INTERNSHIP REPORT of NITIN BAL CHAUHAN

NITIN BAL CHAUHAN INTERNSHIP REPORT DURATION - 9th JUNE, 2020 9th SEPT, 2020 WRITTEN BY - SAGARIKA KALITA

CONTENTS

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02.

01.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT- (01)

INTERNSHIP CERTIFICATE- (02)

03.

COMPANY PROFILE- (04)

- ABOUT - KEY DEPARTMENTS - PRODUCT RANGES - SURFACE/EMBROIDERY/DETAILS

04.

JOB DESCRIPTION & RESPONSIBILIIES- (12)

05.

PROJECT 1- (14)

06.

PROJECT 2- (16)

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09.

10.

REFLECTION- (35)

PROJECT 5- (31)

11.

ANNEXURE- (37)

08. PROJECT 3- (22) PROJECT 4- (26)

12.

EVALUATION FORM- (40) ii

ACKNOWLEGMENT I express my sincere thanks to Mr. Nitin Bal Chauhan, Creative director and Designer of the label NBC, for giving me the opportunity to perform as an intern in their firm.

I would like to pay my deep sense of gratitude to my industry mentor Mrs. Stuti Sud Chauhan, for encouraging me and providing me her guidance, suggestions and directions to understand the label and the work.

I also feel to acknowledge my indebtedness to my faculty mentor Mrs. Anupama Dutt whose invaluable guidance and kind supervision given to me throughout the period of internship has shaped my work and attitude.

Lastly, I am obliged to my friends and family for their elevating inspiration and guidance showered upon me in the completion of my internship.

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NBC INTERNSHIP CERTIFICATE

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Nitin Bal Chauhan is an Indo-Western pret and couture clothing label run by Mrs. Nitin Bal Chauhan the Creative Director and Head Designer of the label along with his wife and business partner Mrs. Stuti Sud Chauhan, Head of Sales and Marketing of the label.

His work and collections are inspired by combining Indian craftsmanship with western gothic sensibilities. NBC is unique for its expressionist artworks which are transformed into surfaces and embellishments on the garments and unique 3D embroidery work.

It is not only a major design label in India, but is well-known for its work in other parts of the world. NBC has been attending and showcasing their collections in big platforms like London Fashion Week, Tokyo Fashion week, Jakarta Fashion week etc. It has also won many awards from competitions like ‘Best Design Collection Award, by Ritu Kumar for Fashionova 2002’, ‘Femina, FDCI and British Design Council Award 2004’, ‘AZA Gen Next award for best designer at Lakme Fashion Week’ etc.

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ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Nitin Bal Chauhan is an Indian designer who has his own label under the same name. He is a graduate from NIFT Delhi, in the year 2002. After his graduation, he went back to his hometown at the laps on the Himalayas where he worked for the upliftment of craftsmanship of Himachal Pradesh which formed in an NGO, the name was Sewa Himalaya. Inspired by the craft there, he created a collection called ‘Lust for Life’ where the craftsmen were an integral part of the whole journey and collection.

Nitin Bal Chauhan claims that his foundations are always deeply rooted with the wandering tribes of the Himalayas. Traditional fabric origin, techniques and authentic garment choices are a seasonal reality for him.

His work has always revolved around political issues, History and the dark side of human beings or the combination of all. His collections represent very unique take on fashion, He is often referred to as someone who has an artistic take on fashion. He won the title of ‘Best Debut Designer Award, 2007’ when he first launched his collection in the Lakme Fashion Week. His work was higly appreciated because of its raw and originality.

KEYWORDS- Eccentric, Gothic, Agony, Significant

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Nitin Bal Chauhan showcasing ‘The Gateway’ collection at Lotus Fashion Week

He also had another clothing line called “Bhoot-Savaar’ which was a rebellious and street wear fashion line targetting specifically the youth.

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KEY DEPARTMENTS AT NBC During my time as an intern in Nitin Bal Chauhan I was firstly introduced to the flagship store space which is located in Mehrauli, Delhi.

After that I was introduced to the studio which is basically an atelier of NBC located in Malviya Nagar, Delhi. The designing,, brainstorming, finalizing, storing of completed garments, courier packages, cliential handling etc are mostly done in the atelier of NBC. They also have a production factory in Tughlakabad, Delhi. All the production work happens in the factory from stacking of materials, cutting, stitching, finishing and packaging. However due to the pandemic situation I couldn’t get an opportunity to visit the factory as the area was sealed for a couple of months and once it opened only some members were allowed to travel back and forth.

The Flagship Store in Mehrauli

Digital work station

The underground floor studio in Malviya Nagar 7

PRODUCT RANGES

At NBC their products are classifies into Western wear, Indian wear and Couture.

