Jay Darvishian’s fashion exhibition identity defies Eurocentric ideals

Each year, the Barcelona-based fashion non-profit MODA-FAD invites students to submit work for the chance to exhibit at the city’s Disseny Hub. In line with the non-profit’s sustainable focus, the central theme of MODA-FAD’s 2024 open call – The Sustainable Challenge – was decolonisation. Participants were asked to respond to the title ‘Carnival of Insurrectionist Couture, a Decolonial Practice’ – a call to subvert traditional hierarchies, reimagine fashion as rebellion, and challenge Eurocentric, colonial frameworks.

Meanwhile, designer Jay Darvishian was tasked to create the challenge’s visual identity. In response to the theme, he wanted to challenge Eurocentric principles that have long dictated what is seen as ‘good design’ – like rigid grids and typographic conventions. “My approach to the theme, as with any project, starts with research and deep inquiry,” he explains. Jay began by creating a brain-dump of sorts, listing questions while critiquing and rethinking dominant theories and frameworks. “I dissect, connect, and simplify everything to uncover a concept worth exploring. For this project, the initial idea was to ‘break’ established norms – a direction that shaped the final pitch to the client.”

Jay’s pitch to the client also emphasised the importance of re-connecting with nature. Many indigenous folktales from around the world talk about the intrinsic relationship between humans and the natural world – a connection that’s been lost with the exploitation of resources for capitalist economies. And so, Jay looked to nature, specifically wildflowers. Inspired by their unruly and vibrant forms, he grabbed a crayon and began sketching abstract shapes. These hand-drawn elements soon became the foundation of the identity’s backdrops, pixelated as a further defiance to Western ideals of image-making.

Next was the grid: “Design is a vehicle of capitalism, and we wanted to find ways of critiquing it.” His instinct was to reject structure entirely – stretch the type and strip away the grids. “Our final system made the type – a symbol of Eurocentric design – adapt to the white space shaped by the abstract forms, reflecting the idea that humans should conform to nature, not the other way around.”

By rejecting these structures and embracing organic, unpredictable forms, Jay’s identity mirrors a world where design wasn’t dictated by market forces, but by nature and intuition. This ethos also shaped the project’s approach to sustainability. Jay and his collaborator, designer Laia Xixons, repurposed scraps from the studio and kept the project mainly digital to minimise print production. “Resources on our planet are limited, so using them intentionally and sensibly is key,” he explains. The result is an identity that refuses to conform – one that resists familiar structures and instead embraces a system that’s instinctive and evolving, just like the natural world.