. She suggests Us readers: dream! That is where your journeys begins!
