The Gyaan Project

Tune into this 5th episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Saif Faisal, A new breed of bold Contemporary designer and founder of SFDW

This series is created by Audiogyan in partnership with @godrejdesignlab

Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.

Massimo Vignelli’s once said, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” Even in our part of the world, somewhere in 15 hundred.. Mirza Khan Abdul Rahim once said, “Ek sadho, sab sadhe”..

Saif completed his training as an Architect from RV School of Architecture in 2010-11, alongside designing and participating in Formula SAE-Racing with the Mechanical engineering students at the college, where he acquired diverse experience in design, manufacturing, and technical know-how. After college, he went on to learn woodworking. These diverse formative explorations gave him a polymathic learning experience.

His work draws heavily from his understanding of Anthropology, Processes, and Technology, which is very integral to his creative explorations. The deep appreciation he cultivated of ‘Essentialism’ from racing is revisited in his Design and Architecture.

Saif is involved in guest lectures and talks at design and architecture schools. Apart from being an avid motorcyclist and a lover of cafe racers, he is into boxing and pursues his culinary interests rather seriously.

Questions

1. You’ve done architecture, lifestyle products, furniture, jewelry, accessories and more. How do you define your work? You also have diverse interests, from motorcycling to boxing and cooking. How do these pursuits influence your creative process?


2. Who according to you is a designer? You talk about “Essentialism” - What is the essential quality to become a designer?


3. What is the difference between Essentialism and Minimalism according to you? Is Essentialism more inclusive than minimalism? Lets take Loup of example.


4. You draw inspiration from sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. How do these disciplines inform your understanding of the human experience, and how does that translate into products you create? Any example of a product you made?


5. If I can take the liberty to say, Art is expression while design is functional, responding to a problem. Where and how do you see art and design lines blurring, given your work deals with higher levels of aesthetics.


6. Why do you call wood to be a humble material? What did you learn in wood work? What made you consider learning that? How can it help any designer interested in making physical products?


7. Do you see geometric forms as a universal language? Do you see that in Indian history or culture? How have you borrowed this universal language and contextualised for India? May be you can explain with the lamps that you have made?


8. Where are you on Massimo Vignelli’s quote, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” How comfortable the journey has been to switch domains? What advice would you give anybody who has such wide range of interests? or does one need to master something before traversing?


9. You often talk about Indian design education need to level up. Our work needs to appeal to a global audience. What do you mean exactly? Where are the gaps? What can be done about it?


10. We have often seen us using Jugaad as one of the primary methods of innovation. What is you take on that?


11. What do you wish from the new “Make in India” generation? How can they push the boundaries of design?

Reference Reading

1. https://www.saif-faisal.com/


2. https://www.instagram.com/saiffaisal.designworkshop/


3. https://www.platform-mag.com/design/saif-faisal.html


4. https://www.linkedin.com/in/saif-faisal-51247315/?originalSubdomain=in

Tune into this 4th episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with @chitrav89 (Chitra Vishwanath) - Principal Architect and Managing Director of BIOME Environment Solutions (@biomearchitecture)

This series is created by Audiogyan in partnership with @godrejdesignlab

Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.

Chitra Vishwanath is an Indian architect based in Bengaluru who works on themes related to ecology and architecture. She has been running her own architectural firm since 1991, working with other architects on many projects of all sizes. She is currently the Principal Architect and Managing Director of BIOME Environment Solutions. She firmly believes that the true essence of a remarkable firm lies in the gradual fading of its founder's individual prominence. The establishment of a firm is influenced not only by the founder's drive but also by various contextual factors. Chitra cannot be solely identified as Chitra Vishwanath without acknowledging the integral role of Biome. Similarly, Biome's existence in its current capacity is inseparable from the contributions of her colleagues. BIOME has been involved in more than 700 projects encompassing the construction of buildings of all sizes and water harvesting and sanitation structures with specific relevance to the ecology of the sites. With earth as a basic material input in construction, BIOME has designed and built many structures. We’ll be talking about ecological architecture in today’s episode.

Questions

1. We often use “architect” as a word who guides, designs, and oversees. Etymologically as well, it’s derived from arkhi-, chief + tekton, builder - chief builder. Who according to you is an architect?


