Not every dream profession shapes in a smart classroom, some of them nurture amidst the beauty and hardships of life, where the passion grows itself amidst all adversity. If you are thinking how, Avishek Naiya, a Kolkata-based fashion and textile designer has got the answer to your question.
From an early age, Avishek knew his inner talent of playing with paper and pencil, and later he realized that he can make it all beautiful with his sketches which can be further weaved into impeccable wearable art. As a teenager, Avishek was a passionate individual with sharp skills in stitching, Making dress for dolls, and ornamentation on mats with wool using cross-stitch technique, jewelry making, mehndi design, make-up, draping, and dancing. At an early age, he even tried to choreograph drama and dance for others. And soon all this together nurtured into a full-time profession and in the present time, he proudly calls himself an artist.
At the age of 18, when boys are busy enjoying colors of life, Avishek was filling colors in Durga Pooja pandal. As he says, “From a very young age of 18 I started making big projects of Pandals for Durga Puja and people started recognizing and appreciating my work and started to ask me to join Art College.” And that is when he was introduced to the fact that there are colleges that offer courses in textile designing and one can make a professional career out of it.
Later in his early 20s, he decided to enroll himself in a textile designing course and started living his dream career which now had a name. He recalls, When I started to tally my childhood hobbies to my young age passion I found the answer and finally started to learn Textile Designing from the Govt. College of Art & Craft.” Simultaneously, he started working as a professional bridal makeup artist and also joined in a dance class to learn Indian traditional classical dance form. With time and hard work, his love for textile took professional shape and he combined it together with makeup & dance. Soon the magic of dance became a part of the drama of his textile work and the perfection of the makeup world became synonymous to his outfits. He used to design costumes of his dance troupe, do makeup for all the dancers and together create magic on the dance floor with them. He affirms, “Those were the time when I realized and understood that art is everywhere.
Interestingly, Avishek never did all this to make money; rather he did for his inner satisfaction and happiness. Whatever he used to earn, he used to invest the same in making his all his 3 passion grow bigger and brighter and shape his biggest dream of being a fashion designer and be recognized as a textile designer.
After he got a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts, he got a job in an export house. But on the very first day of the job after internship he realized that he will continue with the job, he might lose his dream. That is when he decided to leave the job.
While he was still figuring out the finance to pursue his dream, a few days later he got a call from INIFD for design faculty and he said yes to it. Slowly the art of balancing helped him make his dream come true.
In 2013, he got a call from Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s office for an interview. He was so excited and ran to his office and the ace designer took himself interview,. Avishek recalls, “He opened the first page of my portfolio and asked me to join. But I told him that I would like to make my own label and I came here to meet you, sir.”
After 2 years, he realized to learn more about designs and joined for a master’s degree in textile design. INIFD refused his resignation later and requested him to continue as a guest faculty. He started his new role as a design guest faculty in INIFD at the morning time and in the afternoon he used to the student of M.V.A and in the evening, he started to run his own business work with a tailor and an assistant in his house. In 2016, he received Governor Award for the best textile Fashion art installation and it gave him a lot of appreciation and confidence to build his own brand. But after a few days he realized, it’s impossible to run, because it needed a lot of money and support.
In 2018 he started television projects for ‘Star Jalsha’, started actively participating in exhibitions, fashion shows, and later started the business with Taj Hotels and many other multi-designer stores.
For an artist to a designer, Avishek’s journey is a true inspiration for those who need a boost to their passion. As he concludes, I am still learning and growing about business/marketing, and in this journey, Rahul Deb is an important part of “Avishekk Naiya”.” Nowadays, they together run the brand and are finding space in the creative world for ”Avishekk Naiya” to create not only “fashion” but also create new “tradition”, that is remembered for its uniqueness in the coming time.
The post This is how Avishek Naiya of Kolkata turned his passion for textiles into a full-fledged brand appeared first on TMM.