They are a luxury occasionwear clothing store catering to the Indian wedding segment specifically for womenswear.

The silhouettes are often basic and easy-going, it is their unique sense of surfaces that make them who they are. It is mostly straight or asymmetrical to the body but they also explore with drapes.

The Indian category ranges from Tunics & Kurtas, Long dresses, Sarees and Lehangas.

The western category ranges from Tops, Pants, Dresses, Skirts, Jackets and Coats.

The couture collections has mostly gowns and western wear.

The products start around 8000/- and goes up to 1.5/2 lacks.

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UNIQUE SURFACE/EMBROIDERY DETAILINGS

They make use of layering and surface developments through embroideries, both 3D and traditional. They also use prints to complement the embroideries, their embroideries are so close and neat that it might look like a print from afar.

Some of the embroideries used in NBC are. . . .

3D embroidery Nalki work Beads work Embroidered button embellishment . Thread work . Kardana work

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Also one of the most unique thing about NBC is that, the artworks are what gets traslated into surfaces for embroideries or prints. The artworks made by Nitin Bal Chauhan are the key to their embroideries.

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JOB DESCRIPTION & JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

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As an intern in NBC, my day to day job and responsibilites were mostly limited to handling clients and managing orders or updating of excel sheets. For the first 1.5 months, it was all about managing the store along with the things mentioned above.

After that, when I shifted to the studio, the same continued along with taking day-to-day updates on productions and vendor coordinations.

Some of the key duties undertaken are mentioned below:-

. OPERATIONS- CLIENT HANDLING . ORDER BOOKS ORGANIZING . CLIENT ASSISTING . COURIER COORDINATIONS . PRODUCTION UPDATES . VENDOR EXCHANGES COORDINATIONS . LOOKBOOKS AND CATALOGUES EDTING . PATTERN TRACING . GARMENT SHOOTS . FDCI STOCKROOM WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT . PROMOTIONAL VIDEO SHOOTING AND EDITING . PHOTOSHOOT ASSISTING . WRIST BANDS EXPLORATIONS FOR SHOOT . SOURCING . PRINT LINE- COMPOSITION DEVELOPMENT AND PLACEMENTS

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PROJECT- 1 CLIENT COMMUNICATION “What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?”

– George Eliot, Novelist

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One of the major roles in NBC as an intern was to handle clients.

Keeping tabs of customer concerns, order details, and updating clients on their orders were an essential part.

Major roles taken care of were. Replying to customers and updating about their order on whatsapp and emails . Updating about couriers . Suggesting about fits and silhouettes for their body types . Taking in new orders . Guiding through the displayed garments on the store . Maintaining a calm environment with clients due to order delay issues.

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PROJECT- 2 BRAND COMMUNICATION “If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.”

- David Brier

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The Gateway Lookbook

In brand communication the responsibilities given to me were to create lookbooks for their different collections. Layouting and editing content of the whole lookbook, freedom to make a creative yet simple cover page were somethings I had to do.

They already had a set format for the layout of their lookbooks.

Overall, there were almost 8 lookbooks that I had created throughout the internship. It was a consistent task.

These lookbooks then had to be shared with clients via whatsapp to promote their sale collections, new collections etc as everything during that time was still being showcased through digital means. This way NBC was still working on sales and marketing and being in touch with their customers.

Some of the lookbooks were also shared with partner websites to display the products available for clients to make a purchase.

Created a logo for the Rakhi Sale Catalogue

Some of the examples of the looksbooks have been attached forward.

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The Fusion HeavyLookbook The Rakhi Sale Lookbook 18

The Indian Heavy Lookbook

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GARMENT SHOOTS

Throughout the internship at NBC, one of the most important task which I was assigned was to take garment photos.

The whole execution of the shoot was completly left upon us to work on, with some bit of guidance. All these garments had to be used for lookbook, promotion of sales and uploading on websites for stockroom sales.

The shoots were basic and focused but it was one of the most hectic things to do.

It would literally take about a whole day to shoot only one particular collection, whereas they had many.

Ironing the garments, placing it on the dress form, clicking of photographs were all a part of the whole garment shoot process.

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VIDEO SHOOTING & EDITING

Along the way, I also had to assist in promotional video shooting and editing for NBC. These shoots were shot around the flagship store and the atelier of Nitin Bal Chauhan.

The videos were directed by Stuti Sud Chauhan, wife and the head of Sales & Marketing in NBC. Job assigned to me were. Shooting of the entire video, via phone. . Editing watermarks and other important pop-up messages on the video. . Editing sound and quality of the video. . Forwarding the videos to clients.

