Rashmi Varma is a designer, artist and curator whose interdisciplinary practice is centred around garments and textiles through fashion, film, theatre, interiors, and the visual arts.

The intimacy of cloth as second skin, the sculptural form of the draped figure, the performative act of wearing, and the hands for making, shape her relationship with the self. These personal gestures are woven into a larger narrative that re-imagines historical legacies of fashion, textiles, material culture, design and craft. She explores clarity of identity and cultural hybrids that span the body, place and time.

The nature of handmade is integral to Varma’s practice. She creates with artisans throughout India, engaging with generational knowledge and innovation through a collaborative spirit. Her studio practice involves a limited edition line of garments, private commissions and design consulting. 

Varma’s curatorial work includes Matters of Hand, Serendipity Arts Festival, (Curator 2018, Goa) and ‘The Offbeat Sari’, Design Museum (Associate Curator 2023, London). She is the co-author of Sar: The Essence of Indian Design (Phaidon Press 2016). Her works have been exhibited at Victoria & Albert Museum (London); Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto); Textile Museum of Canada (Toronto); Gallery SKE (New Delhi) amongst others. 

Her work has been supported by the Canada Council of the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, and she has been a Research Fellow with the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.

Rashmi Varma lives and works between Canada and India.