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 Harshika's final project Ra.Sa : Engineering Emotions is a love letter to Indian culture and craft. Showcased through different stages reflecting the journey of life.ARTSTHREAD:Can you describe your concept and creative process? Harshika Chopra: Deeply rooted in Indian aesthetics the project is an ode to Indian culture and craftsmen. The concepts speak about rasa the intangible aspect and kala which is the tangible aspect in Indian aesthetics. This has been translated by studying architecture forms and breaking them into shapes which were juxtaposed for extracting panels. The journey is realized through traditional pattern making technique and various indigenous techniques of surface, embellishment and trims; the re-construction and re-imagining of garments to derive modern silhouettes that align with the architecture form, the location, the rasa and subtly underlines the theory of duality. ARTSTHREAD: Can you explain the thinking behind the key concepts and outcomes of your project? Harshika Chopra: Initially, the project was set to acknowledge the different regions of India and how one differs from another even by passing through the same historic reforms. For me architecture is the tangible form that describes the history of the land and communicates its tales. Thus, the thought was to make a blend of different art and crafts from different regions. To tell the story of the land via a garment, objects have been procured from or influenced by different regions. Handwoven indigenous cotton from East and South as the base fabric-Surface ‘Ajrakh’ print from West- Soof Embroidery from North and Braiding trim details from North East India has been fused together in a garment to portray the united self of different regions, history and emotions. ARTSTHREAD: Are you 100% back on campus or are you still working all/partly from home? Please describe your environment? Harshika Chopra: Yes, I am back on campus. The campus surroundings have been a sudden change after two years at home. On arrival there was a sense of shock, but it soon transformed into a state of energized excitement, which was brought upon by the fact that we were able to utilise the resources of the campus and also materialise the opportunities that were missing during the lockdown period. This helped me in my project to get out and explore the various techniques; achieving the textiles and surfaces that were required to attain the Final Collection of the project. ARTSTHREAD: Has being back on campus given you a new perspective on the university/your class colleagues/tutors? Harshika Chopra: Being back on campus has indeed re-energized things. Until now, things were more physical than digital, people now are more active and engaging themselves with all sorts of work around the campus. Providing peer reviews to help has made us all bustling and diligent with our projects. Tutors have been even more supportive by reviewing, mentoring, and helping with our skills of time management. They've helped in incorporating and brainstorming the varied ideas to conceptualise things.  Returning back to campus after 2 years of online learning reinvigorated Harshika's practice, as she was able to work alongside her peers again and take inspiration from her surroundings.ARTSTHREAD: Has the need for online learning changed your outcomes? Harshika Chopra: Not necessarily, as a major part of our project was offline. The online learning definitely gave us more time by way of research, and for self-expression and self analysis. This helped us to build a great base but later it was upscaled at the process of conceptualization, when the need for tangible things stepped in and the environment shifted to offline. ARTSTHREAD: Did you need to innovate when you had to work by yourself at home? Harshika Chopra: The timeline when we were working at home was the research stage and just the beginning of the project where we were looking into different areas/market/category of the project. For me, the innovation I did was in terms of extracting silhouettes and experimenting with that aspect of Indian apparel itself, as the market of Indian apparel and my project appeals mostly towards that direction and the time and space I had at home helped me in achieving that direction and thus leading to a form of innovation that was needed for the project. ARTSTHREAD: What's one thing that has helped you get through the last 2 years? Harshika Chopra: Being someone who lives in extremes, I felt that the pandemic bought enough space and time to analyze and to look back upon things. These two years helped to critically judge myself, helped me plan my goals, developed my interests and most importantly helped me find myself with a distinctive mind process. This entire journey of figuring out my design and fashion journey within a professional outlook kept me going. ARTSTHREAD: What are the most positive learning outcomes from this process? Harshika Chopra: The willingness that has been developing while being away from the campus made this entire project all the more happening. The key elements in my entire process were to interact and communicate with different people and communities. Thus, this process of traveling, meeting new people and living in different surroundings while following a deadly timeline was the most positive and a practical experience that was gained. ARTSTHREAD: How do you think design can help improve the world? Harshika Chopra: I feel design is a perfect mixture of artistic expressions and pragmatic concerns. And this nature of design is a perfect fit for society as it gives you the freedom of expression and fantasy, but at the same time it's guarded by practicality and objectification. Design connects people with their daily lifestyle and their ideologies as it brings out their way of expressing it. Therefore, over time design I feel will be a blend of one’s ideology, culture and beliefs, making one’s individuality stand out amongst the crowd. ARTSTHREAD: What are your hopes for the future? Harshika Chopra: In future I imagine myself to be a design and cultural researcher, by promoting and preserving the crafts and the age-old techniques that evokes the yearning for local and indigenous products. In a way striking balance between academics and production of products with a more elevated and sophisticated approach. ARTSTHREAD: Thank you Harshika - we wish you all the very best! See Harshika’s ARTSTHREAD Portfolio Images in slider: Harshika and her work Our Global Design Graduate Show 2022 in collaboration with Gucci is open internationally to all art and design undergraduate or postgraduate students graduating in the Academic Year 2021-22 and the deadline to apply is August 31 2022. 
