Lifestyle

Hero Vired appoints Arjun Assi as the Head of Product

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2024

Hero Vired appoints Arjun Assi as the Head of Product

National, 13 March 2024 – Hero Vired, a leading learn tech start-up from the Hero Group has announced the appointment of Arjun Assi as the Head of Product. Arjun will be responsible for driving innovation and excellence within the product and technology team at Hero Vired. His role will involve spearheading initiatives to enhance accessibility and scalability of Hero Vired’s courses, aligning perfectly with the organization’s vision of upskilling learners with the skills of the future and preparing them for Industry 4.0.

Arjun is a persevering and passionate Product Manager with holistic experience spanning varied domains of product management, technology, and business. With more than a decade of experience, Arjun brings to the table a demonstrated expertise in leading product teams and successfully delivering customer delight while achieving high business objectives. Arjun joins Hero Vired from the Scaler Academy where he formerly served as the Assistant Vice President, Product. Apart from Scaler Academy, he has also worked with organizations like Byju’s Exam Prep (formerly Gradeup), Mu Sigma Inc., Times Internet, and the Indian Express.

Commenting on Arjun’s appointment, Akshay Munjal, Founder and CEO of Hero Vired stated, “There is no Edtech without technology. Technology and product expertise are crucial to ensure innovative, user-centric, and personalized learning experiences. Arjun’s extensive experience and proven track record in driving impactful product strategies and deep understanding of technology align perfectly with our vision of enhancing accessibility and scalability of our products in an ever-evolving ed-tech space. With Arjun’s leadership, I am confident that we will continue to deliver cutting-edge solutions that will allow us to build a workforce of the future.”

Arjun is also a firm believer in first principles thinking and smart working strategies, which have enabled him to deliver numerous business-critical product offerings that have significantly boosted company revenues previously. Being an alumnus of the Vellore Institute of Technology, he comes with a profound technology-heavy background. He comprehensively understands the intricacies of development with the latest product architectures, which will enable him to drive innovation and excellence within Hero Vired’s product and technology team.

“Joining Hero Vired presents a remarkable opportunity to contribute to the visionary mission of upskilling working professionals with future-ready skills and preparing them for Industry 4.0. I look forward to leveraging my product expertise towards strengthening Hero Vired’s product offerings, thereby enhancing the overall learner experience. Together, we aim to empower learners across the nation to thrive in the digital age.”, added Arjun Assi, Head of Product at Hero Vired, on joining the leading learntech start-up.

Arjun’s appointment highlights Hero Vired’s commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions and enhancing the learning experience for graduates and working professionals. His appointment marks a strategic move towards further strengthening Hero Vired’s position as a leader in the edtech industry.

About Hero Vired:

Hero Vired is India’s premium learntech start-up, offering career-relevant programs in collaboration with leading universities worldwide. As a venture of the Hero Group, Hero Vired is dedicated to equipping learners with the skills and competencies required to excel in the digital economy. Through its innovative learning solutions, Hero Vired empowers individuals to pursue their professional aspirations and thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of technology and innovation.

Fashion

Sound to Silhouette: A History of Mutual Influence

Published

3 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Jiya Jaitly

Fashion and music have never existed as isolated cultural forms; they are parallel languages of identity. One clothes the body while the other clothes the atmosphere, emotion, and ideology. A musical movement without a recognisable visual code rarely survives beyond sound. Their interrelation rests in a shared capacity to signal rebellion, status, class mobility, seduction, politics, spirituality, and generational dissent without explicit explanation. This confluence explains why every significant cultural movement inevitably develops a distinct silhouette, colour palette, grooming code, and behavioural aesthetic.

Fashion and music influencing culture and style

The earliest traceable entanglement between fashion and music reaches back to ancient civilisations.

· In Egypt, court musicians wore garments that signified sacred or elite status, while dancers and performers used adornment to amplify theatrical presence.

· In Greece, musical performances during religious festivals unfolded alongside carefully structured drapery and ornamentation that reflected philosophical ideals of harmony and proportion.

· In early India, classical musical traditions and courtly attire evolved in tandem: ragas, dance, jewellery, textiles, and performance aesthetics formed an integrated cultural expression rather than discrete disciplines.

