Mr. Srini R. Srinivasan, is the first Indian to become the President-Elect of WDO (World Design Organization), a global design ambassador, a startup Advisor & Mentor and an Entrepreneur. He is the CEO and Chairman of LUMIUM which is a global product engineering and Innovation consultancy company.
He visited ARCH Campus, on 18th January. ARCH holds membership of WDO. In his address to young designers, he talked about the world of design to the relevance of sustainable design in present context. He felt that the market size in India is very relevant to the western world. He also toured the campus of ARCH and carefully observed the well-designed artifacts made by the students of ARCH.
Mr. Srinivasan remarked that though he has an American passport yet he is an Indian by heart. He felt that a lot needs to be done to promote and glorify Indian design and designers all over the world. There is a lot of ‘hidden talent’ in India and that is why he motivates people wherever he goes. He also felt that there is a strong need that India reframes its design policy in accordance with the design policies elsewhere in the world, since India has an outdated design policy. He said that he wants to promote Indian design on a global platform not because he is a patriot or has an emotional connection with India but because he feels bad when he sees equal or substandard designs made by western designers being acclaimed internationally and those of Indian designers of even higher caliber being unknown.
He quoted, “design colleges must not feel threatened by competition” and felt that there is a dire need that design colleges work towards developing sustainable design ecosystem, since they need to collaborate to make this world a better place to live in.