Our five-pronged approach focuses on your individual strengths to develop your unique qualities towards making you an exemplary pi- designer.
Foundation is a bridging program, aiding your transition from school to un-school. The journey of all undergraduate design students begins with one year of Foundation. This phase gives students a creative pathway, preparing them to enter the open-ended, exploratory and experimental design environment at IIAD
Students gradually evolve into confident, self-directed learners, ready for the future challenges of their chosen design discipline.
The Foundation year enables your transition from a traditional teaching environment to a studio-based supportive learning space. Rather than tutor-led instruction, we focus on student-led approaches. The course induces the ethos of rigour and hard work, and the open-ended experimental methods empower you to become a self-directed learner.
This is an exploratory phase that opens your senses to observe, question, explore and discover. You learn to ask meaningful questions, and discover ways to get answers. Dipping into your own experiences, you embark further on a lifelong quest for knowledge.
A multidisciplinary learning environment ensures an integrated experience for students, aiding them to make connections and build bridges across disciplines. Faculty from diverse creative fields ensure that you begin your journey of design education by getting exposure to varied perspectives and schools of thought.
Foundation provides an experimental environment where you think with your hands and work with your minds. The emphasis is more on the process than the outcome, which gives you the freedom to think radically and creatively, as well as develop an ability for risk-taking. This cultivates a creative confidence in our students, making them ready for an adventurous journey ahead.
OBSERVE + INVESTIGATE + EXPLORE + EXPERIMENT + DISCOVER + REFLECT + COMMUNICATE + ARTICULATE
A learner-centric, studio-based approach in Foundation enables students to acquire a broad spectrum of design skills, building their design vocabulary. Students learn myriad techniques, methods and technologies for their future design practice. From hand-sketching to experimenting with materials, students develop sensitivity for a wide range of media. These experiments also give impetus to students to arrive at their personal ways of expression.
VISUAL SKILLS + MATERIAL TRANSFORMATION + DESIGN AND CONTEXT + DESIGN PROCESS + RESEARCH SKILLS + CREATIVE & CRITICAL THINKING
Students develop essential creative and critical thinking skills and also learn techniques for research and problem solving, which prepares them for their future design learning. Through theoretical and analytical approaches, they explore cultural, social and commercial perspectives, and begin to understand how context shapes design. This exploratory approach helps students formulate their own definitions and perspectives.
CAPSTONE PROJECT + INTEGRATED DESIGN PROCESS + DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC BRIEF + PERSONALISED VISUAL & DESIGN LANGUAGE
The Foundation year culminates with a Capstone Project. The most significant aspect of the project is that it enables students to articulate their individual creative process and expression through a personalised visual and design language. Students get an opportunity to demonstrate their design learnings by working on a project brief that is based on their future field of specialisation. This marks an important transitional phase, where students become aware of their potential to make a confident choice about the field of specialisation they wish to pursue. After successfully completing the Foundation year, students receive a UG Diploma and progress seamlessly into the BA (Hons) degree course of their choice.
Graduate Show 2022 : Students of the Foundation in Design programme display their work “Understanding human expression” for the Capstone project
A 3D installation from the Transformation Project showing the numerous possibilities of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction.
Manipulation and display of different types of materials as part of the Material Transformation Module.
‘Flexibility and Monumentality’ - Transformation of two dimensional surfaces into multi-dimensional surfaces through Laser cutting.
‘A Book of Life’ - The culmination of the year's work. Where a student uses various methods, materials and visuals to depict her journey through life.
A geometric abstraction inspired by the form of the Red Semal Flower created by IIAD student.
A sculptor from Kolkata, Kishore Chakraborty has been a practicing artist for the last 27 years. He was a senior fellow in sculpture from the Ministry of Culture. He has participated in numerous exhibitions in India and abroad along with his national and international solo shows. Kishore is a founding faculty member at IIAD.
Anshoo Rajvanshi with two decades of experience in the field of art and design has a fine arts and sociology background. She has conducted numerous workshops, solo and group shows in India, and has been a national scholar awarded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt of India. She was awarded a Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK in 2018.
Josh P. S is a young reputed contemporary artist. He secured a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting with distinction from College of Fine Arts Thiruvananthapuram, and a master’s degree from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He has also received a Scholarship
Pankaj Narain is a Furniture Design Alumnus from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He holds a post graduate certification in teaching and learning in higher education from Kingston University, UK and has a teaching experience of over 14 years at various design institutes in the country. He has also completed a certification programme in Wood Seasoning from The Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. Currently, he teaches at Indian Institute of Art and Design. In the past he has taught at Pearl Academy of Fashion, NID - Kurukshetra, IILM - Gurgaon etc. to name a few and has been an External Jury member for Product and Furniture Design at a number of renowned National Institutes.