2. What constitutes an ecological architecture? Could you talk about the 4 aspects of architecture from your TEDx talk, resourceful spaces, designing construction systems, water and waste management? Maybe by taking an example of one of the many schools you have built.


3. What is Maximise to minimize? Good design is no design at all, right? How do you strive to create a positive impact while building structures? What are the key principles and values you live by?


4. What should be / can be the index/metric of good ecological architecture? Why?


5. What according to you is the biggest role of architects in India, given the current time?


6. Over the last 31 years, you have grown to 31 member strong team. Seems a conscious choice to stay lean. Why?


7. You have a lot of Junior architects on the team. What are their primary job responsibilities?


8. For Biome, every project is a test bed for developing a collaborative multidisciplinary approach grounded in informed decisions. How does Biome onboard, execute, and deliver any project? Where and how are Junior architects involved? What do you expect from them?


9. What according to you is a good measure of an ecologically sensitive outlook in a student or junior architect entering this field of architecture?


10. What kind of architects do we need for India’s future? What tips/suggestions would you like to give young architects?

Reference Reading

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitra_Vishwanath


2. https://www.instagram.com/chitrav89/?hl=en


3. https://www.biome-solutions.com/about-us/


4. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chitra-vishwanath-8513593/?originalSubdomain=in


5. https://www.archdaily.com/tag/chitra-vishwanath


6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMiekG0IJfM


7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41tlOqU-6PM


8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlf3TyKdcAg


9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EviAtiqoLTE


10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlwbK-ybQX0


11. https://dev.earth-auroville.com/chitra-vishwanath-architects/


12. https://www.e-coexist.com/mailchimp/building-small-chitra-vishwanath.html


13. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/know-your-architects/a686-chitra-vishwanath-creating-an-ecofriendly-way-of-living/


14. https://medium.com/@ar.aesha/ar-chitra-vishwanath-and-her-design-philosophy-282b64a99f83


15. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/a5644-the-paper-workshop-by-chitra-vishwanath-architectural-semantics-with-vernacularism/


16. https://www.facebook.com/chitra.vishwanath.3/


17. https://www.instagram.com/biomearchitecture/


18. https://www.biome-solutions.com/


19. https://audiogyan.com/2022/01/10/design-of-wells/

This is the 3rd episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Dr. Susmita Mohanty, an Indian spaceship designer and a serial space entrepreneur. This series is created in partnership with Godrej Design Lab - a platform that encourages and advances design excellence and exploration. Godrej Design Lab believes in the power of design to make a meaningful change. I am so happy and proud that Godrej Design Lab is supporting the journey of Audiogyan.

Designer's Digest is a series about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.

I want to start with a line by Vincent Van Gogh, “For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream”.

Questions

1. Can we start by, who is a spaceship architect or a designer? Can you also elaborate on the 3 genres of space architects [Voyage d’Esprit, Man-in-a-Can, Trans-Gravity]? Where and how do designers fit in?


2. What does it take to become a spaceship designer or an architect? If you can share your version of a career? What does one do in their early years and then possibilities as they become a veteran like you? Design is broadly about problem solving and we see a lot of lateral entrants. Is it possible in this discipline?


3. You’ve said, traditionally government agencies tend to design in a very engineering centric approach where they don’t invite architects, designers to build stuff. With designers engaging in such space, collaboration with other professionals like physicists, engineers, biologists, seems inevitable. What are the challenges and rewards of such interdisciplinary teamwork?


4. Importance of multidisciplinary. You’ve straddled across design, art, tech, humanities, choreography. What was it like growing in Ahmedabad in 70-80


5. What are the unique challenges and opportunities in this sector for a designer? You mentioned about designing spaceship interiors for long distance travel, spacesuits to keep away from sharp dust on other planets, especially on the moon. Climate is another important domain to look into.


6. What all sections of the rocket or a spacecraft (For eg: Soyuz, I loved the video) could be given to designers? Where all design interventions can be done?


7. What made you start Earth2Orbit and later Spaceport Sarabhai and what exactly you folks do there? Can you share any specific project or a milestone that made you very hopeful about this it having a huge potential in India?


