SPOTLIGHT ON ME: WHY I'M WRITING ABOUT DESIGN
Design runs in my family. My father is a fashion designer, and many of my childhood memories involve playing in coat racks and mounds of fabric after school, or visiting many of the showrooms and factories in New York’s Garment District.
Dad at Rothschild's Larry Levine Showroom.
From my mom, I’ve developed my love of patterns, textures and bold, bright colors. My mom is from Mumbai, India, and my childhood summers were frequently spent with family members in India. Trips to spots such as Colaba Market in South Bombay and Linking Road Bandra were always a highlight, where vibrant saris, salwar kameez, gold bangles, jewels and more were displayed.
At a family puja with my mom and her best friend's kid.
I loved wearing Indian outfits as a kid (even though half of the time I was too big to fit the sizes)
These adventures as a child led me to my passion for Interior Design: I studied at FIT and am currently about to begin graduate school (also at FIT) for Exhibition Design and Experiential Events. Most people don’t know what that really means, so often times I refer to 29 Rooms by Refinery29, which is similar to what I hope to be doing one day (honestly, I say this but my mind changes all the time and I don’t truly know what I want to do, let alone what I’m even doing tomorrow).
Presenting my senior thesis design proposal for a community center in The South Bronx.
As a young designer, I’m fascinated by all things design. What I am hoping to uncover is not limited to trends, reports and reviews, but rather to focus on all disciplinaries of design, ranging from interior and architecture to fashion and art.
Ultimately, design is the same in different fields. Direction, movements and tendencies across various fields are identical for the most part, and interpreted in numerous ways. However, what I’ve always seen a lack of, especially in Interior and architectural design, is work by women, especially women of color.
The idols we are taught to look up to in the design world are more often than not white males, who for decades, or even centuries, dictated how we understand the creative world around us. Today, there are countless women who are taking the design world by storm, and I'm hoping to explore, research write and discover as much as I can. So stay tuned, I’ll be featuring both designers near and far, and I’m excited to get to work.
The future is female!