Entangled Visions: The Birth of a Radical Pedagogy of Design in India
“It is in the emergence of the interstices—the overlap and displacement of domains of difference—that the intersubjective and collective experiences of nationness, community interest, or cultural value are negotiated.” – Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (1994)
The history of design education in India can be traced to a dialogue between decolonial nationalism and transcultural forces of modernity that began to unfold in the late 19th century. A curious entanglement between the independent legacies of Germany’s Bauhaus and the freedom movement in India planted the seeds for a new pedagogy of design that emerged in 1961, 13 years post-independence, with the establishment in Ahmedabad of the National Institute of Design (NID) as India’s first design school. Founded on the basis of The India Report (1958), a visionary roadmap for Indian design formulated by American modernist icons Ray and Charles Eames at the behest of the government of India, the instituting of NID reflected the new power differentials of a post-war and post-colonial world order.1 Since 1955, the Eameses had been in dialogue with Pupul Jayakar, an advocate of Indian crafts, as well as other politically influential intelligentsia, including Gautam and Gira Sarabhai, leading to their involvement in this initiative.
From 1994 to 1999, I pursued my undergraduate studies at NID, participating in what I can only now describe as a radical pedagogical experiment that continues to profoundly shape and inform my artistic practice.2 Now, 60 years since The India Report was written, I reflect on the arc and import of NID’s legacy and consider its relevance to design education today. The process of writing this article reconnected me with members of the NID community whose collective knowledge and experiences have always been an incredible resource. In particular, I would like to thank my teacher Ashoke Chatterjee, who was the executive director of NID from 1975–85 and honorary president of the Craft Council of India for several years, and whose writings and personal reflections significantly contributed to this article.
1919 turned out to be a landmark year for design history, both in India and globally: Walter Gropius famously founded the Bauhaus school
