Pataki Event – Women in Design, ISDI
A few weeks ago, Design Pataki organized an event at ISDI (Indian School of Design & Innovation) for female students, in an effort to empower them professionally. The event was titled Women in Design; a topic we felt demanded a conversation considering the skewed ratio between women who study design and those who actually make a career out of it.
The event took place on the 26th of September, in collaboration with Work in Progress – a platform for women entrepreneurs. Elsie Nanji, an advertising and design powerhouse with over four decades of experience kicked-off the event with a talk on finding inspiration. She spoke about finding the child within, about how even the supposedly mundane can be stimulating through a lens of childlike wonder. She referenced some of her most sensational advertising campaigns, the success of which was guaranteed by this very formula.
This rousing talk by Elsie was followed by a panel discussion with some well-established women from different fields of design – Sarah Sham, Maria Leon, Anushka Sani, and Radhika Khaitan-Mittal. Moderated by Esha Gupta of Design Pataki, the talk centred on the problems faced by young designers starting out, and ways to overcome them. From the role of social media marketing to switching streams in design, the discussion was insightful and comprehensive. Afterwards, the floor was opened up to the audience (primarily students) who had a myriad of questions for the panellists.
In conclusion, the event was a big success. It was wonderful to see how the students hung onto every word of these strong, motivating speakers. As a team of women, this is a cause particularly close to our hearts. This was our small endeavour to elicit change and help the next generation of designers pave the way forward.
Photographs by Design Pataki