8. Considering costs, policies and constraints of this highly guarded sector, what makes your hopeful about brewing design talent in India? Can you slightly talk more about your 2017 article “India is sitting on a space goldmine”?


9. You often say, “space is not just about technology. It’s also about business, social impact, geopolitics and more about perspective. Could you please elaborate on it from a designer’s lens?


10. You often encourage entrepreneurs to look earth from 400km above. After working closely with such great organisations like ISRO, NASA, ESA what has been your biggest learning so far.

Reference reading

• https://www.weforum.org/people/susmita-mohanty/


• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susmita_Mohanty


• https://www.imd.org/ibyimd/innovation/beyond-earths-boundaries-a-journey-of-innovation-and-leadership/


• https://www.stirworld.com/think-columns-soyuz-the-world-s-most-reliable-human-spacecraft


• http://earth2orbit.com/index.php


• http://www.themoonwalker.in/write.php


• https://thebrilliant.com/opinion/why-billionaires-playing-space-ping-pong-leaves-me-cold/


• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Adams

This is the second episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Hardik Pandya, Sr. VP of Design at Unacademy Group. This series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.

I have a co-host with me, Shreyas Satish. He is the founder of ownpath.com, ownpath is a platform for designers to upskill, find community, and unlock exciting opportunities, and also helps companies grow their design teams. I had Shreyas as a guest in episode 218 when I did a series “Where are the designers” talking to 12 top influential Design leaders from India.

And for today’s episode which is also my domain of designing Digital products, we have a perfect guest and a common friend, Hardik Pandya. He is a Design leader with an innate love for building products with good design. Currently He is a Senior Vice President, Design of The Unacademy Group. Previously a Design Lead at Google Search, G Suite and Google Cloud, Ola and more.

Questions

1. How did you get into Design? You are a lateral entrant? What were early days like?


2. Can you walk us through your journey towards being a lead designer? Were there things that came fairly naturally, like taking ownership and initiative, and were things you had to deliberately learn?


3. In No Career Conversations in Isolation, you write “The way to get to the work you want to be doing in the future is earning the trust of your manager. Are there any stories or examples you can share where earning that trust unlocked the opportunity you were looking for?


4. Now that you are heading teams, how does your typical day look like? Do you happen to work hands-on still?


5. From where and how do you hire? Do you look for talent laterally? How do you spot talent? Junior / nerdy / geeky / high end colleges / pedigree? Is hiring a gamble?


6. What are some traits you look for when you’re hiring a senior designer? How do you actually tell if they possess those traits?


7. What are some common mistakes you see designers make with portfolios?


8. Who have been your best hires and why? Which background did they come from?


9. A lot of hiring conversations tend to be very backward looking i.e the work they’ve done, the situations they’ve been in and so on. But, I believe the real alpha, especially from a company’s point of view is being able to gauge what they can do in the future. What’s your take on this and how do you try to identify potential in designers?


10. What skills do you expect from designers for the future in the world of AI?

Reference links

1. https://twitter.com/hvpandya


2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardikpandya/?originalSubdomain=in


3. https://medium.com/@hvpandya


4. https://hardik.substack.com/


5. https://www.ownpath.com/


6. https://hvpandya.com/


7. https://www.instagram.com/godrejdesignlab/


8. https://www.godrejdesignlab.com/


9. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrrt1Y8BkAyph0bmVRVsRF1UTgsf1Lxo9

This is the first episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest”. This series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.

We start with Ayaz Basrai. Ayaz has been on Audiogyan’s 104th Episode where we spoke about “Designing interiors for your city.”

He is the founder of The Busride Studio based in Goa and Mumbai along with his brother Zameer. Ayaz Graduated in Industrial Design, specialising in Product Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2003. Ayaz studio ‘The Busride’ as an independent Design Studio specialising in the design and creation of environments, ranging from Hospitality, Entertainment venues, Film and Production to Exhibitions and temporary installations, and more.

Questions asked in the episode

1. Who according to you is a designer? You have been questioning this a lot.


2. What according to you is a role of a designer when they mature in their practice. Do the lines blur with art and then things become political or social in nature?