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In advance of the deadline for Global Design Graduate Show 2022 in collaboration with Gucci, we interview Harshika Chopra, a 2022 graduating student from Pearl Academy, New Delhi, BA Fashion Design.
Our Global Design Graduate Show 2022 in collaboration with Gucci is open internationally to all art and design undergraduate or postgraduate students graduating in the Academic Year 2021-22 and the deadline to apply is August 31 2022.
See Harshika’s ARTSTHREAD Portfolio
ARTSTHREAD: Where are you from?
Harshika Chopra: I come from Jamshedpur, a small town in the state Jharkhand. I have always been surrounded by well-balanced greenery and the steel industry. Nurturing the mind to find comfort in this blend. While in school the subjects History and Geography intrigued me. Slowly and gradually while educating myself about the arts, I had a leaning towards design and fashion in particular, so I moved to Delhi to pursue my career and design.
ARTSTHREAD: What is the name, theme, concept and final outcome of your graduate project/thesis?
Harshika Chopra: ‘Ra.Sa : Engineering Emotions’ is a journey undertaken travelling around India, talking about myths, tales and emotions developed along the way. Rasa is the pleasure that one gets by looking at something, whether it is with a negative or a positive emotion. The concept is an amalgamation of bhava and architecture. Each stage or rasa depicts Indian history from its struggle to the time it has found balance.
Each stage reflects a tale, a story that unites with the journey of life. It showcases how one’s personality undergoes a change or transform from its raw self with the course of time. It overpowers the theory of choice that plays a dual role in one’s life and thus engineering emotion.
Harshika's final project Ra.Sa : Engineering Emotions is a love letter to Indian culture and craft. Showcased through different stages reflecting the journey of life.ARTSTHREAD:Can you describe your concept and creative process?
Harshika Chopra: Deeply rooted in Indian aesthetics the project is an ode to Indian culture and craftsmen. The concepts speak about rasa the intangible aspect and kala which is the tangible aspect in Indian aesthetics. This has been translated by studying architecture forms and breaking them into shapes which were juxtaposed for extracting panels. The journey is realized through traditional pattern making technique and various indigenous techniques of surface, embellishment and trims; the re-construction and re-imagining of garments to derive modern silhouettes that align with the architecture form, the location, the rasa and subtly underlines the theory of duality.
ARTSTHREAD: Can you explain the thinking behind the key concepts and outcomes of your project?
Harshika Chopra: Initially, the project was set to acknowledge the different regions of India and how one differs from another even by passing through the same historic reforms. For me architecture is the tangible form that describes the history of the land and communicates its tales. Thus, the thought was to make a blend of different art and crafts from different regions. To tell the story of the land via a garment, objects have been procured from or influenced by different regions. Handwoven indigenous cotton from East and South as the base fabric-Surface ‘Ajrakh’ print from West- Soof Embroidery from North and Braiding trim details from North East India has been fused together in a garment to portray the united self of different regions, history and emotions.
