Meet CIEL Textile’s talent: Anirwan Bansriyar

“I fell in love with art and paintings as a kid, thanks to the culturally rich region I come from,” Anirwan Bansriyar , Director of Product and Design at Aquarelle India India for five years now shares. He recently took on the same role at Tropic India .

His passion for art

Colours and combinations fascinated young Anirwan. “With my family, we used to visit a lot of cities where I got to see different lifestyles and dressing styles. The colours and culture unconsciously sparked my desire to create clothes for beautiful people.”

But wait! It’s the mid-1990s, and the design professions are only at their budding stage in India. “My parents had mixed feelings about my choice. While my father was more supportive and progressive in his thinking, my mum was concerned. She often asked if I would get a job afterwards,” he recalls. Spoiler alert: turns out he nailed it!

“NIFT sharpened my raw talent”

Back then, fashion institutes were rare in India. And the National Institute of Fashion Technology Delhi stood out. “Since it was an unchartered territory, I wanted to do it at the best school, which it still is today,” he says.

Anirwan has a treasure trove of memories from his NIFT days. “The school sharpened my raw talent,” he reminisces. His journey there ended beautifully in 2000. That’s the year he bagged his master’s degree in Textile Design and Development!

From Grassroots to Creative Director

His professional journey started with an internship with world-renowned fashion designer Rajesh Pratap Singh. “He was a great mentor,” he beams. He then secured his first job at Arvind Mills, where he discovered the nitty-gritty of textile and fabric making, before joining the Indian Tobacco Company, where he explored the apparel industry.

Hold on! The best is yet to come!

The year is 2005, and his phone buzzes: it’s ALBERT ROUSSET , the Creative Directive at CIEL Textile, offering him a job in Mauritius. A no-brainer: “I grabbed this opportunity with both hands.” He worked in Mauritius for five years before moving to Aquarelle India to create a design department, and later on promoted to the position of Director of Product and Design. “It’s been a great journey so far!”

“Chase your dreams”

Today, his role is highly strategic. He identifies prospective markets and brands. He crafts product strategies and drives innovation through R&D. Anirwan also travels the world not only to analyse market trends, but also to build stronger relationships with clients. Sustainability is at the core of his work: “Everything depends on the choices we make at the very beginning of the design process.”

To young people looking forward to embracing a career in fashion design, he has only one message: “Chase your dreams and stay lit!”