Masters in Design, M. Des. – Industrial Design – IDC, IIT Bombay 5 Year Dip Architecture – TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi

Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology, Bangalore (2014 onwards) – Faculty
Design Circle, Bangalore – Founding Partner and Head Designer
Thinking Hands, Bangalore – Founding Partner and Head Designer
Azim Premji Foundation, Bangalore – Designer and Researcher
Enso Furniture, Bangalore – Designer
Mozaic Design, Porvorim, Goa – Architect
Anangpur Building Centre, New Delhi – Architect

Design for social impact: Developing products or services that directly address the needs of a ‘common man,’ community and empowering them through co-creation and participation. Creating design solutions with a built-in business model that benefits the community and promotes social good.

Craft revival: Finding ways to revitalize traditional craft practices, and work towards their economic and cultural sustainability.

Sustainable materials and production: Working with biomaterials and natural fibres. Researching and developing new materials and production methods that minimize environmental impact.

At Srishti Manipal Institute for Art, Design & Technology, MAHE, Bengaluru, Ritu is the Head of the Program for BSSD – Business, Services, and System Design. She mentors aspiring practitioners to come up with inventive and systemic solutions for real-world issues. She actively engages with community-based projects, bringing comprehensive solutions via the use of go-to-market strategies and design thinking. Her teaching emphasizes an experimental, exploratory approach to ‘making’ and a lens that appreciates ‘slow design principles.’ Ritu’s multifaceted role extend from maker-centric approach to design and holistic thinking to the next generation of designers at Srishti, bridging the gap between practice and academia. Her teaching philosophy is based on the idea that design should be used to create solutions to real world problems. Her courses or projects focus on applying design principles and finding inventive and systemic solutions to problems that haven’t traditionally been addressed by design. She believes that design should be used to empower communities and that designers should work collaboratively with communities to develop solutions that meet their needs. She has also worked with the Impact Edge Lab that works with students on their Thesis Projects in craft livelihood and agricultural livelihoods across India, undertaken by Impact Enterprises and NGOs/ Govt Organisations creating sustainable businesses for the other 90%. Her work with LeNS Lab (Learners Network of Sustainability) focused on working with natural fibres, developing new biomaterials, and finding inventive solutions for their application. Some projects focused on the craft livelihood space and collaborating with artisans to develop a new range of products appropriate for the changing market. She was also the facilitator for LeNS pilot courses, which were a Srishti and Design Department, IIT Guwahati collaboration where students of both universities collaborated. She was the facilitator of the Lens Course held in Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil where methodologies and PSS (product service system) frameworks developed across several institutes were shared, tested, and validated.

Image 1 – Project Footprint Dialogues Thesis Batch Students of 2024
Image 2 Students visiting their client, Param Science Innovation Centre, to understand their requirements
Image 3 Making that matters Project Students showcasing at Bangalore Design Week 2023
Image 4 -Students of Mapping Spaces and Public Furniture Class
Image 5 – Product Detailing Students displaying their Week 2 work
Image 6 – Building common understanding during ‘System Services and Impact’ Class

Journey in design has been multifaceted, with multiple paths.
The journey started with a desire to know more about ‘alternate building technologies’ which led to work associations with Anangpur Building Centre, Delhi and later at Mozaic Design Combine, Goa. Worked on many challenging and award-winning projects ranging from residences, hospitality and cathedral.
Her experience in Nagaland working with NHHDC Nagaland Handloom and Handicraft Development Centre, Dimapur laid the foundation for working with communities and built a deep understanding of craft based design interventions.
Ritu is also the founder partner of Design Circle and Thinking Hands in Bengaluru, India, has more than 20 years of experience in furniture design, manufacturing and entrepreneurship. As a hands-on furniture and toymaker, she fosters an appreciation for material, making, and craftsmanship. She enjoys working with natural materials like wood, bamboo, leather, fabric, etc. The foundation was laid at the student stage itself by working with children and designing toys in bamboo and wood, which continues till now.
She has worked extensively with several institutions, creating transformative and adaptive spaces for children as well as designing teaching-learning aids for schools that inculcate creativity and construct a holistic learning environment for children.