Dikshita Bansal

Dikshita Bansal is a multidisciplinary designer originally from India, currently based in London. Passionate about Inclusive, Human-centered design, she envisions her practice as a way to give back to the community, help promote better well-being. She uses textiles as a medium to evoke questions and empathic emotions, intending to spread awareness and solve problems. Collaborative design methods are the core of her practice.

Her graduation project was done in collaboration with - SOREM (Society for Rehabilitation of the Mentally Challenged), in India.

INTERACT // Re-interact

What began as a volunteer job turned into a long-running collaboration with SOREM - Society of the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Challenged. This is where I realized and recognized that working with and creating for people is what gives me joy. This is where I interacted and connected with special needs children for the first time. That is when I first began to feel and understand what it is like to live with social and developmental disabilities.

Interact is a neurotypical designer's journey to understand the sensory responses and preferences of someone who is neurodiverse?

Interested in developing a language through the medium of textiles the aim of this project was to provide sensory calm to individuals on the autism spectrum. The main focus was to design for the senses by developing soft textile objects that are engaging and invite play.

Working in collaboration with SOREM helped interact directly and receive feedback from the user, leading to a refined outcome.

So I ask you -

Our senses are constantly engaging with the environment, can conscious use of materials elevate the experience and promote well-being?

Can textiles in a certain environment influence one's senses?

Can engaging, interactive textiles be both stimulating and calming?

INTERACT

Autism is a spectrum.

Sensory needs of every individual with autism are varied.

How can design for autism be generic?

INTERACT aims to provide design solutions that are customisable, comfortable and allow the user to make personal connections with.

This project was executed working with children on the Autism Spectrum, understanding their sensory needs and then designing solutions that cater to those needs.

The final collection of products is developed after profiling one autistic individual and designing products for his specific sensory needs, with an aim to put across the concept and need for custom made design solutions.

Touch ~ Hear ~ Play — Tactile. Auditory. Stimulating. Distracting. Engaging.

Play~Hug~Re-interact

HUG — Negative space. Translations of everyday elements.

Sleep~Secure

One of the overarching issues in ASD is sleep disorder. Children with autism do not sleep alone. This clashes with their desire for independence and there is only a certain age they can be accompanied by parents.

Designed to cater to problems around sleep and inspired by the negative spaces created by the body during cuddles and sleeping with someone, Hug aims to promoter sleep and the secure feeling of sleeping with someone.

Empathy Feelings Human Centered Design Scent

Weighted Lap — Exploring touch and play, weighted lap invites the user to interact with by involving olfactory and vestibular senses.

— Scented beads. Naturally dyed fabrics. Natural weighted fillers. Comforting~Engaging~Interactive

Interaction Scent Sensory / Sensorial Weight

Play~Pressure~Distract~Calm — Soft textile object acting as an additional limb with weighted properties can be used in multiple ways, to play and engage with, to apply pressure and add weight in different parts of the body.

Engage — Designed keeping in mind the vestibular needs and stimming habits of individuals with autism, Play allows the user to engage and fidget with.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.

Colour Customized Playful Texture

Wanting the user to connect with the product, to have a relationship with. A relationship that they build on their own, an understanding leading to safe space and feeling of comfort.

All the products in this collection allow space for personal interpretation and building a personal story with.

Dikshita Bansal

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About

Royal College of Art

Dikshita Bansal

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SOREM - Society for Rehabilitation of the Mentally Challenged

Website:

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About

Royal College of Art