All these videos were a huge part in brand communication and promotion as they were sent to number of old and new clients, awaring them about the on-going sales and launch of new collections.

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PROJECT- 3 ASSISTING IN PHOTOSHOOTS “The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”

- Robert Frank

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This shoot was a try-out for their new collection which was supposed to be launched on Lotus Fashion Week 2020, but got canceled due to the pandemic.

The role as an intern was to hire models, photographer and execute the shoot. The shoot took place in the early morning at the studio at Malviya Nagar.

This collection was inspired by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre which took place in Amritsar on 13th April, 1919. The prints on the fabrics were the artworks made by Nitin Bal Chauhan drawing the inspiration from the sorrows, pain, political crisis during that time.

The silhouettes are also has strong volors and edgy look.

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NEW COLLECTION PHOTO SHOOT Sourcing- For their new collection photoshoot, I was assigned to source materials for the shoot like props, accessories, trims and laces and backdrop fabrics from Lajpat Nagar and Janpath markets.

Assisting on shoot- major roles were helping the model get ready, getting things organized, placing products and accessores in sync.

WRIST BAND EXPLORATIONS Another task was to create some wristbands with laces and their signature buttons for the shoot as an accessory to be used.

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Some photos of the shoot that I assisted in

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PROJECT- 4 NBC FUSION PRINT LINE

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ARTWORK COMPOSITION EXPLORATIONS The task for this was to development compositions from the already existing artworks into someone new to create another dimension and view to the work.

Techniques used for this were mostly, clone, distort, clipping mask, elimination of some parts, repeating of a part etc.

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SILHOUETTE PLACEMENT EXPLORATIONS

These were some explorations that I was assigned to do for placements of their artworks. As mentioned before artworks are an essential part of NBC design, these artworks come to life on the garments through prints or surface development/ embroideries.

This was for their new print line which they are going to launch in 2021. The selected artworks were shared with me to explore in terms of placements on their most well selling silhouettes.

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PROJECT- 5 PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

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DAY TO DAY PRODUCTION UPDATE It involved communicating with the production manager, taking updates regarding the production flow of the pending and new orders, stages of an order, packaging and ready orders. This imcluded updating everything on excels sheets and registers side by side to keep track of the flow.

Every end of the week there would be a meeting regarding the flow of the production with Stuti Sud, head of marketing and sales, Kishor ji, runner of NBC, Pahalwan ji, the manager of the unit and me. Here we would talk about which orders to address first, how to increase the production speed and discuss about things required to be done or bought to make a better flow of business.

Since it was not possible to visit the unit and take updates regularly, we would talk over the phone or video call if somethings weren’t clear.

I also had to make courier slips for all the orders that were ready and needed to be dispatched.

Attending to clients and informing them about the orders were very essential too. The whole management included well communication between clients and the atelier, and I was assigned the role maintain and keep everyone updated regarding their orders.

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Excel sheet of production stages of orders

Excel sheet of everyday production update for cutting, adda and stitching

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Vendor coordinationsAnother role was to arrange materials according to orders, keep them ready and give them to the embroidery and print vendors.

Keeping tracking of what date it went out for making and which date is has come back as a finished garmenrs and accordingly informing clients about their orders.

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REFLECTIONS

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Working at Nitin Bal Chauhan was a far different experience than what I could have thought of. It was very challenging and each day was like a different episode. Having said that, it was also a privilege to have gotten the opportunity to work as an intern in such a well-known and celebrated fashion brand. With the unfortunate scenario of pandemic happening around the whole world it was very difficult to do a lot of work and get things done.

At NBC, it was a tough time for both the brand and the clients, orders were on hold, production and the whole business took a hold on things. It was very difficult to function with limited workers around the unit and studio to get the orders delivered in promised times. There was not a look of new work but completion of pending orders, managing the clients and working on the online platforms to communicate and participate on sales were the main focus during my internship period. I had developed quite a managerial skill which trying to keep things on track, communicating with clients and the production team from time to time. With this internship, I had somewhere realized everything doesn’t or may not pan out the way you might have imagined it to be. Each these tasks were a learning for me which might help me in my further endeavors. Learning to handle business, manage clients and orders were something which I didn’t have any idea about.

Digital marketing and promoting is a growing space and I had learned about many different platforms and ways to communicate through.

Overall, I did develop a sense of understanding about how a brand functions in the industry, how they interact with their customers, how they communicate with different business partners and try to reach maximum number of newer customers or opportunities. It was a different experience but I did learn a few things and only regret not having the opportunity to witness the scenario of how the studio functions while working on new projects due to the pandemic.

However I am optimistic about grabbing more opportunities with time.

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ANNEXURE

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NBC EVALUATION FORM

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