In 2004, I took a course on “Elements of Design” for Fashion Design students. It was quite challenging, because I had to interpret line, shape, texture and other design elements within the framework of Fashion Design. I have to thank Gitika Goyal, a close friend, successful fashion designer-producer, and future colleague at Srishti for helping me clarify my concepts & notions.

The culmination of the course was an assignment where the students had to take an ordinary plastic cafeteria chair, wrap it using a single sheet of cloth of over 5 metre length, in order to either enhance or totally distort its original form. Here is what they did:

Anitha altered the form of the chair to look like a baby carriage, giving it a distinct hood and opening. Devesh altered the form of the chair to resemble a human being, almost making the rear legs disappear. Lakshmi Narayan flipped the chair over to redefine its front, back, top and bottom. Sanjeeta tried to enhance the quality of the chair by making it more aristocratic and formal. Rekha tried altering the form of the chair by integrating the distinct back and seat forms into a single plane.

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