THE CITY THAT CHANGED THE WAY I THINK ABOUT DESIGN

I graduated from the prestigious Sir JJ School of Art, got my bachelor’s degree, but that wasn’t enough for me. My desire was to learn and experience design and art from a global point of view. I wanted to study design thinking and its application in life. But the question was, where?
Every other culturally rich city in the world thrives in its own aura but San Francisco is different. It’s an amalgamation of many cultures. It attracts people for its scenic beauty and the vibrant lay of the land. It is an artist’s city, and an artist’s dream.
I learnt from my professors and by collaborating with students in college that humans love anything that makes their life easier, a bit glamorous, informed and meaningful. But the way they consume the same design is drastically different. That will always be a Herculean challenge for us as creators. Because it needs to be art that works. Not just sells.
For instance, Philippe Starck’s desire to make everyday objects into pieces of art revolutionised the way we looked at common things. Eichler homes are testimony to how houses with glass walls that fill the rooms with sunshine could also actually have privacy. Steve Jobs showed us how to access the world on the palms of our hands. These concepts are universal. They break boundaries and in a funny way,
unite us.
Either make an idea universal or make the same idea culturally relevant. That’s what this city has taught me.