Guest blogger: Björn Eriksson's Postcard from India

Written by

Tags

BATD Alumni, Bjorn Eriksson, international exchange, NID India, RMIT global, students

International exchange opportunities are offered within BATD in the second year of the program. Each year, students can take up the challenge to spend a semester with RMIT affiliated institutions in locations as diverse as Boras, Sweden, Rhode Island School of Design, USA, Nottingham Trent and Glasgow School of Art, UK, NID India, Estonia Academy of the Arts, Estonia, and Concordia, Canada.

Image: Björn at NID

Final year student,Björn Eriksson spent the past 4 months at the National Institute of Design in India, and reflects on his time there:

Being in India for an extended period of time is an incredible challenge. It is to overcome oneself and ones ideas regarding life and culture, and to overcome the littlest and biggest things in everyday life, from eating food and crossing streets to perceptions of the world and means to be a global citizen.

In the last 12 months I, as a young fellow from Sweden, have spent 6 months in Australia and at RMIT, completing my second year as a Textile Design student. I spent 4 1/2 months in India on exchange, completing my 1st semester of third year as a textile design student. And the rest I have spent at my parents in Sweden.

Image: Elephant in the streets of Ahmedabad

Image: Colourful Food at NID

The time in India was a roller coaster, I had some fantastic experiences and some terrible. The National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, teaches in a very different way from RMIT. (I have not seen a project brief even once during my time there!)
They work in blocks, no parallel courses, and with open ended projects. Sort of ‘here is the skill we want you to learn, explore it and see what becomes of it’. Really neat, actually.

The first project I did became a collaboration with my fellow exchange student Jeanne Morel, from ENSAD in Paris. We were taught traditional felting by three Kashmiri men, and we developed 3D shapes for a wall installation piece.

Image: Felt Workshop Craftsmen at work

Image: 3D Felt workshop wall sculpture outcome – Björn Eriksson & Jeanne Morel

For our second project we were taught weaving by a man named Kurma Rao, more aptly called the ‘Weaving Guru’. He passed on ideas and wisdoms about life and weaving that made my soul sing. Using handmade leno weaving structures and wire I made three 3D lampshade pieces that I thought turned out pretty cool.

Image: Weaving in Ahmedabad

Image: Double Ikat Weaving

Image: Yarn Spinning in Ahmedabad

Furthermore, the country.

India is overwhelming. It is breathtakingly beautiful, it is just as breathtakingly intense. Crossing the streets littered with scooters, cars, three wheelers, buses, cows, dogs, elephants, camels and manure, is a challenge. Experiencing an Indian wedding is an indescribable notion of extravagance and loud speakers. Seeing the Taj Mahal is just more than I could ever convey.

Image: Taj Mahal

The culture is as much. To navigate what can be said and not, to understand honorifics and social cues, to learn about the religions and vast differences between even just states and tribes. To see the traditional crafts and skills of the people. The prevalence of handmade goods, the beauty of the over-the-top. The casual mixed with the professional. The relaxed hard work. The contrasts are just as intense as the dogs crying at night. India is intense. And it leaves you never forgetting a single moment of it.