Mehak Verma

Mehak Verma is a weave textile designer based in London and India.

In 2020, she completed her B.des in Textile and Apparel Design from National Institute of Design, India.

She has worked with Christopher Farr Cloth, London as a design intern and has contributed in it's design, production and marketing department. She has also worked with export house like V-weave Panipat, on handloom rugs for her graduation project. An internship at Rangsutra Crafts Ltd., Delhi has given her the broad understanding of the crafts sector, artisans project and production management. She also worked on NID Haryana’s collaborative project with Earthwatch Institute, India on Water Hyacinth craft in her academics.

With her keen interest in interior textiles, Mehak designs fabrics taking inspiration from nature, architecture and lately, certain aspects of mental health. Through her practice, she has been exploring juxtaposition of anxiety and calm, experimenting with textures, patterns, colour and yarn mixing.

Award: The Bradford Textile Society Design Competition 2021-22

Commendation awarded by Clothworkers Company in the category of woven fabric design for fashion or accessories.

Anxiety and calm can exist together, one higher than the other at different times.

What looks like calm can be another symptom of anxiety…other than, shivering, dizziness, palpitations and so on? It’s deeper than what anyone can think of…

The Brief was to design a range of interior soft/hard furnishing fabrics, suitable for different products like sofa coverings, cushions and so on, by exploring the juxtaposition of anxiety and calm through different materials, textures and weave techniques.

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The project “Anxiety and Calm” is an attempt to understand and represent the aspects of anxiety that are not visible from the outer layer. One of that aspect is calm. An anxious human body goes through a lot internally, even if the person looks calm and stable from outside.

The Intent behind this project came from my own personal experiences with anxiety and my struggles to find calm amidst that. For colours and textures, I have taken inspiration from the places that I’ve been travelling to in the past one year. And these have been the travel spots that felt like calm and peace, but when observed carefully, I found myself most anxious and worried inside. These continuous experiences of mine at different places inspired me to put this into my interior soft and hard furnishing fabrics.

I have aimed to get a sense of calmness in my fabrics but when experienced closely through touch or vision, it gives the hidden presence of anxiety through roughness, irregularities in patterns and textures, etc.

Carrying all the anxiety within, the places I have been travelling in search of calm.

Sketches to visualise various physical symptoms of anxiety, for example, palpitations, dizziness, shivering, pins and needles, etc. Both the inspirations has been brought together to represent the concept.

A range of blues, browns, and greys, making the theme more atmospheric and natural.

Linen, chunky wool, cotlin, and a hidden presence of polyester. A range of materials have been used together, a range of colour yarns have been twisted together, to achieve surfaces that represents the juxtaposition of anxiety and calm.

The dominant browns that reminds of earth and the grounding. The jitters and nervousness, marking it's presence through rough knots and haziness.

Visualisation.

The sense of air, relaxation and breathe, from the range of blues in the fabrics. And a sense of hidden uncomfort, unease in it, when touched or looked closely.