NIFT Shillong

About NIFT Shillong

NIFT Shillong was established in 2010 and is located in Meghalaya's capital, the cultural heart of the northeastern hill states. The campus has a design education context that is entirely unique within the NIFT network: the indigenous craft traditions of Meghalaya and the surrounding northeastern states, from Khasi and Jaintia weaving to Naga tribal jewellery, represent a visual language that exists nowhere else in India. Students who study here engage with a living design tradition that is both ancient and evolving, and that has begun to attract serious international attention in craft and fashion circles.

The Khasi community of Meghalaya has a distinctive weaving tradition that uses eri (peace) silk, a non-violent silk produced from the cocoons of the philosamia ricini silkworm, which does not require killing the moth. Eri silk produces a soft, warm, wool-like fabric that has become significant in sustainable fashion globally. Muga silk, produced by the antheraea assamensis silkworm, is indigenous to Assam but traded through northeastern networks. Bamboo and cane craft from the Garo and Khasi hills produce objects of exceptional elegance that are exported as design objects. Tribal jewellery from Meghalaya and neighbouring Nagaland, using silver, seeds, beads, and organic materials, has been adopted by international fashion designers as statement pieces. This concentration of indigenous material culture gives NIFT Shillong students access to design traditions that are genuinely rare.

NIFT Shillong offers 3 B.Des programmes: Fashion Design, Textile Design, and Fashion Communication. The B.Des intake is 80 seats per year. The small campus size means intensive studio mentorship and a close relationship between students and the regional craft ecosystem. The campus is the only NIFT in Meghalaya and serves students from Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, and other northeastern states.

The 4-year B.Des fee ranges from Rs 7 to 9 lakhs, among the lower end of the NIFT fee spectrum. Shillong's cost of living is modest. Admission follows the NIFT entrance exam process via NTA: GAT, CAT, and Situation Test for B.Des candidates. Applications open in November at exams.nta.nic.in/niftee.

NIFT Shillong graduates pursue careers in sustainable textile design (eri silk and bamboo fibre have significant market interest internationally), tribal-inspired fashion, artisan livelihood design, and the growing northeast Indian fashion and design market. Several graduates have established labels that directly collaborate with Khasi and Naga artisans, positioning northeastern craft for urban Indian and global buyers.

For students interested in indigenous design, sustainable fibres, tribal jewellery, or in contributing to the formalisation of northeastern India's design economy, NIFT Shillong is a one-of-a-kind campus. The design traditions available for study here are not available anywhere else in the NIFT network, making it a genuinely distinctive choice for students who want their education to be rooted in a unique cultural context.