In medieval and Renaissance Europe, music and fashion functioned as instruments of aristocratic distinction. Court musicians did not merely perform; they embodied prestige through embroidered fabrics, powdered wigs, structured tailoring, and elaborate ornament. Opera later refined this fusion, transforming costume into emotional architecture and using fabric, silhouette, and visual symbolism to externalize psychological and social tensions long before cinema emerged. The jazz age carried fluid tailoring and liberated femininity; punk arrived ripped, confrontational, and anti-establishment; hip-hop transformed streetwear into global luxury language; grunge made deliberate dishevelment an aesthetic weapon against polished consumerism.

The postwar decades accelerated this fusion into a cultural machine. Rock and roll in the 1950s weaponized youth style against the conservative social order: leather jackets, slicked hair, and slim silhouettes became emblems of defiance. The 1960s fractured into competing aesthetic ideologies: psychedelic maximalism, mod minimalism, and bohemian romanticism, each carrying its own musical identity. By the 1970s, glam rock turned gender presentation into a theatrical experiment, while punk repudiated luxury with torn fabrics, safety pins, and anti-fashion rhetoric; ironically, the industry eventually commodified even that rebellion.

Hip-hop’s emergence in the late twentieth century fundamentally altered the power dynamic between fashion and music. Where earlier eras often saw fashion houses shaping performers, hip-hop reversed the vector: street culture began dictating luxury. Sneakers, oversized tailoring, gold jewellery, and sportswear migrated from expressions of survival and neighbourhood identity to symbols of global aspiration.

This phenomenon was strikingly visible with the rise of The Beatles. Before them, mainstream male fashion remained restrained, conservative, and tethered to postwar uniformity. The Beatles introduced something deceptively simple yet revolutionary: youth styling as mass identity. Their slim-cut suits, Chelsea boots, and mop-top haircuts, then later, psychedelic experimentation reoriented a generation’s look. Early Beatles fashion projected polished accessibility; their later phase embraced flamboyant military jackets, Indian-inspired garments, tinted glasses, and bohemian layering.

Soon after, David Bowie dissolved the notion of a fixed identity through glam rock. His Ziggy Stardust persona fused theatrical makeup, metallic fabrics, platform boots, asymmetrical silhouettes, and androgynous styling into a cultural detonation. He unsettled rigid constructs of masculinity long before mainstream discourse possessed the vocabulary to discuss gender fluidity. Elvis Presley’s influence is equally central: in the 1950s, he translated rebellious sensuality into a visual lexicon: high collars, slicked hair, dramatic tailoring, jewellery, and overt physical charisma laid the blueprint for the modern pop star. Kiss Band converted face paint and exaggerated stage costumes into a commercial spectacle, anticipating branding strategies that would later be amplified by influencers. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath helped anchor darker visual codes that matured into gothic and metal aesthetics.

The 1980s produced perhaps the most complete fusion of fashion and musical mythology in Michael Jackson. He wielded visual symbolism with near-military precision: the single white glove, military-inspired jackets, loafers with cropped trousers, aviators, sequined stagewear, and sharply structured performance garments became instantly recognizable emblems.

Madonna treated fashion as a machinery of reinvention. Lace gloves, corsetry, crucifixes, lingerie-as-outerwear, platinum hair, and mutable personae repeatedly destabilized expectations around femininity and sexuality. Artists such as Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and later Kanye West translated streetwear into a language of luxury oversized silhouettes, sneakers, sports jerseys, chains, varsity aesthetics, and designer collaborations rose from urban identity and economic aspiration. More recently, Harry Styles has mainstreamed softer, gender-fluid menswear for younger audiences, signalling another shift in how pop figures mediate sartorial norms.

These two have been connected to each other since the creation of both, as they work as Yin-Yang of art form, and they will keep evolving together and shaping our society, as Art is a place where humans find resonance.

