The Living and Learning Design Centre in Kutch is a museum that houses the history of the land and it's people through their crafts and aims to facilitate collaborations between urban designer and local artisans.

The task at hand was to design a stage for the opening event of this museum. Being my first foray into set design with a really tight deadline, this task was challenging as it was special. The inspiration for the backdrop came from the attire of the women in that region and I sourced fabrics from the local bazaar to create eclectic panels that captured the essence of the landscape without being too predictable.

Instead of being merely decorative, I saw the stage as an opportunity for the organisation to talk to its people. A Gujarati typographic piece was created for the front panels. It read as "aapno abhaar" which is thank you in Gujarati and around it, names of all the people involved in the project - the founder, the accountant and chaiwalla all sitting next to each other in a non-hierarchical design arrangement . I recall the morning when these panels were going up - there was a buzz amongst the entire staff - each one wanting to find their name. The graphic evoked a sense of belonging and being seen for every individual, and highlighted the organisation’s vision of being an inclusive collective.