Jalandhar, September 30, 2019: The 7th International Design Week – a collaborative programme between the international and national professionals, academicians and students – organised by the Department of Design, Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, was inaugurated with great pomp and show.

This 7 day workshop is an endeavour to enhance ideas, concepts, processes and thinking of two different cultures to generate sustainable and eco friendly designs which are aesthetically pleasing and promote a harmonious living.

College Principal, Dr Sucharita Sharma, put forth her views about this international collaboration and said that where on one hand through interaction and discussion with the designers of other countries, students will learn about their manners, skills and culture; on the other hand this will also help them to polish their skills and explore new challenges.

Ms Rajni Kumar of Department of Design addressed the gathering and told them the theme of this year’s International Design Week, i.e. ‘How to Solve Social Problems as a Designer’ in which the main objective will be to exchange knowledge about culturally defined social problems and teaching students how to use design for a better future. The students worked on different themes and proposals during the week.

She highlighted that the 200 students of BD, Fine Arts, Applied Arts, B.Voc. (Product Design Management and Entrepreneurship) shall be divided into 20 various groups with 20 mentors who will be working on the different projects.

The Resource Persons of 7th International Design Week were:

• Ms Renate Boere, Faculty of Willem De Kooning Rotterdam
• Quirine Dob, Coordinator, Writer and Designer at Studio Renate Boere, Netherlands
• Jurgen Bey, Designer – Studio Makkink & Bey, Netherlands
• Melle Smets, Speculative Designer, Netherlands
• Sh. Vijay Singh Katiyar, Principal Designer at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and
• Mr Rishav Jain, Assistant Professor and Programme Chair for Post Graduate courses in Design at CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Addressing the audience, Mr Vijay Singh Katiyar said that now is the time when everyone from designers, industry, environment saviors to technology experts, freelancers need to work together like a team. All of us need to keep in mind the national and societal problems and then create designs which are not damaging but saving and modifying the situation around us, i.e. we need to create sustainable designs.

Renete Boere put forth that sustainability should be the primary key when creating a design. She emphasised that sustainability should never be compromised even in the presence of technology. Since, today, environment protection is the major concern; so the designs which are eco-friendly get more importance. During the inaugural ceremony - Mr Sudhir Gera, Director Operations, IEC Kirloskar Gensets Limited; Ms Ronita Chopra, Director, Evergreen Publications; Ms Aashima Jain, Founder and Design Head Silai Studio, Ahmedabad; Mr Mukul Verma, Director, Savi International and Thakur Udayveer Singh, Principal Architect, Space Race Architects were present.

College Principal, Dr Sucharita Sharma, congratulated the students and wished them luck for this grand opportunity to explore themselves. She appreciated the efforts of faculty members of Department of Design for smoothly marking the beginnings.