3. You have been engaging with very young talent like Prathmesh Jaju and others. Whats the reason for going so wide in our interest areas? How does it enrich your practice?


4. Eliel Saarinen’s famous line, “Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." What’s your take on it? Is it a pyramid kind of a thinking?


5. You have been tinkering a lot with rizhomatic thinking? Tell us a little bit about it. Does the other node need to have equally good to understand the larger context context to pass it on?


6. You talk about intergenerational kindness by giving the Oxford examples. What is it and how can that be practised by us who are future ancestors?


7. What is India Futures Project? Why do you engage in speculative fiction from a designer’s lens? Why create these future looking narratives? Are there instances of this done in the past of which we, inadvertently, we are part of? How real these narratives were back then, if any?


8. You have an article about placeless-ness. What provokes you to think of these future spaces while we are still having cows and camels on the road. Would you venture into these 15 minute cities or explore shapes and forms of cities in the meta-verse? On which principles of foundations these exploration happen?


9. We are looking at how AI in the cradle is smiling at us. What kind of skills do Centaur Designers will need to have?


10. How would designers of the future look like? Not just in the software and industrial realm but textile, graphics, interiors and so on…

Reference reading

• https://www.architectandinteriorsindia.com/lists/ayaz-zameer-basrai-co-founders-the-busride-design-studio


• https://www.instagram.com/thebusride/


• https://www.thepracticecept.com/thebusride


• https://thehardcopy.co/in-conversation-with-ayaz-basrai/


• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEiJMVjMyrE


• https://issuu.com/thebusride


• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQWAJBpfzp8


• https://www.stirworld.com/inspire-people-arthur-mamou-mani-x-ayaz-basrai-cross-border-conversations


• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMEaLTat3wE


• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZJ4T50o95E

Einstein once said “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” He also said, “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” Why I am talking about this? In today’s episode, we’ll documenting all about Play and Work.

For this, we have Nitesh Mohanty and Sonal Choudhary with us on Audiogyan. Nitesh is a Educator, Photographer, Art Director, Writer, Curator. A JJ and Bombay boy, now in Goa. He did his post-gard from NID, Ahmedabad, specialising in Textile Design. Sonal is a Visual Communication Designer, Writer, Educator. We’ll be discussing about their new venture, or should I call it “school of thought” - Plork. Well, lets find out in this case study.

Questions

1. NM & SC: Tell us a little bit about your background. Which school of thought are you coming from?


2. NM & SC: What is Plork? Why are you doing this? Who is it for?


3. SC: Paula Scher said, “Great design is serious, not solemn”. What is your take?


4. NM: What makes you go so broad with poets, chefs and philosophers, while education these days is task / job oriented?


5. NM: What is taste and how do you acquire taste during education? (aesthetic, intellectual)


6. NM: You teach, “Ways of Seeing”. Tell us more about it?


7. NM & SC: How do you define a ‘mature’ designer?


8. NM: What is the role of “play” in corporate structures? When there are clear objectives and deliverables, is play required or possible?


9. SC: What are key big gaps in today’s design or art education?


10. NM: What do you think the future of design education in India?

Reference Reading

• https://www.instagram.com/nimo_obscura/


• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitesh-mohanty-46562777/?originalSubdomain=in


• https://www.jioinstitute.edu.in/faculty/mr-nitesh-mohanty


• https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-creators/nitesh-mohantys-nowhere-is-a-visual-story-of-resilience-amidst-tragedy-and-despair


• https://medium.com/@artwintent/the-art-of-visual-storytelling-4b1ad2e159b0


• https://studioanugraha.com/Nowhere-Now-here


• https://www.instagram.com/sonalchoudhury/?hl=en


• https://www.behance.net/sonalchoudhury1


• https://www.instagram.com/plorkschoolofthought/?hl=en

“The characteristics of jazz help. Its sense of improvisation, individualism, sound, and rhythm are all present and important in graphic design, too.” - Niklaus Troxler, who have been improvising with letterforms like Jazz Musicians since 1960s.

In my opinion, a Poster is a mix of typeface and graphics communicating something. In here, typeface matters a lot. To discuss this and more, today we have Sarang Kulkarni with us.

