Ashita Signal - INDIA

Ashita Singhal is a weaver, designer, and social entrepreneur. She believes in working with limited resources and local materials. Via her design studio Paiwand, she challenges the conventional norms of textile design while focusing on the importance of craft and the need for sustainability. 

Ashita understood the problem of textile waste while studying fashion design. As students cut cloth during pattern making, small and large strips of it would simply fall on the floor and be swept away. Seeing the waste and learning that the fashion industry is regarded as the second largest polluter in the world was an awakening moment for her. During her internship with a conscious apparel design house she learnt that designers were not throwing the waste, but rather storing it to be consciously upcycled.

Paiwand was Ashita’s graduation project where she started weaving the waste textiles.  As a student, she won the James McGuire business grant of $25000 by Laureate International Universities Network, USA in 2018. 

Paiwand, stemming from the Hindi phrase paiwand lagana that means to patch or repair. Yet, it goes many steps ahead: even as Ashita sees beauty in fragments of fabric, she sees their potential in being upcycled, repurposed and getting a new lease of life as stylish garments or home furnishings.

@paiwandstudio