Kumar Bahukhandi
IIAD/UDIT hosted its annual Graduate Show, UNFOLD 2026, on 9th and 10th May at its New Delhi campus, bringing together leading industry professionals, creative practitioners, distinguished academicians and members of the wider design community to celebrate the graduating batch across multiple disciplines. Showcasing the culmination of students’ academic and creative journeys, the two-day event featured exhibitions, panel discussions, industry interactions, fashion show and award ceremonies across Interior Architecture & Design, Fashion Communication, Communication Design, Fashion Business Management, Fashion Design and Foundation Design.
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Lamp lighting and Opening Ceremony of UNFOLD 2026
In attendance were prominent voices from the worlds of fashion, architecture, design, media and business, including Sunil Sethi, Chairman of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI); celebrated fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani; Vimarsh Razdan, Co-Founder & CEO of Underneat; architect and computational design pioneer Sushant Verma of rat[LAB]; documentary filmmaker Faiza Khan; art director Mainak Das; Raunaq Singh, AVP Creative Design at Naukri.com; Urvashi Gupta, Head of Account Management, South Asia at WGSN; photographer and visual storyteller Charudutt Chitrak; and noted architect Ashok B Lall, among others.
The event marked the inauguration of UNFOLD 2026 with the lamp lighting and the opening of the graduate exhibition, bringing together interdisciplinary projects across design, fashion, communication, business strategy, spatial experiences and emerging technologies. Through campaigns, films and design interventions, architectural project installations and fashion collections graduating students explored themes of sustainability, social impact, innovation, craft, urban futures and experiential storytelling.
Congratulating the graduating batch, Dr Jitin Chadha, Pro Chancellor, UDIT, acknowledged the significance of industry-integrated learning and socially conscious creative practice in shaping future-ready professionals. “UNFOLD has always been a very special event for us. It reflects the journey of our students, the mentorship of our faculty and the collaborative culture we continue to build at UDIT. Every year, it is inspiring to see young designers and innovators engage with real-world challenges through creativity, technology and human-centred thinking,” he said.
The 8th edition of the Graduate Show also featured a series of industry-led panel discussions and interactive sessions across Interior Architecture & Design, Fashion Communication, Communication Design and Fashion Business Management, offering graduating students valuable insights into contemporary industry practices. These sessions encouraged students to critically engage with industry realities and understand the importance of adaptability, research-driven thinking and socially conscious creative practice in today’s industry.
Industry experts and creative leaders from across disciplines engaged closely with students enabling graduating students to gain practical perspectives on the evolving expectations of the global design and fashion industries. The interactions further reinforced the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and industry-integrated learning within contemporary creative education.
Another important segment of the show was the award ceremonies across departments, recognising outstanding graduate works. Selected graduating students were honoured for projects spanning communication campaigns, animation films, spatial interventions, sustainable fashion solutions, branding systems, UX/UI experiences, retail concepts, and business-driven design strategies. The awards acknowledged projects that responded thoughtfully to contemporary cultural, social, technological and environmental challenges while reflecting strong interdisciplinary learning and industry relevance.
By bringing together emerging talent, academicians, and creative leaders on a shared platform, UNFOLD 2026 highlighted the growing intersections between design, business, technology, and culture while reflecting UDIT’s continued emphasis on interdisciplinary and industry-engaged learning.
About UDIT
UDIT—the University of Design, Innovation and Technology—is India’s first university built for creators, located in Gurugram. Emerging from over a decade of studio-led learning at IIAD, it brings together design, technology and management within a unified, practice-led framework. The School of Design offers programmes in Visual Communication, Fashion, Product and Interior Design. The School of Management focuses on Fashion & Luxury Business Management and Technology Business Management. UDIT represents a fundamental reimagination of higher education, where students create the products, companies and solutions the world will need tomorrow.
