Two days of insightful conversations around technology pivoting design, career transitions, successes and failures, work-life balance, measuring priorities and more
Design for thought
The responsibility of design and the designer towards the end user has been much debated-where the past is revisited, and the future is predicted. Flipping the narrative to focus inward, we question practitioners and their practices about chosen paths, changing preferences, continued influences, recurring trials, repeated tribulations, and also ambitions, visions and opportunities that raise them like phoenixes from the ashes.
MODE : Web Conference
DATE : 21 & 22 October, 2021
TIME : 4:00 PM Onwards
The gap between the physical and digital spaces is narrowing and yet the chasm remains considerable. How does one bridge this—by exploring, identifying and creating opportunities that can be exploited for larger problem solving, higher productivity and greater achievement.
Designer, Artist, Innovator & Entrepreneur
Co-Founder, The Busride Design Studio
Technology has shrunk the world and we are now hyperconnected. Clients and their consultants in different geographies are working together efficiently. The pandemic has further forced innovations for continuing working strategies and uninterrupted success. So, how is technology changing the the way we engage with design? Are virtual experiences / AI / AR / VR persuasive tools to communicate and sell design? Do they / can they exist within / alongside / outside of the brick and mortar paradigm?
Chief Design Officer (CDO), Godrej Properties ltd.
Founder, Quickviz Co.
Partner, Hundredhands & Founder, SOURCE
Multidisciplinary artist, storyteller and curator
While advertising for creative services such as architecture and interior design remains unauthorised, the need for putting oneself out there to get noticed, gain recognition and create a brand has become increasingly common and even necessary to create further work opportunities. Getting the right break, doing the right job, projecting the right image—what, why and whereof design publicity, PR and communication.
Associate - South Asia, Flint Culture
Co-founder, Longform
Interior Designer
“The devil is in the detail” and the detail describes beauty, but beauty lies in the eye of the beholder…is it imperative to follow formative training to find success or can the journey be of adventures, explorations, experimentation to carve your own niche? Breaking the brackets of expectations, allowing oneself to pause and reflect or even alter direction, if fuelled by passion and deep curiosities, the path will always be unique.
Interior designer
Architect, Photographer & Writer
Visual Artist
International Trend Analyst, Journalist, Lecturer and Designer
While we all see the pretty pictures in the end, it is the process, often-times a long, arduous journey riddled with professional hiccups, personal trials and many failures that defines the final outcome. Some of these mistakes alter our ways of thinking and philosophies in significant manners, often creating that critical kink in our paths. Even the highest-achievers stumble at times, but what they learn from their falls is how they are defined.
Founder, Lopez Design
Architect, Frankie Pappas
Fashion Designer
While many have the privilege to identify their passions and find career paths within close proximity of their interests, there is the other lot, equally sized if not larger, for whom their career is purely a means to an end—the end here being their chosen lifestyle. There is no blanket rule as to what is right or wrong. There is no formula for success, economic gain, social standing or personal contentment. There are choices, and those choices are defined by unique circumstances.
Co-Founder, Safomasi
Artist & Sculptor
Scenographer
Principal Designer, Essajees Atelier
The last decade has seen a significant paradigm shift in work culture—millennials are questioning the work-life balance in ways it was never discussed before. There are schools of thought that range from work-driven and career-oriented independence to prioritising physical, social and mental fitness over professional achievement. The question thus is, does my work facilitate the life I want to live, or define the life I have to live? Where do I draw the line of sacrifice—giving into a demanding work culture vs personal desires—or do I need to at all?
Co-Founder, Safomasi
Founder, Epistle Communications
Founder at The Baby Atelier
Chief Design Officer (CDO), Godrej Properties ltd.
Rakesh Kumar Head’s – Design Strategy at Godrej Properties Limited. He is based at their Head Office in Vikhroli Mumbai.
Rakesh has over 25 years of diverse experience from various organizations e.g. K Raheja Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President, Architecture & Design.
Kalpataru and Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Hotels) in India.
He spent over 14 years in the USA at organizations like the University of Chicago, Tishman Construction, and VOA Associates.