Sarang is a type designer and co-founder of Ektype. He also has his own agency called as The White Crow where he does branding and typography work. This Audiogyan will be in English and Marathi.

Questions

1. What according to you is Type / Akshar?


2. Massimo Vignelli said that he is comfortable with half a dozen typefaces lasting a lifetime. Rest all is visual pollution. What's the need for more typefaces?


3. What triggers a need for new typefaces? Medium, Language, Expression, Enhancement, Technology, Content?


4. Are there ways to systematically study and distinguish between an improvisation of a typeface versus a different typeface? For eg, Mukta and Modak have different anatomy, so we can say that they are 2 different fonts. But can we say that Inter is an improvised version of Helvetica?


5. You deal with a lot of abstract forms as well. At letterbox, for eg: “k” (Marathi) can be identified if one looks at the flow or series of iterations of representing ‘k’. Can a letter form be identified in isolation? What's the extent of improvisation? How abstract one can go and still make it palatable?


6. When can one start improvising on a typeface? When the base font is registered in everyone’s mind. For eg: Can we improvise on a newly launched font set?


7. Does improvisation in a typeface done only as an experiment can transform into the usage of mass communication?


8. What's going on with 365 days of type and more such practices and movements? Are those improvisations?


9. How easy or hard is it today to experiment and improvise on open-source fonts?


10. When does the author know that the improvisation is done?

Reference Reading

• https://www.instagram.com/1sarangkulkarni/?hl=en


• https://www.instagram.com/ektype/?hl=en


• https://www.instagram.com/letterbox.india/?hl=en


• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarang-kulkarni-5898857/


• https://www.behance.net/SarangKulkarni


• https://www.dandad.org/profiles/person/664731/sarang-kulkarni/


• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXwkZaIRLI4


• https://whitecrow.in/


• https://twitter.com/sarangkulkarni7


• https://www.typoday.in/2014/sarang.html


• http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-86975.html


• https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/being-a-mumbai-type-designer-is-about-more-than-great-work-you-gotta-get-the-lingos-and-theres-hundreds-of-them/


• https://design.google/library/anek-multiscript


• https://kyooriusdesign.awardsengine.com/?action=ows:entries.details&e=135402&project_year=2023


• https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-voices/ek-type


• https://www.adi.org.in/events/adiamd-many-worlds-of-type


• https://vimeo.com/133792269

Abhinit has been building digital products for past 15 years, he was head of Design at Gojek and scaled the design and research function from 6 designer to 200 plus including research. He is currently on a sabbatical. 

Questions

1. You wear multiple hats - designer, programmer and Product. Your twitter bio says, App Maker. Pixel Hinter. Leak Checker. Who do you associate the most with?


2. What does scale mean in the world of tech?


3. What does “designing for scale” enable us to do? Why design for scale?


4. What’s the role of design & research in this?


5. Is process driven culture a recipe for scaling? Doesn’t process hinder innovation and out of box thinking?


6. When lean, one can move fast. When we have legacy how do we change?


7. Apple being an exception, who else has designed for scale? I know you will say, Stripe. Any other brand / product?


8. When you are market leaders, what can make us strive for excellence? We are already at scale. :)


9. What were the biggest challenges and if you were do it all over again, what is one thing you’ll change?


10. We are in a process of improving our design system, which we hope will help us scale. Who should be the key stake holder and why?


11. I know you must have answered this many times, does creativity come in the way when we have design system. For eg: How do we personalise or customise for different segments while maintaining unified language?

Reference links

• https://www.instagram.com/abhinitial/


• https://twitter.com/abhinitial?lang=en


• https://audiogyan.com/2020/04/22/abhinit-tiwari/


• https://audiogyan.com/?type=wrtd-series


• https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/


• https://www.propertygurugroup.com/joinus/

Potter Stewart an associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court once said, “Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.” Censoring artists, intellectuals is not a new thing.

