Pearl Academy Graduates Showcase Outstanding Projects Defining The Future Of Design Media and Business

New Delhi, May 10, 2019: Displaying exceptional creative maturity and imagination power, approximately 850 graduating students of Pearl Academy’s Delhi campus showcased their outstanding work during Portfolio 2019. The two-day event witnessed a diverse range of innovative projects being displayed before the industry guests, media personnel, design intenders and parents. This was in continuation to the spectacular showcase by fashion design students at India’s most coveted platform India Fashion Week earlier this year in March. Eminent personalities like Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder, Director, Elephant Strategy & Design; Madhav Raman, Architect and Urbanist; Niladri Mukherjee, Co-founder, Glue Design and Heena Handa, Founding Partner & Creative Head, EDC Space and Design board and many others present on the occasion appreciated students work and shared their valuable inputs with them.

Driven by the passion to create an impact on the society, students of Pearl Academy developed creative solutions to challenging problems to present their work using different modes of communication like animations, films, podcasts, Instagram, AR, VR, and Artificial Intelligence.

Students presented their final projects defining the role of innovation in design, media and business. With the aim to remove the stigma attached to Leprosy, Communication Design student Alisha Prabhakar’s project 'Lepremation' is a campaign to change the mindset of people that still linger around the stigma of leprosy. Another Communication Design student Vedika Khemka developed a podcast on parent-child communication. Through this podcast, Vedika talks about all the tough topics like love, relationships that parents and children find hard to discuss with each other. Anvi Mathur, a Product Design student designed a patient transfer Aid called SLIFT, for easy, safe and comfortable transfer of bedridden patients from one surface to another within the hospital. Fashion Media Communication student, Bhavnoor Monicha developed a newspaper tabloid known as 'Pantogram' inspired by Pantone and colour wheel that would provide information to the readers about fashion and colour trends. Witnessing the growth of cruise tourism, Shivani Agarwal, Interior Design and Styling student focused her work to promote rich Indian heritage, art and culture through her project called ‘Tarangini’. Interior Architecture & Design student, Arjun Chandnani’s project ‘I think we all are blind’ aims to improve the living condition of the visually impaired and help create a surrounding where they are treated equally and made to feel that they are part of the society.

Divyansha Rawat, another Communication Design student who won Who’s Next Scholarship in 2015 and received full merit scholarship, thanked Pearl Academy and her mentors for their constant support and guidance during the entire tenure of her course. Divyansh’s project “The Little Big Things’ is an illustrated contemporary storybook for 6-8-year-old children making them understand the values like empathy, gratefulness, truth etc. and the impact it has on one’s life. Divyansha has found placement in global giant Accenture.

Lauding the efforts put in by the students, Milly Singh, Associate Professor, Pearl Academy said “The projects are an excellent mix of topics that are socially sensitive or relate to personal experiences. The rigorous design process, professional finesse is visible through a variety of medium. There is excellent experimentation reflected in student’s work where they have leveraged technology across transmedia.”

A panel discussion on the topic Heteronormativity and Media was held at Pearl Academy’s Naraina campus. The aim of the panel was to talk about gender inclusivity in mainstream media. The discussion also focused on the struggles of the LGBT community while navigating through digital spaces. Key speakers who shared their valuable inputs included - Taksh Sharma, Model for Huemn, Fashion stylist and TEDx Speaker; Divya Dureja, TEDx speaker, Model for Anaam and a Poet; Dipalie Mehta, Former Marketing Head at the Delta App; Neeraj Mehra, Founder of Unfound Project & Sexuality & Mental Health Trainer Vikram Aditya Sahai who designed the gender studies programme for Dr Ambedkar University and Dhrubo Jyoti, Journalist with Hindustan Times.

Another engaging discussion focused on the topic - ‘Disruption in fashion and luxury retail’. The discussion focused on how the retail and luxury businesses are facing pertinent challenges in the fast-changing, digital age to stay relevant to their target audiences and drive results, forcing brands to ‘self-disrupt’. Key speakers who shared their valuable inputs included - Divesh Aggarwal, Country Manager, Richemont Luxury Group; Sasha Chhetri, Digital Luxury Brand Consultant and Deepika Chopra, Store Manager, Balenciaga.

Commenting on the occasion, Prof. Nandita Abraham, President, Pearl Academy said, “For the last 26 years we have provided our students with a culture of innovation, design and creative thinking along with the right mentors to make them successful in their chosen fields. I am amazed to see the creative potential of our students in finding solutions to real-world problems. I wish them the very best for their future endeavours. I would also like to congratulate the Campus Director, Alok Baraya, Deans of schools of Design, Fashion and Media and all the faculty members of Pearl Academy Delhi for bringing out the best in students.”

Pearl Portfolio has been a signature event of Pearl Academy for more than 26 years and has been an annual launch pad showcasing the work of graduating students. In the recent times, students have also showcased their work at India Fashion week, Pune Design Festival and other global platforms like New York Fashion Week, Dubai Design Week, London Graduate Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week etc.

About Pearl Academy

Pearl Academy, India’s leading institution in design, fashion, business and media has been a catalyst for success of the students across creative industries for 25 years. Pearl Academy offers over 30 uniquely designed under-graduate, post-graduate and professional development pathway through its campuses in Delhi, Noida, Jaipur and Mumbai. Its reputation of preparing ‘Industry ready’ professionals has been recognized by leading fashion, retail and design brands, which has helped in establishing a healthy track record of over 95 per cent placement for the last three years. Its path-breaking alliances with renowned organizations such as the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), Association of Designers of India (ADI) and Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID) have ensured that its faculty and students get an exclusive access to ‘industry in the classroom’.

The institution was ranked as the best private fashion college in India for the fifth consecutive year by India Today survey-MDRA and Outlook – Drshti Survey. Pearl Academy was awarded the ‘Best Design Institute in India’ by industry body ASSOCHAM for three years in a row in 2016, 2017 and 2018. It is the only Indian institute to feature in Business of Fashion’s Top 25 Global Fashion School Rankings (Graduate) in 2017 and has been recognized as a Great Indian Institute 2018 by Forbes and Great Place to Study. Jaipur campus of the academy was ranked as one of the most beautiful college campuses in India by India Today. The institution was also awarded as ‘Best Education Brands 2017’ in Fashion Design Category by The Economic Times.

The Academy is also closely associated with renowned global institutions such as Torrens University, Australia, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, US, Domus Academy, Italy, Media Design School, New Zealand amongst many others. For more information, please visit: www.pearlacademy.com