Siddhartha Das Studio; Connecting Through Culture
Siddhartha Das graduated as an Exhibition Designer from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, and established his studio in 2002. He started the studio with his own money and is now looking to find a funder who shares his vision and realizes the commercial viability of the area he works in. Over 10 years, his Studio has led or collaborated on roughly 100 cultural projects in seven countries across four continents, on different aspect of planning, strategies and design for heritage, public, museum and other cultural spaces.The Studio maintains a lean core team of half a dozen cultrala and design professionals, that has built a vast network of professionals from across the country and around the world to innovatively conceive and design projects. It blends national with international, rural with urban, and youth with experience. The approach is to collaborate rather than compete.
‘Siddhartha Das Studio’ offers a wide variety of in-house expertise: spatial, graphic design, furniture, crafts, lighting, signage and brand design. All projects are dealt with from a systems design approach rather than a perspective of the area of design.
The Studio and sometimes in his individual capacity, Siddhartha collaborates on roughly half of his projects with others from the world of arts, design and just about any area of life. This has brought designers, architects, curators and writers from Sweden, UK, Turkey,Spain, USA and Japan to come and work at the studio on stints ranging from 1 to 6 months. Some of his accomplishments include thescenography of Interior Space of the 18th century monument, Jal Mahal, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India; Curation & Design of a Film Museum,Guwahati, Assam, India; One of nine international designers invited to submit concept design proposal for the ICRC/Red Cross Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; Curation & Concept Design of a public space (a Plaza) Monterrey, Mexico; and in Chiba, Japan;Curation & Design of Museum Exhibition: Indian Fans, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland; Co-Concept Designer of Exhibition: Encounters, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Curation & Concept Design Proposal for Museums: Museum on Transport, Children Museum on History of Delhi, for Archaeological Surevey of India; Heritage Signage & Furniture, Gateway of India, Mumbai; 19th century sites in Amritsar, Punjab; and Chokelao Bagh, Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. Besides, they have also done Photography & design for the art book on Textile: Threads & Voices edited by Laila Tyabji, published by Marg, India and Photography Projects during Visual Arts Residencies in Canada & Japan.
“I have been fortunate to receive a few grants and fellowships.” Says Siddhartha, “I am Nehru Trust, Charles Wallace and an AsiaSociety Fellow. I received artist and cultural grants from the Japan Foundation, Embassy of France in India, and the Fogo Island Arts Corporation, Canada. In 2009, I was awarded the Indian Young Design Entrepreneur and subsequently the International Young Design Entrepreneur at 100% Design, UK’s premier Design event by the British Council.”He goes on to say “Getting the International Young Design Entrepreneur Award was an important landmark in my professional life. YCEprovided me with a bouquet of rewarding experiences; I was fortunate to interact with my British counterparts, whose passionate approach to how they envisioned their work and studios was contagious. Being able to show some of my work at the 100% Design inLondon, was equally enriching through various interactions. The Award money and the program helped find an enthusiastic collaborator in a Nick Rawcliff, an alumnus of Royal College of Art, London, to work with me and 35 other bamboo craftspeople in remote Tripura, to create products that found their way back to 100% Design in London.
I hope my interaction with the YCE program remains a vibrant one and I look forward to contributing to it in any way I can.” He concludes.
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