Co-Founder, Safomasi
Architect, Frankie Pappas
Associate - South Asia, Flint Culture
Josh Dobbins is an India- based arts and culture communications specialist overseeing Flint Culture's Mumbai and Delhi offices. Josh joined Flint culture in 2016 and has led significant PR and brand strategy campaigns across India as well as promoting Indian clients internationally.
Key projects have covered the arts and culture as well as luxury space including India Art Fair, Saffronart, Serendipity Arts Foundation, KNMA, Elephant Parade, Nila House Jaipur, Piramal Musem, The Gujral Foundation and Gyan Museum amongst others. Alongside this Josh has worked with individual artists in India to promote their work and create exhibition opportunities in India and internationally.
Prior to joining Flint, Josh developed key regional experience as part of the team which launched The Focus Photography Festival and Mumbai Art Map in 2012. Josh has previously worked for Pelham Communications in London and is a graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
Principal Designer, Essajees Atelier
Sarah is a part of the fourth generation and 120 year old Essajees family. Essajees Atelier, the interior design firm was established in 2014 by Sarah as an independent design practice founded on the legacy and ethos of the Essajees brand.
Up there among Mumbai’s best, Essajees deals with art, antiques, and collectibles apart from custom-made flooring and high-end furniture. Some of the clients that Essajees services include the Reliance Group, Taj Hotels around India, the GVK family, Gautam Singhania and the Birla family amongst many others.
Sarah completed her undergraduate degree in Art History from Duke University in the US and Oxford University in the UK where she graduated in the top 10% of her class. She was part of the prestigious women’s leadership scholarship at Duke called the Baldwin Scholars which hand-picked women who showed strong signs of promise as leaders in all fields. She also studied finance at Stern University in New York and worked as a financial news anchor for Bloomberg News for a year.
Having garnered experience in high-end furniture manufacturing and production during a five-year stint with Essajees, Sarah realised that interior design was her calling after which she went on to complete a two-year degree on the subject from Rachna Sansad. She completed the course as the top-ranked among a batch of 110 students, with a First Class First Distinction among many other accolades for projects through the duration of the degree.
Keen on learning the nuances and finest details on interior design, Sarah travelled to Los Angeles where she spent time at Erika Brunson Couture Living. She has also worked as an art consultant for private clients with the gallery Lansdowne Gallery, putting together extensive portfolios of contemporary Indian art for homes and offices in India and abroad. A stint with Saffron Art gave Sarah the chance to work with a team in putting together a compilation of the best paintings of legendary artist, SH Raza.
Essajees Atelier has won various awards including Top 10 Firms in India by Elle Décor, the Women in Design Excellence Asia award as Interior Designer of the Year and Trends Magazine Award Winner for Best Hospitality Project. Essajees Atelier has been featured in more than 30 publications for their various projects. Sarah has also won the Best of Houzz award for 2018, 2019 and 2020 which recognises the biggest influencers on a platform of 19 million users.
Essajees Atelier is a small team of very dedicated professionals who ensure that every project is overseen with detail, care and utmost personal attention. Since its inception six years ago, Essajees Atelier has successfully completed 45residential and commercial projects and is currently undertaking over 50,000 sqft of development across the country.
Furniture, design and floor spaces aside, Sarah is a fitness enthusiast and hits the gym at every given chance. Sarah has a deep love for all things related to plants and has close to 50 plants in her own home. She has a young daughter and is also a pet-parent to a dog and a cat, between whom she juggles her time at home.
Interior Designer
Vinita describes her style as 'contemporary classic' – a euphoric blend of sumptuous silks, traditional paisleys, exquisite Indian artefacts and modern Western covetables. She delightfully layers different cultures and periods. This divine mixology is her USP. She shapes a seamless design experience that flows right up to the infinity pool.
Her work ethic goes beyond interior design to a unique vertical that defines her and separates her from the rest – her passionate involvement from concept through to delivery. This holistic vision starts from a bare shell to completing the home with not only furniture and fittings, but with a connoisseur's eye for art and accessories.
Over the years her clients have trusted and repeated her, for reinventing their current homes and styling new ones. Today, she may be the only top celebrity designer in the country to offer such personalised service.
A team of experts that include architects and structure and technical consultants – in all areas including HVAC and electricals – work alongside to ensure superlative quality. Prism prides itself on its unwavering commitment to timelines.