Today to discuss more about censorship we have Ajit Rai with us on Audiogyan. We’ll be talking about banning and censorship in films in the Indian context. This episode will be bi-lingual but mostly in Hindi. Listeners have to bare with my Hindi questions but Ajit sir will cover my shortcomings. 🙂

He wrote a best seller book " Hindujas and Bollywood'(English ) that is launched in London by actor Akshay Kumar & "Bollywood ki Buniyaad"(Hindi ) launched in 75 th Cannes Film Festival by Mr Apoorva Chandra Secretary Ministry of I & B Govt of India last year 2022. It is a global journey of about 1200 Hindi films introduced to World by Hinduja Family.

He is invited and travelled and reported from more than 50 countries in many prestigious International Film Festivals and Nobel prize ceremony as well.

His credentials are as follows 
1.Presently working as Advisor and Film Critic Bharat Express National News Channel.
2.He is regularly contributing as Film Critic for Jansatta / The Indian Express group, Navbharat Times/ The Times of India group, Dainik Bhaskar, Prabhat khabar, People Samachar, Jan Sandesh Times and more than 25 digital media outlets.
3. Ajit Rai has been a member of Media Committee International Film Festival of India Goa in 2010 and Selection Jury Member (Preview Committee) in 2014, 2015 & 2017.
4. He is a guest speaker in knowledge Series of NFDC Film Bazar in IFFI Goa many times.
5 .Ajit Rai has been invited by Film & Television Institute of India as Guest of Honour in  2013 & 2015 in Student Film Festival and National Students Film Awards ceremony.

6. He is a Member of Jury in Life After Oil International Film Festival Sardenia Italy. 
7. Cannes Film Festival - the most prestigious festival in the world-  granted Ajit Rai the top priority Press Badge considering him as one of the most important film critic of the World 
He is covering Cannes Film Festival & many other international film festivals and IFFI Goa since 2004.

8. Ajit Rai is only film critic of India who wrote maximum articles on  International Film Festival of India IFFI Goa around more than 500 from 2004 to till date.
9. He has been Consultant Jagaran Film Festival in 2012, 2013 & 2014 in 16 cities of India by the largest circulated Hindi newspaper of the world- Dainik Jagran.
10. He is Advisor and Member of Jury in Rajasthan International Film Festival Jaipur
11.  (a) He has started Raipur International Film Festival in collaboration with Govt of Chhattisgarh and Directorate of Film Festival DFF Govt of India in 2015.
 (b) He has Started Haryana International Film Festival Yamunanagar in 2008 in collaboration with Govt of Haryana.
(c) He has started Azamgarh International Film Festival in 2018.
(d) He has started Faridabad International Film Festival in 2012.
(e). He has started Sardar Patel International Film Festival in Patiala Punjab 
  12. (a) He has started Indian Film Festival Moscow Russia as founder Director in 2014 (b) Indian Film Festival Uppsala Sweden in 2013 . 
(c) He has started  Indian Film Festival Berlin Germany in 2012.
 (d) He is Consultant Bollywood Film Festival Oslo Norway since 2013 .
13. He has been invited by President of Iran in 2012 as a special guest in New Horizon Film Festival Tehran .

14. Ajit Rai is one of the leading Film & Theatre Critic & Cultural Journalist of India with wide and vast experience of more than 30  years  in almost all leading National Newspapers, reputed Journals and Electronic media as well on Cinema, Theatre, Literature & Cultural discourses.
His about 5000 published articles are pioneer in Film & Cultural journalism. Some of his innovative reports has been debated in Indian Parliament .
15. He has been Editor - Rang Prasang.. an international journal of Cinema & Theatre,  National School Of Drama, Ministry Of Culture, Govt. Of India.
16. He is a Member of Jury Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the largest theatre festival of the 3rd world by National School Of Drama, Ministry of Culture Govt of India.
17. He is a Member of Jury Meta Awards by Mahindra Company for theatre.
 18. Founder Editor - Drishyantar, a monthly magazine of Cinema TV Culture & Media by Doordarshan Ministry of I&B Govt of India.
19. Worked as consultant Doordarshan Ministry of I & B Govt of India.
20. Worked with All India Radio, Patna & New Delhi. Ministry of I&B Govt of India.

