The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recently hosted ‘ASSOCHAM designlink’, which was organised by its National Design Committee (NDC) in Mumbai. Leading professionals from the corporate world, including Piramal Group, Godrej, Titan Industries, Future Group and India’s leading institution IIT MUMBAI, disbursed information and discussed the importance of design for businesses. Also present was Sumeet Nair of the Indian Design Council.
The objective of the NDC is to create an interface between designers and the industry, and to ultimately help educate businesses on the entire concept of design being indispensable for business growth.
Dr Swati Piramal, President, Assocham, opened the session with an incisive speech on the need and urgency to take a 360 degree approach towards design. This she said should be done by promoting design education, incentivising creative design, and emphasising and investing in design partnerships. She also said, “Indian industry has grown by leaps and bounds, we are also among the world’s fastest growing economies, yet we have not produced a ‘new product’ which has a global demand.”
Whilst Shanoo Bhatia, Founder Director, Eureka Moment, burst certain myths about design, Sumeet Nair of Indian Design Council emphasised the fact that “good design is like a good proverb, which has longevity and can always be put to effective use.” Zoeb Kanorwalla, Design Director, Piramal Glass, illustrated how incorporating design in each aspect of business has helped the company maintain a healthy CAGR of 24 percent.
Also illustrating a similar point from a different industry was Revathi Kant, Design Head, Titan Industries Ltd. She brought out how the design centric aspect of the Titan Raga project made the brand grow at 30 percent year-on-year by simply creating consumer excitement with the help of design.
Nisa Godrej shared how Godrej had been re-designing the brand – from logo to the corporate office to refrigerators, to send out a strong message of freshness and to connect with a more youthful India.