Vinita is a familiar face on the covers and inside the pages of magazines like Architectural Digest and Elle Decor, is prominent on design juries and events. A recognised influencer, her Instagram page is like stepping into her Mood board and together with her #VQ sessions, give her followers an insight into all aspects of design. She still finds time to give back, with talks to students and the running of a charity school in Coorg. Frenetic pace gives way to Slow Life, unsurprisingly, the name of her plantation home. There’s no rush, but she’s got plans and plenty more to do!"
Scenographer
Dummy
Vinita describes her style as 'contemporary classic' – a euphoric blend of sumptuous silks, traditional paisleys, exquisite Indian artefacts and modern Western covetables. She delightfully layers different cultures and periods. This divine mixology is her USP. She shapes a seamless design experience that flows right up to the infinity pool.
Her work ethic goes beyond interior design to a unique vertical that defines her and separates her from the rest – her passionate involvement from concept through to delivery. This holistic vision starts from a bare shell to completing the home with not only furniture and fittings, but with a connoisseur's eye for art and accessories.
Over the years her clients have trusted and repeated her, for reinventing their current homes and styling new ones. Today, she may be the only top celebrity designer in the country to offer such personalised service.
A team of experts that include architects and structure and technical consultants – in all areas including HVAC and electricals – work alongside to ensure superlative quality. Prism prides itself on its unwavering commitment to timelines.
Vinita is a familiar face on the covers and inside the pages of magazines like Architectural Digest and Elle Decor, is prominent on design juries and events. A recognised influencer, her Instagram page is like stepping into her Mood board and together with her #VQ sessions, give her followers an insight into all aspects of design. She still finds time to give back, with talks to students and the running of a charity school in Coorg. Frenetic pace gives way to Slow Life, unsurprisingly, the name of her plantation home. There’s no rush, but she’s got plans and plenty more to do!"
Interior designer
Founder, Quickviz Co.
Partner, Hundredhands & Founder, SOURCE
Sunitha Kondur is a partner at Hundredhands Design, a multi disciplinary design practise based in Bangalore along with Bijoy Ramachandran. She has a Bachelors degree from BMS College of Engineering and a Master’s Degree from MIT, Boston. She went on to work as a Project Manager with the Mass State College Building Authority and was Senior Project Manager for the prestigious Houses at Sagaponac Project in New York before returning to India in 2003.
She also founded SOURCE, a materials, product and furniture sourcing company and deeply believes in the revival and integration of indian art and craft in the work the studio produces. Sunitha is a Founder Member of WIREnet World (Women in Real Estate Network), a platform that offers, networking, mentorship, and knowledge sharing opportunities for women professionals from the real estate and construction industry across India.
Sunitha along with a college friend recently launched AVAZA, a premium Lifestyle Concierge for the Elderly, which elevates everyday independence and lifestyle for senior citizens in Bangalore.
Fashion Designer
Born in the small town of Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, Vaishali realised her passion at a very young age and has been experimenting with hand-woven textiles and their applications for two decades.
Graduated engineer, only at a later stage she post-graduated in Fashion at Pearl Academy Delhi and then went for her Master at the Domus Academy in Milano.
Vaishali received various awards for her creative work: Best Indian Designer of the Year, Best Trending Brand in NY Fashion Week, Edida Award, etc.
A creative powerhouse, the designer extends her work with textiles to art and design, infusing it with spontaneity, intuitiveness and a reflection of her own experiences with Nature.
Relying on the honesty and authenticity of her designs to do the talking, Vaishali is an enigma to her Indian as well as international patrons.
Vaishali has traveled extensively all over India recovering old and dying Indian hand weaving techniques and giving them a global language.
Vaishali’s mission and drive for the last 20 years has been reviving old and dying beautiful Indian hand weaving techniques, while making a positive social impact on the families of clusters of hand weavers across 7 states of India.
Recently opened a state-of-the-art flagship store in the Kala Ghoda district in Mumbai and has been this year’s “Membre Invité” at the Paris Haute Couture Week, first Indian woman to achieve this: her global design on Indian heritage weaves has made her the best ambassador of Indian textiles abroad.
