Ep 83:[Republish] Preserving India's Rich Craftsmanship: Award-Winning Designer Rina Singh, Founder of Eka Design Studio

Rina Singh's roots are in rural North India, where she was raised within a culture of family and community craftsmanship, which continues to influence her. She has experience researching and developing indigenous Indian textile techniques with NIFT Gandhinagar, where she worked as an assistant professor. She gained international fashion insight through her travels and work with an international design studio based in Prato, Italy, and with Wills Lifestyle, where she headed the women's wear category.

In 2011, Rina Singh launched "ekà," primarily working with textile craftspeople in rural Western and Eastern India to develop natural and sustainable fabrics in modern yet enduring silhouettes.

Eka` means one in Sanskrit and describes a one-of-a-kind product for women who wear their hearts on their sleeves and attitude in their clothes.

Rina Singh made history as the first designer from India to collaborate with the global apparel conglomerate Uniqlo for the launch of its first-ever Kurta collection, available across stores globally, for the AW19 and SS20 seasons.

She received the Chairman's Scholarship from Wigan & Leigh College to study fashion in the UK in 1998. In 2015, she was awarded the Elle India Graduates Award. In 2016, she was a runner-up at the Vogue India Fashion Fund and a regional finalist from India for the prestigious International Woolmark Prize. In 2019, Rina Singh was awarded the Vogue Power List - Minimalist Designer of the Year and featured as Harper Bazaar's Women of the Year.

Key themes emerging out of our conversation:

• Education was not a right, and she had to earn it.
• Creating the Eka Tribe and building the community.
• Rina's relationship with her different mentors, her confidant.
• Strong women are often silenced more than empowered.
• Discover how Rina's scholarship paved the path to where she stands today.
• How reading served as a refuge during challenging times, an escape.
• She recognized her place in the world of fashion and that everyone rises together.
• Fashion is not just an attire but a means of expressing one's personality and individuality.
• Values of simple village life, rural surroundings, and elements like earth, water, air, and nature and their influence on Rina's work and perspective.
• Highly skilled and dexterous craft should not merely survive but thrive and become a form of art.

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