By Dustin Staggs

When you walk into Interform, there is an instant buzzing noise to be heard and not to be missed: a constant sound of sewing machines running, fabric moving in the air, and future projects being built in the back.

Where invention runs as freely as the threads on a sewing machine, Interform, a 502c3 non-profit organization at the forefront of creating a self-sustaining design-led fashion and art community in Northwest Arkansas, brings artistic opportunities of expression for artists like Braxton Carney. Carney, dressed in combat boots, a handmade pink dress and a blue tie-dye shirt, pauses their creative pursuits to reflect on their journey through the open space of Interform.

“Interform has given me a stage to present my art to Northwest Arkansas through fashion,” Carney said. Tattoos visibly adorn their right arm. One of which is inspired by David Bowie, representing to be open-minded. 

Carney has spent over three years engaged in the many processes of fashion design, from starting out modeling to meticulous block printing and creative garment fabrication. Carney, now an instructor at Interform, happily shares their experience with fellow students. 

Despite the frenzy of invention in the air, there’s a distinct feeling of excitement as Carney and their peers talk about preparing for the next big event on their artistic calendar: NWA Fashion Week. 

The event takes place March 28–30 at the Ledger, located in Bentonville. Before it was NWA Fashion Week, the event started small as the Arkansas Art and Fashion Forum. 

Basana Chhetri, senior director of fashion design and apparel education at Interform, who helped grow it into the recognized art community it is, is proud of the influence she’s seen Interform have amongst the area and on her students.

“Interform started with ten students, Marshallese ladies who were really interested in learning how to sew. And then COVID came,” Chhetri said. “But the number of students kept on growing. Now, Interform has 66 students coming every week, learning different levels of sewing and fashion design.”

Chhetri was born and raised in Nepal and then went to college in Japan. After graduating with a degree in fukushoku’, dress and fashion design, she came back to open a fashion school in Nepal and, later, a boutique. She moved to London to run another boutique for eight years before moving to Northwest Arkansas with her husband 15 years ago. 

She recognized that the fashion field was not something Arkansas had, but she was never opposed to creating something from nothing.

The founder and CEO of the Arkansas Art and Fashion Forum heard about Chhetri’s background as having the oldest fashion school in Nepal and wanted her help in creating an education department where students could learn sewing and fashion design. 

Interform was then born in 2019, and NWA Fashion Week kicked off in 2020. This year, however, attending fashion week for the first time is project runway designers. The 60 plus students at Interform will be split up, presenting Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, each with their own outfit that they designed and created.

Interform’s students are diverse and require no prior sewing background to join their community of artists; they only need to register and meet the team in an interview.

“That’s the process,” Chhetri said. “Because, just to make sure that people know what their interests are, if they’re in the right group, right class, right level. Some people might come with already having some skills. So, we want to make sure that it’s not too boring if we put them in the basic (level).”

Alison Hodge-Selig, a student at Interform who started last year in January, sits in a room full of strewn garment pieces, and mannequin figures.

“Well, I came here to learn about sewing. And I have learned a lot about sewing and design, but also what has just kept me coming back is the community here,” Hodge-Selig said. “There’s this giving kind of nature of the instructors and the students and how we all work together to create our pieces for Fashion Week.”

Chhetri said that Interform takes diversity among their students seriously and thinks it is important for people from different backgrounds to be able to interact and learn from each other. 

“It’s not only about us teaching them about designing and sewing,” Chhetri said. “It’s also a place where they exchange cultures. They exchange ideas.”

Interform is also to thank for bringing the first ever North American fashion and art biennial to Northwest Arkansas. The project involving art exhibitions, installations, runway shows, and retail pop-ups started last year in June. All nineteen art activities across the area are open through June 30.

“We have the biggest, longest-running fashion show in the Midwest right now. It’s crazy to think about. In Springdale, Arkansas, of all places,” Carney said passionately.   

Chhetri welcomes others to join the team and learn the craft, as there is something for everyone to learn and enjoy. 

“Some people come here with a dream to become a fashion designer. Some people come here to have a great time. Some people come here for community,” Chhetri said.