She has been awarded Designer of the Year 2021 – International Fame
Multidisciplinary artist, storyteller and curator
Raghava KK has pioneered a groundbreaking body of diverse works that explore transcendence through the lens of the current digital era. Featured on CNN’s list of ten fascinating thinkers, authors and provocateurs in 2010, Raghava’s work traverses traditional forms of painting, installation and performance, while his practice embraces new media (artificial intelligence, neuro-feedback, biohacking, board and video games, crypto currencies etc), to express post-human contemporary realities. His lectures, including 5 TED talks, are known for inspiring audiences to expand their social and psychological selves, using art. Last year, Netflix launched an episode on Raghava in the Creative Indians Series.
Raghava’s storytelling migrates among his various disciplines through 50 foot live paintings, interactive books on Apple’s iPad (Pop-it, won a Kirkus book award and won best of Singapore Art Fair that year), music inspired art for Erykah Badu and Paul Simon, as creator in residence at Viacom, NY, Raghava premiered Must# at both TED and Viacom HQ, A Visual Empathy Algorithm that learned how the viewer made meaning visually and pushed him to transcend the limits of his taste.
Raghava has mentored several creative entrepreneurs by infusing his philosophy into their processes and products. In 2010, Raghava co-founded and chaired The INK Fellowship (The TED of India), India’s leading global multidisciplinary fellowship program. Raghava was inducted into the National Geographic Society in 2013 as an Explorer, for pushing the boundaries of scientific exploration through art.
In 2015, he created a new compositional process, part human and part algorithm-driven through his collaborative project SOZO - a painting machine, developed for him by Artmatr, an offshoot of the MIT Media lab.
In 2017, Raghava was invited by Jeff Bezos to conduct an art workshop for leading creative minds from around the world. The same year, as a partner, he helped set up the vision and strategy for India’s largest venture fund for wellbeing.
In 2018, Raghava co-founded 64/1, an art collective dedicated to blurring the lines between art, art criticism and art education.
In 2020, Raghava created Eye Candy - a performance art piece on Instagram (with Under25 studios) in an attempt to reach out to a completely different audience, than the usual one for high art, through a completely different art form that combines monologue, painting and self-help.
In 2021, a collaborative AI art piece created with Harshit Agrawal and 64/1 (Karthik Kalyanaraman and Raghava KK - an art collective dedicated to blurring the lines between art, art criticism and art education) called Strange Genders was exhibited at Exostential - an AI art show at Emami Art Foundation, Kolkata. The artwork has currently been longlisted for the Lumen Prize 2021.
He currently lives and works out of New York and Bangalore, India.
Artist & Sculptor
Introduction to sculptor Arzan Khambatta.
Arzan Khambatta is an architect by profession and a sculptor by choice.
His 1st solo show “SCRAPTURES” opened to the public at the Jehangir Art gallery in sept 1993.
Mostly busy with Commissioned works, the first one being the MOGHUL outside the jewel of India at the Nehru centre in 1989, and the latest being the 25 fee4t diameter 3.5ton ORB at Pune.
Now Khambatta’s works are found in corporate houses, hotels, and private collections around the world and range from six inches to seventy feet in height, The most prominent ones being the dolphins at worli and the Ceat rhino at Juhu Circle.
Currently 11 solo shows and over 100 group shows around the country and the globe, Arzan has embarked on a venture that is close to his heart, namely Photography.
A large part of his time he spends with imparting his craft to children from all strata of society, be it the IB schools or the NGO children from slums and the streets of Bombay.
He is passionate about his work and takes up challenges which defy his own creativity.
His favourite saying is ”THE IMPOSSIBLE JUST TAKES A LITTLE LONGER”.
Designer, Artist, Innovator & Entrepreneur
Tapio Rosenius is a Finnish designer, innovator, artist and an entrepreneur and has been working with light as a medium for design collaborations, digital interventions, product innovation and art since 1998.
In 2016 he co-founded Skandal Technologies where he helps to develop the POET control system to remotely manage the new breed of real-time environments that combine data, lighting, media, sound, sensing and even scent to influence how people experience places.
