Meet Damini Mittai, Redress Design Award 2019 finalist

A love of the land and of India’s precious cultural heritage inform the designs of finalist Damini Mittai, born in a small town called Palamaner in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. “Land is considered sacred in India,” she says. “Every day, the land in front of our houses is washed and decorated with designs called ‘rangavalli’, the name of my collection. The soil from the land, used to make terracotta pottery, has been a source of income to my hometown for centuries.” Aiming to reconnect consumers to these stories, Damini up-cycles waste textiles, including secondhand saris, to create clean-lined, zero-waste pieces.

These are also reversible, allowing versatility in use. Around 40 per cent of construction is handwork, reducing energy consumption in production and adding a unique value to the pieces. For Damini, creating experience, seeding curiosity, seeking familiarity in the unfamiliar and breaking the ceiling of tradition are keys to raising awareness . As both a consumer and a creator, it is essential to design holistic solutions to problems,” she says. “Sustainability is the only ideal and compassionate way of life. Creating awareness amongst consumers is the first step towards sustainability. Consumers have to start looking at clothes not simply as commodities but as items that can negatively impact the environment but that could also change with them over time.” She is not frightened of hard work. “I was told I could never be a designer because I came from a small town”, says Damini, who holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Fashion Design from the Pearl Academy in Delhi. “It affected me more than it should. Now every step in the design process works towards breaking this notion: that dreams and ambitions are limited or dependent on where you come from.”

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