Today we’d like to introduce you to Srujana Achyutuni
Hi Srujana, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Well, my name is Srujana, and I’m here to tell you my story. Where shall I begin? I still have no clue how I ended up here, as I truly just let fate take the reins. Fast-forwarding through my childhood, I relocated from the US to India when I was about six years old, starting life anew as an immigrant. I’ve always been an artsy kid—music, painting, drawing, and dance were some of the things I would do daily. I never looked at any of these as a legitimate career path until I suddenly did. Just like almost any other Indian kid, I too was on the conveyor belt to becoming an engineer, specifically a computer science engineer. It’s funny now to imagine me like that, as the only mathematical theorem I can truly remember is the Pythagorean theorem. To give a little context, my dad has four elder brothers, making him the youngest. Each brother has two kids, making me the youngest of five girls and five boys, including my brother, the math prodigy. Everyone, including myself, assumed that I would follow in their footsteps and become an engineer. I never would have guessed that taking a fashion course in high school for fun would change the course of my life forever. I will always be grateful for that one class that made me fall in love with fashion. After realization struck, I truly fought tooth and nail with my family to convince them that this change of heart was not impulsive, but genuinely the right thing to do. I sometimes forget how much I struggled to be where I am today, and how four years ago I would have killed to be who I am now.
To tell you more about me personally, what defines me and makes me who I am today is mostly due to the people I’ve met along the way and the meaningful connections I’ve made. I am a firm believer in moving away from home to find oneself. It’s been a tough journey and still is, but I am who I am today because of moving. Being in New York and being surrounded by so many creative people all the time is challenging, but it has made me produce my best work and become my best self. I’m one of those people who consider work most of my life. However, I’ve recently been learning to step back and also enjoy the process because I was truly beginning to lose the fun in art. I sometimes wonder if fashion design is the right path for me, especially when I look at other forms of art like film, photography, music, and painting. When I look at these other art forms, I’m always enticed to step into the world of that particular art. I believe a true artist has no bounds and doesn’t need to be confined to just one art form but can choose to experiment and find their unique take on artistic self-expression. I believe art exists within everyone and any task. There is art within coding, engineering, cooking, sports, or anything else one does, simply because art is a form of creative self-expression. You can instill creativity into anything.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, but definitely a rewarding one. One of the biggest obstacles I face on a daily basis is insecurity. Being surrounded by many creatives has its advantages, but sometimes it affects my ability to trust myself and ignore everyone else. Art is subjective, and there will always be people, including friends, family, and professors, who don’t like what you make. A big obstacle for me has been to listen to criticism, consider it, and take it constructively, whether it’s meant that way or not. I am constantly surrounded by voices in my head, worried about every tiny detail. Once, a professor told me that one of my designs looked like a Christmas tree while I was presenting to my whole class. Surely, this wasn’t constructive criticism, but I did cry about it in bed later. I laugh while telling people this story today. Recently, I’ve been learning to take it easier and just have fun with what I’m doing. One step that is helping me overcome this is starting to post my work on social media. Posting my work for the public eye forced me to share my work, insecure or not. This helped me realize that in some cases, I have been blind to my own bad work, and in others, hyper-fixated on things that weren’t even a problem to begin with. Posting on Instagram is helping me get over my insecurities and become a more confident artist.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Being a fashion designer was not something I ever expected I would be, especially growing up in a community where art was always considered a hobby, not a profession. I made my hobby my profession. Being a designer has opened up so many different avenues for me. I have no clue what my future is going to look like, but I believe that’s part of the fun. I love drawing inspiration from various things that I am surrounded by daily. I’m inspired by, firstly, my culture, color, texture, environment, and above all, emotion. I’ve always been the type of person who starts crying when I see someone else crying, and today, that same empathy is the biggest source of my inspiration.
One of my recent collections was called “Childhood Revival.” This concept was inspired by a conversation I had with my childhood friends about how things used to be more colorful and vibrant when we were kids. The project pushed the idea of living carefree and enjoying life to the fullest, something my friends and I practice when we are together, and it is what I wanted people to feel when they wear my designs. My most recent collection, “What’s It Like In Your Head?” was an exploration into an artist’s mind and was about the rollercoaster of emotions one feels while creating art. This was depicted through various elements such as color, texture, and fabric manipulation throughout the collection. My main goal as a designer is to make whoever puts my designs on feel beautiful and empowered.
I truly am a lazy person at my core, but I push my boundaries every day to work hard. I’ve done various internships in the fashion industry, where, as one of my friends said, we are just glorified runner boys. Throughout the three years I’ve spent in New York, I’ve done countless volunteer work at my school, fashion shows, and internships, just absorbing knowledge and becoming a better artist. I recently had my first magazine feature in Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, and an online magazine called The Vanilla Issue. All of this is owed to the constant hard work that I’m forcing myself to put in, the wonderful people I connect with every day, and my dear parents who work hard every day just to see me succeed and be healthy.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
This question instantly brought a smile to my face. I have many cherished, happy ‘core memories’ from my childhood. I think about a few of them pretty often, including making a scrapbook of fall leaves my dad and I collected throughout my childhood, making snowmen with my family, being slapped for the first time by my second-grade teacher, my ‘My Little Pony’ themed birthday party, and Halloween every year when my year-long wait for the one day I could dress up as my favorite Disney princess and eat loads of candy would finally arrive. All of these memories shaped me into who I am today. However, one distinct moment that I think about a lot is sometime in 5th or 6th grade when I started carrying large sheets of white paper to school and drawing girls in elaborate ball gowns during class. Little did I know that it would eventually become my career!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/srujana.achyutuni/
Image Credits
Photographers and their Instagram:
Arnav Mangla(@filmfhrer ),
Rahul Rekapalli (@rekapalli.fashion),
Reinhardt Kenneth (@reinhardtkenneth)
MariaElena Kalas (@mariaelenakalas)