In 2009 he founded Lighting Design Collective (LDC) a thought-leading international lighting design practice in Madrid, Spain and later co-founded LDC studios in Helsinki and London. Among his most outstanding projects with LDC, SILO486 in Helsinki represents a new vision of poetic digital lighting for urban icons. In 2014 he co-created “Think-in-a-Tank” lighting research program taking place during Helsinki Design Week and is actively involved in EU wide research programs and events.
His work seeks to create tangible connection between artificial light, media, digital futures and the human experience. He is a pioneer in the use of biomimetic and responsive lighting control in built environment and continues to develop systems, masterplans, visions and technologies related to this field at Skandal Technologies.
Co-Founder, The Busride Design Studio
Ayaz Basrai is Co-founder at The Busride Design Studio, a leading architecture and interior design firm in India. Ayaz graduated in Industrial Design, specialising in Product Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2003. In 2006, he set up The Busride with his architect brother Zameer, as an independent design studio specialising in the design and creation of built environments, ranging from hospitality and entertainment, to film and production environments, exhibitions, installations, institutional and architectural environments.The Busride is a team of architects, interior and industrial designers, who look for solutions from the macro to the micro, from the slightly mad to the totally insane. More recently, Ayaz heads the studio’s research arm, The Busride Lab based in Goa, which works with Heritage Conservation and Futures Research, at the intersection of Technology, Design and Art.
Architect, Photographer & Writer
Kunal Bhatia studied architecture at KRVIA, Mumbai and has been working across the disciplines of photography, writing and design since 2010. He finds inspiration in cities around the world, in the people that he meets and in encounters that are often fleeting. After initially practicing architecture and interior design, Kunal now focusses on photography, writing and conducting workshops for spatial designers.
As an architectural photographer, he has photographed hundreds of projects across typologies, scales and design languages. While project features, client briefs and site constraints vary considerably from one shoot to another, Kunal’s intent with each image is to convey the vision of the designer, to translate spatial dynamics into a photographic frame and to showcase the project in its best possible manner.
Alongside spatial photography, Kunal is also a widely published travel & design writer and a travel photographer, both under the banner of Rickety Roads. Kunal's photography and writing works have been published in print and on the web, including international journals such as El Croquis, in-flight magazines of leading airlines, and national dailies such as The Hindu and Mint.
Kunal is also an educator and has conducted dozens of workshops - both on photography (independently and in collaboration with institutes such as the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum and KRVIA) and on the different aspects of running an architectural or interior design studio - covering creative, technical and business topics relevant to the spatial design professions."
Visual Artist
International Trend Analyst, Journalist, Lecturer and Designer
Co-founder, Longform
Pareina Thapar is co-founder of Longform India, a consultancy firm specialising in building brand identities via a focus on cohesive communication. The consultancy focuses on being a springboard for brand building via storytelling, through the platforms of marketing communications, media campaigns, public relations, and creative collaborations. Longform is a way of seeing, of being and of enabling. Of celebrating the power of imagination, of incredibly talented storytellers who bring to life diverse forms of creative expression everyday. By becoming a part of the storyteller’s world, Longform take a deep dive to discover their story, distill it, communicate it; to join them in shaping the ecosystem around them in harmony with their vision.
Pareina enjoys joining the dots for brands by making connections between businesses and consumers, ideas and products, companies and cultures.
The firm's Longform Welfare Communication arm is committed to causes that empower the grassroots and improves our habitat via citizen advocacy for caring cities, child welfare, and fostering cultural dialogues to empower change.
Founder, Lopez Design
Founder and Principal of Lopez Design, Anthony Lopez, guides his studio practice with a clear purpose of delivering pathbreaking solutions, which give his clients a distinct edge. Anthony embraces collaborative practices and interdisciplinary engagement and has garnered the expertise to do large and complex branding, spatial and wayfinding projects for businesses and organizations.
An NID alumni with a Master’s in Visual Communication, Anthony strongly advocates his philosophy of design interventions for long term impact and sustainability. He has boldly redefined design for India as a way to find unique indigenous solutions, rigorously championing a humanistic and contextual approach. His ambidextrous methods and dogged pursuit of excellence and integrity have gotten him many accolades.
Anthony’s love for dialogues catalysed his studio’s bi-monthly Forum, where experts and champions from diverse fields are invited to present their thinking and work, followed by edgy and open exchanges. When he's not working, he's dreaming up his next breakthrough.