ARTSTHREAD: Are you 100% back on campus or are you still working all/partly from home? Please describe your environment?
Harshika Chopra: Yes, I am back on campus. The campus surroundings have been a sudden change after two years at home. On arrival there was a sense of shock, but it soon transformed into a state of energized excitement, which was brought upon by the fact that we were able to utilise the resources of the campus and also materialise the opportunities that were missing during the lockdown period. This helped me in my project to get out and explore the various techniques; achieving the textiles and surfaces that were required to attain the Final Collection of the project.
ARTSTHREAD: Has being back on campus given you a new perspective on the university/your class colleagues/tutors?
Harshika Chopra: Being back on campus has indeed re-energized things. Until now, things were more physical than digital, people now are more active and engaging themselves with all sorts of work around the campus. Providing peer reviews to help has made us all bustling and diligent with our projects.
Tutors have been even more supportive by reviewing, mentoring, and helping with our skills of time management. They've helped in incorporating and brainstorming the varied ideas to conceptualise things.
Returning back to campus after 2 years of online learning reinvigorated Harshika's practice, as she was able to work alongside her peers again and take inspiration from her surroundings.ARTSTHREAD: Has the need for online learning changed your outcomes?
Harshika Chopra: Not necessarily, as a major part of our project was offline. The online learning definitely gave us more time by way of research, and for self-expression and self analysis. This helped us to build a great base but later it was upscaled at the process of conceptualization, when the need for tangible things stepped in and the environment shifted to offline.
ARTSTHREAD: Did you need to innovate when you had to work by yourself at home?
Harshika Chopra: The timeline when we were working at home was the research stage and just the beginning of the project where we were looking into different areas/market/category of the project. For me, the innovation I did was in terms of extracting silhouettes and experimenting with that aspect of Indian apparel itself, as the market of Indian apparel and my project appeals mostly towards that direction and the time and space I had at home helped me in achieving that direction and thus leading to a form of innovation that was needed for the project.
ARTSTHREAD: What's one thing that has helped you get through the last 2 years?
Harshika Chopra: Being someone who lives in extremes, I felt that the pandemic bought enough space and time to analyze and to look back upon things. These two years helped to critically judge myself, helped me plan my goals, developed my interests and most importantly helped me find myself with a distinctive mind process. This entire journey of figuring out my design and fashion journey within a professional outlook kept me going.
ARTSTHREAD: What are the most positive learning outcomes from this process?
Harshika Chopra: The willingness that has been developing while being away from the campus made this entire project all the more happening. The key elements in my entire process were to interact and communicate with different people and communities. Thus, this process of traveling, meeting new people and living in different surroundings while following a deadly timeline was the most positive and a practical experience that was gained.
ARTSTHREAD: How do you think design can help improve the world?
Harshika Chopra: I feel design is a perfect mixture of artistic expressions and pragmatic concerns. And this nature of design is a perfect fit for society as it gives you the freedom of expression and fantasy, but at the same time it's guarded by practicality and objectification. Design connects people with their daily lifestyle and their ideologies as it brings out their way of expressing it. Therefore, over time design I feel will be a blend of one’s ideology, culture and beliefs, making one’s individuality stand out amongst the crowd.
ARTSTHREAD: What are your hopes for the future?
Harshika Chopra: In future I imagine myself to be a design and cultural researcher, by promoting and preserving the crafts and the age-old techniques that evokes the yearning for local and indigenous products. In a way striking balance between academics and production of products with a more elevated and sophisticated approach.
ARTSTHREAD: Thank you Harshika - we wish you all the very best!
See Harshika’s ARTSTHREAD Portfolio
Images in slider: Harshika and her work
Our Global Design Graduate Show 2022 in collaboration with Gucci is open internationally to all art and design undergraduate or postgraduate students graduating in the Academic Year 2021-22 and the deadline to apply is August 31 2022.