Meet the Graduate Diploma alumna designing space clothes

Anurita Chandola (Art & Design Graduate Diploma, 2021) is a fashion and textiles designer from India. After a successful career in the fashion industry she decided to join the Art & Design Graduate Diploma at the Royal College of Art (RCA) to learn new skills and develop her practice.

The RCA’s Art & Design Graduate Diploma programme has five specialisms for students to choose from. Anurita chose the Fashion & Textiles specialism. During her eight months on the programme she developed a collection of clothes for space.

“On day one I told my tutor that I wanted to design clothes for space,” Anurita recalled. “Instead of laughing at this idea, they were pretty excited. If you enter the Graduate Diploma with an idea, and you really believe in it, the tutors are going to push you to experiment, work, research, and then work on it to make it a reality.”

On the course, Anurita created multi-functional clothing to be worn inside space vessels, specifically with a journey to Mars in mind. “It takes seven months to get to Mars,” Anurita explained. “So every material that you carry, every fibre that you use, every textile that you use has to be sustainable. Everything needs to be thought of so that it does not interfere with the space vessel you’re living in.”

Her clothing for space was designed to work in a weightless environment. These highly customised space suits have multiple functions. “When you’re on Mars, you just carry one outfit with you,” Anurita continued. “For the next occasion you just change its shape, it becomes a new garment and you have a new outfit.” While designed for the future space traveller, this sustainable approach also offers solutions applicable to life on earth.

Since graduating from the RCA, Anurita has continued exploring textiles and clothing for space. In 2022, she contributed to the Building a Martian House project by artists Ella Goode and Nicki Kent. Anurita led the development of textiles and clothing for the project. Through workshops with local school children and people from the community, they explored textiles that could be made and used on Mars, from spacesuits to clothing, bedsheets and curtains.

Having completed the RCA’s Art & Design Graduate Diploma, collaborating with others from different disciplines and backgrounds is something that comes naturally to Anurita.

“The beauty of this programme is that it’s multidisciplinary, so there were tutors not only from fashion, which was my specialism, but you could also discuss your projects with tutors from different specialisms, like architecture or fine art. They would bring an idea, or their perspective on making your project a reality.”

“You could also collaborate with your peers,” she added. “There were students from all across the globe and from different specialisms. Collaborations and being able to talk to fellow students helped me a lot. I would highly recommend this course for people who are working in industry, or who haven’t touched art at all, and would like to see where their practice lies.”

The short nature of the programme and its flexible modes of teaching suited Anurita. She was able to complete the course while living in Bristol, and still made the most of the practical workshops and facilities.

Reflecting on her time at the RCA, Anurita commented: “I learned a lot from the course – the importance of research in your art practice, the importance of collaboration, the importance of experimentation. These are all things that I still use in my art practice.”

“This course just changed my life completely. I was in the fashion industry and I never thought I would have my own art practice before being here. It really made me believe that no idea is crazy enough. If you believe in your idea, just go with it and keep working on it.”