Padma Bhushan Rajiv Sethi felicitated as ‘Design Guru’ by World University of Design

- Felicitates Padma Bhushan Rajiv Sethi for being an outstanding mentor and role model to many generations of designers.

New Delhi, November 22, 2019 : - Keeping the annual tradition alive, the World University of Design (WUD) - India's first and only university dedicated to education in the creative domain, celebrated the National Design Guru Day at their campus by felicitating Padma Bhushan Rajiv Sethi, a noted Indian designer, scenographer and art curator as the ‘Design Guru’. With a rich experience of more than 35 years, and his work in design and architecture, performances, festivals, exhibitions, and publications, he has identified various ways to bring contemporary relevance to traditional skills of vulnerable artisan communities and creative professionals. Through innovative positioning and proactive interventions, he has created a basis for maintenance of time-honored legacy industries in an era of industrial mass production and globalization. In 35 years of work Mr. Sethi has been an outstanding mentor and role model to many generations of designers.

National Design Guru Day is celebrated by WUD every year to mark the birth anniversary of Prof. M P Ranjan, a maverick design teacher who influenced generations of design students by paying a tribute to the Design Gurus and highlight their role in pioneering the concept of design education in India.  This year the event has been celebrated on 22^nd November.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr Sanjay Gupta, Vice Chancellor, WUD said, “We feel immense pleasure in felicitating Mr. Rajiv Sethi for his stupendous contribution, not just in the field of design but also in preserving our cultural heritage. Design today has emerged as the primary tool for the success of all industries. Thus, the role of “design gurus” has become more prominent than ever.” He further added, “Design has been a vital tool in transferring knowledge of our rich culture to the upcoming generations. The opportunities open to the designers today are clearly unprecedented, especially due to the transitional shift in the nature of contemporary culture, and therefore, it makes a lot of sense in enhancing our design capabilities,” he added.

Addressing the occasion, “Design Guru Rajiv Sethi, said, “The only mantra to succeed in the Design industry is to put everything on canvas. Never doubt your imagination, draw whatever comes into your mind because it will ultimately lead to something unique and will trigger others to ponder on it. I request all the budding designers to explore, observe and feel everything around you as there is no bigger teacher than your surroundings.”

In recent years, Design as an industry has been offering exciting opportunities and has become a career of choice for youth from diverse disciplines, as it involves science, technology, art, and aesthetics in appropriate proportion.

About World University of Design

World University of Design (WUD), located in the education hub of Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonipat, Haryana, boasts of an unusually large and highly qualified faculty members who have been educated and trained at prestigious institutes such as NIFT, NID, LCF -London, FIT – New York, SPA and Delhi College of Art among others. The university is being shaped and mentored by an illustrious Advisory Board comprising of stalwarts from the field of design such as Neha Kirpal, Veer Munshi, Mr. AG Krishna Menon, Ms. Payal Jain, Mr. Peter D’ascoli, & Mr. Amardeep Behl. In its first year itself, WUD has been recognized as 'The Most Upcoming University' by ASSOCHAM India; and Ranked 2nd in the Top 10 Private Universities offering Professional Education at Education World GRAND JURY 2019-20 Awards. WUD is the youngest university in India to be awarded co-funding under the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union for the project titled ‘Design ERASMUS+ and Innovation Capacity Building in India’. WUD is also a full member of Cumulus, the international association of universities & colleges of art, design & media that has over 160 member universities in 60 countries. This provides the widest possible access to WUD students to interact and engage with international students on a global scale. WUD has consistently focused on student-learning experience.