Hanhui Guo (BA, 2020), who majored in fashion and textile design at ITC, was recently awarded a scholarship from the Parsons School of Design in New York to pursue her postgraduate study. Her outstanding portfolio and interview impressed Parsons and gave her the green light into the Master of Fine Arts in Textiles program. Hanhui shared her insights into gaining admission: "The portfolio is a crucial part of the application. It is the deciding factor in whether you are offered an interview or not”. For over a year, Hanhui worked on her portfolio which shows that her hard work was not in vain.
In fact, her outstanding academic performance has resulted in a number of scholarships during her time at PolyU, including the Dr Y.K. Ching Memorial Scholarship in the academic year of 2016-17, and four ITC Scholarships for Non-local (Chinese mainland) Students from 2016 to 2019. She shares her story with ITC:
“Being a fashion designer has always been my biggest dream since I was a little girl. I learned about fashion step by step, which allowed me to find out more about this wonderful profession, and led me to understand what I truly want."
“Fashion is a lovely language to express the designers’ feelings and stories.” Hanhui Guo.
After graduation from secondary school, she chose to enroll at ITC to pursue her passion. She explains, “ITC has an integrated curriculum which appealed to me. As a design student, I learn more than just designing. I was taught about fashion technology, fashion marketing and retailing, and much more. Knowledge of all of these is important to design students.”
She explained her reason for choosing ITC. “ITC is a platform where students could take full advantage of the opportunities to improve themselves and reach their goals.”
During her time at ITC, Hanhui had many memorable experiences. “One of my most unforgettable experiences was a shop visit arranged by the subject lecturer, Dr Jeanne Tan. She took us to a luxury fabric shop. The shop sells top of the line fabric which inspired me a lot.” She reminisces about the nice teachers and wonderful facilities at ITC, and rare yet numerous amazing opportunities such as factory visits and internships. “But,” Hanhui adds, “opportunities are for those who are well prepared. Self-learning is a very crucial aspect during your study.”
Final year project by Hanhui.
Right now, Hanhui is still uncertain about her career path but she will take full advantage of every job opportunity around textiles, fashion and art. Although she has gained a strong foundation in fashion and textiles at ITC, she hopes to be more accomplished and have a better understanding of her career area. This is one of the reasons why she is continuing her studies as a postgraduate student at Parsons. “Parsons has a good reputation in the design area, especially fashion, and is one of my dream schools. I hope to further enhance myself there.”
On a final note, Hanhui encourages all ITC students to follow their passion. Her advice is to: “Be curious, brave and grasp every opportunity. Stay true to yourself, look deep inside your heart, and go!”