21. World Record -
(a) -Ajit Rai made a world record in film journalism in Cannes Film Festival 2018.  He published 75 articles in various Indian Newspapers in 15 days on Cannes Film Festival This is a world record that one journalist wrote 75 articles about one event.
(b) He made a world record in Theatre Criticism in 2010 when his 25 articles published 25 days daily without break during International Theatre Festival by National School of Drama New Delhi.
(c). He is covering Cairo International film festival,   EL Gouna Film Festival in Egypt and Red Sea International Film Festival regularly and wrote 25 articles every year.
22. He wrote a book Hindujas and Bollywood in English and Bollywood ki buniyaad in Hindi on contribution of Hinduja Brothers to Indian  Cinema.. It is a global cultural journey of about 1200 Hindi films introduced to World by Hinduja Family.
23. Pioneer in personality journalism in India in 1995 in India Today magazine.

24. He has been invited to deliver lecture on Cinema ,Indian culture, Theatre  & society by United Nation ( UNO) New York, British Parliament, London, President House Tehran Iran, Uppsala University Sweden, Bollywood Festival Oslo, Norway, Indian Film Festival Berlin Germany & Moscow Russia. Dubai UAE ( Indian Embassy, Sardenia Italy and many more.
25. Ajit Rai is one and only who has been  invited in  Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony Oslo Norway in 2014.

26 . He is pioneer of Cinema movement in Educational Institutions of India and abroad and started many Film Festivals & Film Appreciation Courses  in DAV Girls College, Yamunanagar,  Haryana, Kurukshetra University, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab,  Mahatma Gandhi Hindi International University Vardha,  Maharashtra. DAV Centenary College Faridabad , Hariyana etc.

27. Work Experience- 
He worked with various newspapers and magazines from 1988 to till date-
1. Dainik Hindustan, Patna & New Delhi ( Hindustan Times group)
2. Navbharat Times, Patna & New Delhi ( Times of India group)
3. Jansatta. New Delhi ( Indian Express group)
4. Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal
5. Dainik Jagaran, New Delhi
6. Rashtriya Sahara New Delhi
7. Sahara samay New Delhi
8. Swatantra Varta, Hyderabad
9. News Break , Patna
10. Amar Ujala New Delhi
11. Prabhat khabar, Ranchi Jharkhand 
12. India Today. New Delhi
13. Outlook, New Delhi
14. Hans New Delhi 
15. Aaj ki Jandhara, Raipur Chhattisgarh
16 Jan Sandesh Times. Lucknow .
17. People s Samachar Bhopal Madhya Pradesh.
18. The Sentinal. Guwahati Assam.

28. Educational qualification -
 (a) M. A. in Psychology ( 1989), 1st Division, 
( b) M.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication, (2007).  1st Division.
Note - Ajit Rai always got 1st Division & 1st Class through out his education ie from Class 1 to 12, B.A. (Hons.) & M.A. 

  29. Professional qualifications 
(a). Diploma in Psycho Analysis,  Educational- vocational Guidance & Counselling , 1st division. 1993, NCERT, New Delhi.
(b) . Diploma in Journalism.1 st division( 2006, ) Kurukshetra University.
(c).  Diploma in Film Appreciation, 1st division 2003. Film & Television Institute of India FTII Pune.

 29. Awards
1. Beat Film Critic National Award, Rajasthan International Film Festival, Jaipur . 2020.
2. Best Film Journalist Award, LIFFT India Film Festival, Lonawala, Mumbai, 2020. 
3. Pride of India Award, Khajuraho International Film Festival, 2020.
4. Jaiprakash Narayan International Award for Journalism, Delhi 2020
5.  Nat Samrat Best Theatre Critic Award, Delhi , 2020.
6.  Rang Sameeksha Samman, Ashirvad Rang Mandal, Begusarai, Bihar. 2018
7. . Rang Sameeksha Samman, Abhinaya  Rang Manch, Hisar, Haryana, 2016.
8. . Pride of India Award. 2012
9.  Natya Sameeksha Samman, Manch Rangmanch, Amritsar. Punjab.  2010
10 . Kala Sameeksha Samman, Abhinav Rang Mandal Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. 2008. 
11. Best Auther of the book 2022 Award. Rajasthan International Film Festival Jaipur 2023.

