Blending fashion with architecture
Purnima Pilapitiya
Pradika
Pradika Maheswaran’s proposal for the Colombo Fashion Week’s (CFW) Design Trunk Show’s pop-up store space draws inspiration from this year’s theme of tie-dye. The 24-year-old architect’ has never seen the process of tie-dying a garment in real life, so she tapped into cyberspace for a close approximation. The result? A twisty, bendy space that brings to life not just the theme, but also the design innovation ethics that CFW so readily espouses.
This year CFW’s Design Trunk Show from March 12-14 will see some of its designers’ brand new collections available for the public on the days of the main show, so even if you haven’t received your invite you can still partake in the season’s best pickings. The segment is a new introduction to the official CFW package, along with the Fashion Bar and Fashion Café offerings, all available at the Hilton.
Pradika studied for her Bachelor’s in Interior Architecture at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Malaysia, moving on to complete her Masters in Urban Vision and Architectural Design at Domus Academy in Milan. She works now as an Assistant Architect with Arch International. Her discipline- interior architecture- is fairly unusual, we say. “I thought so too,” she laughs. “But it allows me to study and work with both interior design and architecture and it’s very interesting. I’m glad I chose this!”
Pradika responded to a release she saw in a newspaper about the competition CFW organised to pick its pop-up store designer, and says she was quickly inspired by the theme, and the site visit to the Hilton poolside where the pop-up was to be built. She was briefed on the requirements that CFW had with regards to size and space. “They wanted an almost bazaar-like feel, so I designed the pop-up as a market place almost, with stores on either side, minimum partitions and a space in the middle for people to wander through,” she says.
“Tie-dye is about twists and folds,” explains the designer, sharing the vision for her concept. 17 stores have been compartmentalised into the space Pradika has designed, and she says the geometry of the design is “not organic at all. It’s all about the lines and the patterns.” The colours, she notes, are there but muted; “the focus is on the stores and what they’re offering inside.”
Using fabric separation to create the vibe of a walk-in closet, Pradika also revised her design to make half partitions instead of the full ones she had initially envisioned. The pop-up stores will be built by Tata Housing.
CFW President Ajai Vir Singh conceptualised a competition to choose the design for the trunk show because he wants “architects and designers to know that there are opportunities in fashion and retail,” he says. “It’s a different side of design and there’s a lot of room for experimentation.” Pradika, on her end, says she is thankful for the opportunity-“it’s not really something you think of as a possibility-to blend fashion with architecture. Now I have the confidence to take on opportunities in this field as an architect.”