Design
Design Innovation Studio, Guwahati
A working studio where artisans, designers, students and buyers build products together.
Craft design in India happens in two places rarely connected. Design schools produce trained graduates with no route into a cluster. Clusters hold master artisans with no access to design, prototyping tools or buyer briefs.
White Lotus Crafts is developing a Design Innovation Studio at Guwahati as the meeting point, proposed for government funding and open to collaboration with the National Institute of Design (NID), the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation (NEHHDC), the National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) and other institutions.
What the studio supports
- 01 Product research and design development
- 02 Material experimentation
- 03 Prototype and sample production
- 04 Craft documentation
- 05 Artisan and designer collaboration
- 06 Student projects and internships
- 07 New collection development
- 08 Buyer driven design briefs
- 09 Technology demonstrations
- 10 Training programmes
- 11 Market testing before production commitment
Who gains
- 01 Artisans reach design, tools and buyer briefs without leaving their craft
- 02 Young entrepreneurs reach clusters, production capacity and a first order
- 03 Institutions reach live field projects for students
- 04 Buyers reach samples developed to specification, tested before a production run
The outcome
A single address where a design brief, a master artisan and a buyer specification meet in the same week.