Art and design offer few places in our society today where people from various backgrounds come together to share an experience while having different opinions. “Design helps us identify with one another and expands our notion of we – from the local to the global – OlafurEliasson”

Successful design to me depends upon a deep understanding of human, social, and environmental needs and their contexts, practical knowledge of the means available to respond to these needs, and strategies for creatively relating needs and means. This belief was further enhanced during my internship at RMZ Foundation’s (not-for-profit) art vertical whose objective is to bring contemporary sculptural art to the public platform. This gave me an understanding of urban community initiatives that leverage design and art processes towards positive change-making.

I co-created an ‘art outreach program’ for emerging artists in design schools to engage with established artists. This program has so far given an opportunity to over 250 students to gain an insight in to the work of the unique and dynamic artist, Ravindra Reddy. I also assisted with promoting the event, “Art Walk” on social media and the website, and also engaged with the artists whose works were getting installed as a part of the Foundation’s public art initiative.

My passion for design was supplemented and expanded at my summer school experience at Arts University Bournemouth, UK, where we further explored various types of design that included themed projects, practical workshops, sketchbooks, 3D design, drawing and illustration, graphic design, photography and film.

Design plays a distinct role in advancing knowledge and creating human benefit. It should complement science and technological innovation. As a designer, my role would be concerned with the social, cultural, and spatial situating of technologies so they optimally meet specific human needs. This was brought to light during my internship in December 2016 at the Menda Foundation, a not for profit charitable trust that focused on the advancement of education for the less privileged sections of society.

My desire to bring about change in our society using design was my driving force. This prompted me to start my very own enterprise - IdeaShift. The enterprise focused on human-centred design as an aspiration and places humans at the very centre of all of my work. As a part of my initiative I curated a program that enabled designers to take ownership of social challenges and leverage their skills to drive change. Through the ‘revaluing ecosystems’ program, we improved the communal area of labour camps of construction labourers and found ways of involving the community in the creation process.