Stitaa Shreeram on Culture, Craft and Designing Her Own Lane in South Australia
Photo: Zane Qureshi
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hey, I’m Stit, I’m 19 years old, and I love art and fashion. I’m in uni at the moment doing a degree in marketing and psychology. I enjoy music & painting as well.
When and how did you realise you were into fashion and art?
I’ve been doing art since I was like four years old because my parents were the ones who put me into art lessons and stuff. So I’ve loved it my whole life. I think I have done it for 15 years now. With fashion, I’ve been doing it for about three to four years, and I feel like my brand was a way for me to combine my love for art and fashion.
How would you describe your particular fashion style?
I have so many different ones. I can’t honestly stick to one. When you think Stit, one day I’ll be in a full pink babydoll outfit and the next I’m channelling some vampire vibes. So definitely not one style I love switching it up.
Who or what inspires you?
I like really out-of-the-box and unconventional art. Like combining 3D elements into something that’s conventionally 2d. I love seeing that in art.
Can you tell us a bit about your brand?
So a funny story about how I started my brand. Like three years ago I was painting a lamp and split paint on my jeans and I was like what do I do now? So I ended up drawing a flower around it to cover it up and I realised I could paint whatever I want on jeans. So funnily enough my brand was born out of a mistake.
What’s the aesthetic of your brand?
I’ve got a bunch. My first collection was super floral it was called Gardenia so we had a bunch of flowers and butterflies. The second one was the complete opposite, skulls & chains - very monochromatic. So I’ve got lots of aesthetics.
Going off that - your graphics feature a lot of skulls, hearts, butterflies as well as characters such as Hello Kitty. Would you say that your youth and growing up in the early 2000s/2010s has had an influence on your designs?
Yeah Definitely! I have lots of 2000s-inspired designs. Even the actual jeans that I use are low rise very Y2k.
What’s your creative process like?
Ooh, my process takes ages. Since I paint on jeans, you can’t erase any mistakes, you have one shot. So I do a lot of drafting before I do my final piece.
Do you thrift your jeans or purchase them wholesale? And what are your thoughts on sustainable fashion?
So sustainable fashion has been on the rise which I LOVE. Every single Stit.Art piece is thrifted - so all of my jeans, tees, and everything is 1/1 and up-cycled. And I am very much for sustainability.
If or I suppose when you get bigger in the future, do you hope to keep sustainability, or do you hope to manufacture in a factory?
So I’ve thought about scalability, and, if/when I grow as a company, it’s gonna be difficult to hand paint everything - so in terms of painting, I want to branch into screen printing, of course. Just to keep it handmade but less time-consuming. As far as Jeans, I would love to still have lots of up-cycling.ng I’m not too sure how that’d work, but I’d love to find a sustainable & ethical manufacturer so that it represents my brand values.
Could you tell us a little bit about your upbringing & background?
I moved from India to Australia about six years ago, I lived there for thirteen years of my life. The move here was pretty random. My parents just wanted a better life so we moved here even though it was very different in terms of culture. However, I absolutely love Australia & Adelaide.
Now you also do a lot of henna - what are your thoughts about creating unique and non-traditional designs as well as having non-Indian people wearing it?
I love contemporary art, and in terms of henna, you don’t see too many people creating non-traditional. Most of the henna in the media and online is very wedding-based. I think as long as henna is used respectfully and people appreciate the culture, there’s not much of a problem that I have. I feel like it’s something we can all love collectively.
What are your thoughts on the South Australian creative scene here?
Oh, I love it! I love everyone in the fashion scene and the creative scene in general. I’ve noticed there have been so many fashion businesses popping up in the last two years. We have our little community network going, it’s so wholesome. Everyone loves each other, everyone supports each other - I love it.
Where do you hope to be in five years?
I want to be screen printing my designs; that is a top priority for me. Five years will be the defining point for my degree. I’m not gonna lie, my uni degree is plan b I want Stit Art. So I’m using my time at University to define my brand, so hopefully in five years, Stit Art will be bigger.
@STIT.ART
@STITAASHREERAM
WWW.STITART.COM
