I am an interdisciplinary designer and knitter who coalesces two of my homes together forming a transnational practice called ‘RangKnit’. I have been knitting for over 10 years and currently have submitted my PhD in Architecture at the University of Portsmouth 2023. I originally come from India and had lived there for 20 years before migrating to Portsmouth for advancing my education. In the beginning, Portsmouth was a host city who received me and let me go a couple of times. However, every time I left, due to some reason I always returned to Portsmouth! This idea of coalescing my past home and present home into a practice emerged during my PhD journey when I returned to India thinking India was my only home, but to my surprise, I was not completely home in India. Through small incidents and conversations, I found myself reminiscing my life, friends, experiences, house, and the vibes of Portsmouth - making me realise that Portsmouth has become my home.

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In the beginning it was rational idea to leave behind Rangoli making practice in India, but during covid-19 pandemic when everything was closed, I was locked inside my house for an unknown period of days, weeks and months, I picked up knitting. Knitting that I once had learnt as a hobby, I began to explore the practice extensively. Whilst knitting an enclosed architecture structure, I faced a challenge to knit a circle. I initiated the process to knit a circle, thinking how difficult could that be, as I had been knitting squares and rectangles for years and I could use my designer skills and thinking to transform a square/rectangle to circle.

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To my surprise, knitting a semi-circle was much easier than knitting a closed flat circle. After many attempts, I finally arrived forming a step-by-step instruction and tested it using different yarn to conclude if I could knit a symmetrical circle. The more circles I knitted, Rangoli, began to appear. I started associating the knitted circles with circles in Rangoli. In no time, I found myself bringing the colour, pattern and textile palette from India into knitting. Therefore, the term ‘RangKnit’ was derived which splits into ‘Rang’ meaning colours coming from Rangoli and knit as I use hand-knitting technique. ‘RangKnit’ thus is home for me. Irrespective of what patterns, colours, materials or scale it grows, it will always take me home. Home which is not entirely here in Portsmouth, as I do bring my culture from India; nor entirely in India, as I use the knitting practice from the UK.