Tanvi Ranjan (b.1995, India) is a textile artist whose practice emerges at the intersection of textiles, technology, craft, and contemporary design. Trained in knitwear design, she began her career in India’s knitwear manufacturing sector, working closely with industrial machines, jacquard programming, and production systems. These early industry experiences sparked her fascination with the dialogue between hand and machine, tradition and innovation. She later pursued a Master’s in Fine Art in the UK, where this inquiry evolved into a more expansive, research-driven practice that now informs her artistic and pedagogical work.
Tanvi has participated in solo and group shows across the UK and India, exhibiting textile-led installations, knitted artworks, and process-driven showcases. Her work has been featured in platforms that foreground material innovation, women-led craft ecosystems, and interdisciplinary design thinking. She has also engaged in pedagogical roles, contributing to workshops, community projects, and institutional programmes related to textile experimentation and creative processes.
In 2025, Tanvi co-founded Mechaniya, an art studio and training space that brings underrepresented women into textile technology. Through structured sessions on jacquard software, machine knitting, crochet, and hand embroidery, she nurtures new skills and fosters authorship within participants – many of whom had limited or no access to digital tools or creative opportunities. Mechaniya has since evolved into both a design practice and a social ecosystem, producing knitted jacquard artworks rooted in cultural heritage where machine precision and human touch meet.
Tanvi continues to develop new bodies of work that expand the expressive potential of knitted textiles while advocating for more inclusive, technologically empowered craft futures.
“My artistic practice is rooted in Mechaniya, the studio I co-founded as a space where textile innovation, feminine agency, and machine-led craftsmanship come together. While my work grows from my background in textile and jacquard design, Mechaniya has become the lens through which I create, think, and collaborate. It functions not only as a production studio but as an evolving ecosystem where women can engage with technology, authorship, and material storytelling on their own terms.” – Tanvi Ranjan, 2026
Tanvi’s relationship with Creative Youth first began in 2022 when she was selected as one of our Creative Talent Programme artists while completing her Master of Fine Arts at Kingston University. The CTP is a year-long programme supporting emerging artists through mentorship and professional development, and during her time with us Tanvi deepened her exploration of textile-making, digital information systems, and the relationship between humans and machines. As a CTP Artist, she presented work at both FUSE International and FUSEBOX, where she was among the first visual artists to exhibit following the venue’s launch in 2023.
As a Creative Youth Associate Artist, Tanvi will continue developing new bodies of work internationally while connecting with Creative Youth’s wider community locally and across the world. Through creative projects and cultural exchanges, we are excited to continue collaborating with Tanvi and supporting the next stage of her practice. Her commitment to making creative technology more accessible and championing inclusive approaches to craft strongly reflects Creative Youth’s values and vision for nurturing ambitious, socially engaged artists.