30. Published Books
1. Hindujas and Bollywood
2. Bollywood ki Buniyaad
3. Drishyantar
4. Andhere Men Chamakati Awazen
5. Two Decades of Jis Lahore Nai Wekhyan .
All published by Vani Prakashan New Delhi.

Questions

1. What is censorship in the context of films? Why do establishments feel the need of banning or censorship?


2. When and why did it start? What’s Hays Code and what were the few important milestones in the evolution of censorship? May be just in the Indian context?


3. Can you tell us if there is any official framework or guidelines for censorship in India? If yes, what are those guidelines?


4. Who made these? When and why were these made? How objective are these?


5. I guess, rules in censorship should be treated like Smrutis. They should change with time. Whats the challenge today?


6. You strongly believe in that nothing should be censored. How do you justify it?


7. Whats the difference between banning and censorship? What are your thoughts on banning?


8. We as creators believe, movies are powerful, it can change narratives - so establishment will always interfere - What can be done as creators and also audience?


9. Many people like Gorge Carlin challenged the establishments and boldly used “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”. We have many such examples. In my conversation with Varun Grover, even he mentioned that an artist never know the line until he/she crosses it. How can we see a society that allows these line to be crossed. Who can cross these lines? Is this a right question?


10. What according to you is the future of censorship in India till we have authoritarian regimes. How do you see censorship in a realistic world? Is there a utopian world in film making?

Reference links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Rai


• https://kalingaliteraryfestival.com/speakers/ajit-rai/


• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y5Qb5mdaDY


• https://twitter.com/AjitRai16022961

In late 1800s, A Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi, said, “There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature. Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners”. But where does the nature stop and where does the building begin? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”.

This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.

This year, the program is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details on thedrawingboard.in

Today, in this concluding episode of this series, we have Ar. Sherman Stave with us on Audiogyan. Sherman is a Principal and Landscape Architect at STX Landscape Architects. With more than 30 years of experience. He has practised extensively in Asia and North America. His exposure to diverse cultures from an early age has lent him broad global perspective, and a deep appreciation of how shaping our environments can change our lives in fundamental ways. These are critical lenses that continue to inform his design approach.

Questions

1. Who is a landscape architect? What are the principles and strategies on which a landscape architect work?


2. BV Doshi, once said, “Is the Architecture defined by theory or it’s a convention, or it is something which is rooted in the place?” How big or small overlap do you see between the landscape and the actual building or architecture? Incase of Badami, where and how would you draw the line?


3. Brian O’Doherty’s famous line, “We have now reached a point where we see not the art but the space first.” What does it mean and where are you on this?


4. How can landscape design contribute to the interpretation and visitor experience at any archaeological site? For instance, Badami, where the landscape itself is an integral part of the site's history?


5. What considerations can be taken while designing architecture in such high sensitive historical landscape? When designing an archaeological site like Badami to ensure minimal impact?


6. Since you are staying in Singapore and even I have recently moved there, I see some amazing work done by humans. The overall landscape is well thought. Can you share your learnings and experience? How can we be so close to nature yet seems to have so much command on it?


7. Can you share any (2) examples of good museums or public spaces where they blend organically with nature?

Reference reading

• The Drawing Board Architecture competition for Undergradute student 2024


• Talk by Prashanth Pole | 27 Mar, 2021 | FA S21 Lecture series


• Gandhi Ashram Sabarmati


• Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures


• Badami- Learning from the Context- WCFA, Teepoi


• Mindspace Architects


• Rohan Builders


• https://www.siww.com.sg/home/attend/siww2021-online/thematic-webinars-tw/speakers-and-moderators/sherman-stave


• https://www.stxla.com/profile/


• https://www.world-architects.com/en/stx-landscape-architects-singapore/team


• https://www.mnd.gov.sg/urbansustainability/webinars/liveability/abc-water-seminar-(liveability)


• https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/publications/research-resources/plans-reports/Master%20Plan/~/media/User%20Defined/URA%20Online/publications/research-resources/plans-reports/pwip_urban_villages.ashx


• https://kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/kahn-building


• https://www.salk.edu/


• https://www.archdaily.com/61288/ad-classics-salk-institute-louis-kahn


• https://www.designcurial.com/news/louis-kahn---six-most-important-buildings-4323752/


• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahn