Designing a Community

With Preeti Mishra

Preeti Mishra, an ex-student at the Adharshila/MasterG Tigri centre in New Delhi, interned at MasterG’s Okhla studio. She currently handles incoming orders and GScore – encompassing meeting customers, checking inventory, quality control of design products, production and much else. 

The Pune-born and educated youngster’s dreams shattered with her exiting her beautician’s training course midway when she moved to Delhi as an 18-year-old bride. 

Visiting her parents, she joined Pune’s Inter National Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD) for a six-month Diploma course. Again, she gave it up to return to Delhi. 

But by then, in 2015, the determined girl had imbibed enough to start a tailoring and designing venture from home. 

“When customers wanted clothes tailored, I would sketch some designs and give the client options. This seemed to work well, especially for bridal trousseau. As customers increased, my husband objected to ladies constantly coming to the house. Again, I had to stop my business. But I was restless as I still needed to earn to compensate for the Rs.35,000 fee paid to INIFD in Pune. My son’s playschool Principal helped by giving me a teaching job. Aware of my skills, she also asked me to create costumes for the school plays, fancy dress and other events,” Preeti details. 

Simultaneously, she continued searching for pattern making classes and found the Adharshila-MasterG program. “Interestingly, they encouraged girls from similar and even less privileged backgrounds than mine. Meeting Gayatri Ma’am has opened a new world for me. We could never dream about doing what MasterG was teaching us. We learnt pattern making, detailing, and other out of the box skills. We students received a stipend as a part of the ‘Learn while you Earn’ program,” Preeti says.

To my last query: “My future? I see myself no longer designing only garments and products. I feel responsible towards Designing a Community,” the 33-year-old concludes positively.

Contact

Preeti Mishra Tel: +91 93154 07337

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