Pranay Mangrati graduated from National Institute of Fashion Technology, He is now an associate professor with the Indian Institute of Art & Design and even though he is essentially a product designer at the core, he prefers not being confined to one disciplinary box.
Hemanshi’s strong passion for design stems from her days at her alma mater (NIFT). With a varied career experience spanning over 8 years, her knowledge in design expands in multiple domains like UI/UX, packaging, and branding.
Aaina Chakotra is a product designer. She has been actively involved with the upcycling of materials and products for sustainability. She completed her bachelor’s in Craft Design from Indian Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD). She has experience in understanding clientele, designing products, and visual merchandising for renowned brands like Adidas, Studio Kassa & The House Of Things. Aaina has also been involved with NGOs like Swechha and MESH, teaching hands-on skills to the needy to support their livelihood. She appreciates the grand history of handmade things in India. After five years in this field, she specialises in materials like wood, metal, and stone. Crafts associated with clay, leather and paper have also been her area of interest.
Anurag Dasgupta is a multi-skilled filmmaker who specialized in visual communication and film from Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology in 2011. He has worked on various award-winning and socially conscious films while simultaneously developing and executing his own projects.
Anurag is an experienced Designer with a history of working in the design industry. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Product Design from IILM School of Design, Gurgaon. He is keen on being involved in creating a “better future'' by educating young students and harnessing their enthusiasm. Anurag comes with 8+ years of rich experience in the industry working with companies like The Beehive Studio, Azuri India, Wayfareroworld Advent, National Film Development Corporation, Bharatiya Digital Services, and Perfect K Solutions. He has also been a visiting faculty for Doon University & UPES University. In his words, “I believe through observing our surroundings and getting inspired by them, only then one can find creative solutions to problems and experience life as a designer to its fullest.”
She is a faculty of Design Research & Context at IIAD, mentoring the students pursuing their Foundation Year Programme. She is a product design graduate from Indian Institute of Crafts & Design, Jaipur. She has worked innumerable design interventions as a facilitator in rural craft clusters under the Ministry of Textiles.
Ishanee is a Delhi-based textile designer. She has completed her Bachelor of Art (B.A) in Textile Design from Pearl Academy, New Delhi. She has worked with craft clusters around the country and explored indigenous craft forms in an effort to make them more relevant.
Lovelish Thakur is a 2D/3D-illustration artist and animator with more than 12 years of work experience in Visual Communication and Graphic Design, 3D Architectural Visualisation. He is well versed in a wide range of animation styles, techniques and software programs. He worked as a designer and a teacher with various creative agencies and educational institutions like Design Ocean, C-Tech, Arena Animation, CADD Centre and IIFT. His work has been displayed in animation contests like creative minds and 24FPS. At IIAD, lovelish helps students and managerial teams enhance their creative skill-set to the highest levels technologically. He is committed to establish an innovative and stimulating learning environment, and he brings to the table a unique blend of industrial understanding and academic competence. He concentrates on broadening the learner's views and always guiding them toward new heights.
Rajnish is an emerging artist with a Bachelor’s degree in painting from Jamia Millia Islamia University (2007). He won first prize in Master’s degree in painting from College of Arts, Delhi in 2009. He has an overall experience of 13 years as an Artist (Painter) in the field of visual arts. He is the winner of the Lalit Kala Academy National Scholarship, 2011-12 and also received H.K Kejriwal’s young artist award in 2010 by Mahua Art Gallery.
Ravish holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Animation & Visual effects from Arunachal University as well as Diploma in Animation & Web Publishing from Arena Multimedia & Diploma in Post Production & VFX from Reliance Big Animation.
Sheenam Wadi is a Product Designer who has dedicated herself to the Export sector for lifestyle accessories, hard goods and furniture.
Suvojit Mondal had a natural inclination towards creative expression since childhood. He pursued his passion and completed his Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Govt. College of Art & Craft, Kolkata in 2013, where he honed his skills in various art forms.
IIAD has a purpose-built campus that is aligned to the dynamic learning-teaching needs of its progressive pedagogy and curriculum. The adaptive spaces with studios, digital labs and 3D material workshops have been designed to facilitate seamless multidisciplinary collaborations and exchanges.
Students have the opportunity to learn from and work with practicing design professionals.
Peer discussion and collaborative work form an integal part of the pedagogical practices at IIAD
Students working with various tools in the Material Construction Lab at the IIAD campus as part of their projects.
Developing critical design thinking - students presenting, discussing, debating and defending through their ideas.
Student showcasing her work at the first IIAD graduate show 2019.
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