A world of her own : Nyishi Parekh

What does individuality mean to you, and how do you express it?
Individuality to me is Aura. The particular way a person occupies a room. The alignment they have between their inner selves and how they present themselves to the world. As a creative individual I express it through fashion and design. What I put on and what I build come from the same place.

How has your relationship with style evolved as you’ve evolved as a woman?
It has become calmer and much more certain. I understand layering differently now. Not as adding more but as building depth.I also care far more about fabric and materials than I used to. How it feels on the skin matters more than how it reads in a photograph. And I say no to uncomfortable everything. If it pinches, scratches or asks me to perform it does not make it out of the house. Style for me now is what I can actually live in.

What is one quality you value more in yourself today than you did ten years ago?
Steadiness. Not in a calm, sorted way. There are unstable days more than I would like to admit but what I value is being able to come back from them and that is what actually holds things together. Being a mom has unlocked a lot I did not know I had in me.

What does it mean to evolve while staying true to what makes you, you?
As you get older and as life actually happens to you, you keep shedding a younger self to get to the next one. To me that is not a loss so much as the only way through. I am not sure you can fully stay true and evolve at the same time.I still recognise myself in the work, in what I am drawn to, in how I want a room or a day to feel but the woman doing it is not the one from ten years ago.

What about Āroka’s approach to design and its evolving identity resonates with you?
Āroka is where light meets form and that is a language I understand. Shweta builds a silhouette from cloth and craft the way I try to build a room from material and light. I have been following her work closely since the beginning and what stays with me is the brand does not keep starting over. The femininity, the individuality and the craft are still there.The identity just gets deeper as it evolves.