2010-2012 Bachelor of Special Education (MR) Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi 2000-2003 P.G. Diploma in Crafts Design Major (Soft Materials) Indian Institute of Crafts & Design, Jaipur 1997-2000 B.A. (Hons.) – English Literature Delhi University, New Delhi

Sep 2017 – Present Faculty, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art Design & Technology, Bangalore
Apr 2013 – Jul 2017 Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Crafts & Design, Jaipur
Oct 2016 Guest Lecturer – Ms. Meeta’s Residency, University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A.
Jul 2012 – Apr 2013 Senior Manager – Student Affairs & Development, Pearl Academy, New Delhi
Jul 2010 – Jul 2012 Assistant Professor – Textile Design, Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur
Jul 2007 – Jul 2010 Designer, Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI), Noida
Jul 2005 – Dec 2006 Faculty, The Blue Mountains School, Ooty
2014 – Present Founding Partner, Tikoli, New Delhi
Mar 2009 – Present Visiting Faculty, Guest Lecturer, External Jury – Banasthali Vidyapeeth-Tonk, Poornima University-Jaipur, Manipal University-Jaipur, Pearl Academy of Fashion-Jaipur, IGNOU, Study Centre-Tamanna Special School-New Delhi
2008 – Present Designer, Bindaas Collective, New Delhi

My chief interest areas are the traditional craft sector, traditional sustainable practices, and cultures of mending, re-using, and upcycling as a way of life.

I like to engage with traditional crafts in a holistic, broad-based, enriching source of trans-disciplinary knowledge systems. I have been persistently returning to those roots to see how they can be recontextualized and mainstreamed as a new way of life in a changing world.

My explorative examinations look into the transformation of the traditional craft sector from being a fundamental aspect of life, deeply embedded in livelihoods, communities, and culture, to its current perception as an exoticized hobbyist-like activity, disconnected from its social roots and mainstream relevance.

In all the units I teach at Srishti, I try to ingrain transdisciplinary values of the traditional craft sector and mindful material usage for a sustainable future practice. In its third run, the accessory design unit has been improvised to bring in the reusability of wasted material as a key aspect, with a strong focus on the disuse of virgin material. Similar values permeated into the pre-thesis project, #madewithlove. The challenge before the students was to understand the personal context of love in its myriad forms to unpack historical and current contexts and value systems and enable the expression of new meanings. They embarked on this process by picking up an old / pre-loved / second-hand / heirloom/hand-me-down / worn-torn piece of textile, engaging and forging relationships with individuals and communities through this slow and mindful making. The study of social ecology for foundation students involves visiting remote craft clusters in the villages of India to study how the deep-rooted traditional social, cultural, and economic systems have adapted and evolved with the times and yet maintained their essence and ethics. The larger idea is also to expose students to intuitive, systemic, and conscious processes that they can later build into their formal academic design processes. The additional responsibility of the academic dean for 3rd year requires me to handle matters related to students’ academic records. While carrying out this responsibility, I actively try to see the systemic modifications required with the ultimate objective of streamlining and simplifying systems and processes to ensure the timely availability of information and its dissemination to students.

If I had to pick a central idea behind my creative pursuits, it would be working with one’s hands, like Richard Sennett’s ‘Craftsman.’ It feeds a certain kind of thinking to imagine possibilities, demands a disciplined and concentrated effort and can be industrious in nature. It is a practice of thinking, evolving, and centering through making. Material and technique are mere mediums in the process of making through which various aspects of art, design and education are explored and understood.

This practice of exploring and using different skills with textiles, crochet, weaving, block printing, etc., as the core medium, has led to engaging with communities outside and colleagues beyond the workspace. It’s also been encouraging to structure it in a way that has resulted in fundraising for causes dear to us.