Jewellery

The Stillness of Craft, The Movement of Code

Published

1 week ago

May 25, 2026

Jiya Jaitly

Jewellery has always been more than ornamentation. Long before circuitry and sensors found their place beneath polished surfaces, adornment carried meaning far beyond aesthetics — symbolising power, identity, protection, and self-expression. In India especially, jewellery has long existed as a living extension of culture and belief. Intricate Navratna pieces were thought to align cosmic energies, while shell and faience girdles discovered in Mohenjo-daro reflected some of the earliest expressions of decorative identity. The iconic “Dancing Girl” figurine, layered in stacked bangles, stands as an enduring reminder that adornment has always communicated individuality and status. Similarly, the delicate Maang Tikka was never merely decorative; positioned along the forehead, it was associated with the Ajna chakra, believed to represent intuition and inner awareness.

For centuries, luxury in jewellery was measured through the rarity of gemstones, the purity of gold, and the mastery of craftsmanship. Today, however, luxury is increasingly being redefined through intelligence and functionality.

Modern technology has introduced a new dimension to jewellery, though some would argue it has also distanced adornment from its deeply personal artistry. What once existed as quiet symbolism has gradually evolved into something interactive and responsive — designed to move in rhythm with contemporary life. Yet unlike the overt dominance of screens and devices, this transformation is often subtle. Technology in jewellery rarely announces itself loudly; instead, it integrates seamlessly into design.

Digital jewellery can best be described as wearable technology that merges communication, health tracking, and utility with adornment. The Oura Ring, for instance, appears deceptively simple in form, yet quietly monitors sleep cycles, recovery patterns, and physiological changes with remarkable precision. Smartwatches, meanwhile, have become symbols of both status and technological sophistication. Devices such as the Nimb Ring extend functionality even further by offering emergency assistance through a discreet trigger that alerts selected contacts and shares real-time location data. Smart pendants are also emerging as tools capable of monitoring stress levels, sleep patterns, and heart rhythms, subtly integrating wellness awareness into daily life without replacing professional medical care.

Luxury houses such as Swarovski have also experimented with embedded technology, suggesting a future in which craftsmanship and circuitry no longer exist as opposing ideas, but rather as collaborative forces within design.

The evolution of jewellery does not signal a complete shift in purpose; instead, it reflects an expansion of what adornment can represent. Jewellery once symbolised identity alone, but now it increasingly participates in experience — bridging heritage with innovation while adapting to the demands of a more responsive world.

Yet balance remains essential. Not every object must justify itself through utility or performance. Some creations exist purely for their beauty, emotion, and craftsmanship. Technology may enhance convenience and awareness, but it cannot replicate the instinct of the artisan, the patience behind hand-forged details, or the emotional depth embedded within human creation. The soul of jewellery still resides not in code, but in the hands and imagination that shape it.

Art

Lighting the Fifth Wall: The Chromatic Iris by 6Hues Architecture Studio

Published

1 week ago

May 25, 2026

Neha Tyagi

Siliguri, March 2025: For over thirteen years, Siliguri-based designer Aayush Arya has been shaping refined residential spaces through his firm, 6Hues Architecture Studio. Known for merging luxury aesthetics with intelligent functionality, the studio specialises in high-end homes that feel both contemporary and deeply personal. Aayush is also an advocate for smart living, integrating advanced automation into his projects through his technology venture, Relay Automation.

Their latest creation, The Chromatic Iris, blurs the boundary between architectural lighting and digital art. Designed as a custom radial stretch-ceiling installation for immersive spaces like home cinemas, the fixture appears sleek and minimal by day. Powered by advanced DMX (Digital Multiplex) technology — commonly used in concert stage lighting — each segment of the installation can be individually addressed and programmed. This allows for seamless animations: from turbine-like motion effects to soft breathing gradients or deep monochromatic moods.

More than a light fixture, The Chromatic Iris transforms the ceiling into a dynamic canvas. It elevates the experience of a space — turning movie nights into cinematic events and everyday interiors into immersive environments. With this innovation, 6Hues Architecture Studio once again demonstrates how technology, design, and emotion can come together to redefine modern living.

Address:
6Hues Architecture Studio
Fourth Floor, Sapphire Square
Check Post, Siliguri WB 734001

Contact number: 9800 400 600
Instagram: 6hues.id
Website: 6hues.com