For South African fashion artefact designer and lecturer Kiara Gounder, storytelling is more than an aesthetic choice — it is a responsibility. As the founder of a design practice that melds fashion, technology, and culture, Gounder operates at the intersection of art and archive, future and ancestry.
Her career began with a fascination for the new. “It was the newness of the technology that first drew me in,” she recalls, speaking of her introduction to digital tools as a fashion student in 2014. Back then, 3D printing was barely a whisper in South Africa’s design landscape. Yet Gounder, inspired by the likes of Iris van Herpen, saw not only novelty but potential — a way to stretch the limits of how stories could be experienced and preserved.
Over the years, her work has expanded into virtual reality (VR) and extended realities (XR), mediums she uses not for spectacle, but for purpose. Gounder believes that immersive technologies can be vehicles for cultural preservation, conduits through which indigenous knowledge can be archived and celebrated. “These tools can help us protect what is sacred,” she says, “but only if we approach them with care.”
This care is central to her practice and her pedagogy. As a lecturer at Durban University of Technology, Gounder encourages her students to interrogate whose voices are being centred, how narratives are shaped – and why those stories should be told. “All the ethical implications from the real world still apply in the virtual world,” she says. “Design and VR are forms of storytelling. So we must always ask: are we doing it in an ethical and culturally sensitive way?”
For Gounder, these are not just abstract queries. As a lecturer at Durban University of Technology and through her collaboration with the Electric South XR Lab African XR Realities Lab, Gounder is actively confronting the moral and cultural responsibilities embedded in digital storytelling. Being surrounded by other curious and creative people at the XR Lab helped her see new ways to tell stories — and reminded her why she began, and the kinds of stories that matter most to her.
Recently at NewImages Festival — a leading global showcase for immersive storytelling — she took part in the XN Days as a delegate of the Institut français’ Création Africa programme, which supports emerging African talent through cultural exchange and collaboration. These platforms exposed her to global networks of creators, storytellers, and technologists — people who, like her, are redefining what narrative looks and feels like in the digital age.
Her project, Digital Nature, is a testament to this ethos. Drawing inspiration from microscopic natural forms, she channelled her curiosity into artefacts that blend the organic with the digital. “It became a way for me to slow down,” she reflects. “To look at things differently — to engage with balance, symmetry, and texture on a cellular level.” With XR, that lens widens. “Now I can scale that curiosity into something immersive, something that evokes presence and reverence.”
Gounder’s approach is not simply about merging fashion with tech — it’s about reframing them both. In her hands, fashion becomes a living archive, and technology, a vessel for memory. From found objects to virtual environments, her work insists that innovation and tradition are not opposites, but partners in conversation.
Gounder’s creative ethos is in flux — and she welcomes it. “It’s hard to pinpoint one moment in my career that shifted my perspective,” she reflects, “but I’ve been incredibly fortunate with the people I’ve met and the exposure I’ve had.” From her master’s research to her immersive experience at the NewImages Festival in Paris, each encounter has expanded her understanding of what storytelling can be.
As we navigate the ever-accelerating digital landscape, Gounder warns us not to mistake technology for neutrality. “The ethical questions of the real world still echo in the virtual realm,” she says. The answers are found not just in the tools we use, but in the stories we choose to preserve. Now more than ever, it’s crucial to protect African indigenous narratives so our cultures and communities aren’t lost to history. In this digital age, we must balance technological innovation with archival practices, ensuring our stories and traditions reflect who we truly are.
We must find ways of bringing texture, fabrics, and sensory experiences into the mix, creating spaces where storytelling and fashion come together as powerful expressions of identity. This blend of storytelling and tradition will inform how we evolve and shape the future.
