JK Lakshmipat University confers Design Guru Award on Prof Ashoke Chatterjee
Jaipur : JK Lakshmipat University celebrated Design Guru Day on November 9, 2022 in memory of acclaimed design educationist Late Prof MP Ranjan, on his birth anniversary. The event is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of designers and recognize those who have contributed to design education in India.
Organized by JKLU’s Institute of Design, in collaboration with the Association of Designers of India (ADI) and NID Alumni Association, this year, on its 7th edition, the award was conferred on renowned design educationist and influencer, Prof Ashoke Chatterjee, Distinguished Fellow and Senior Faculty, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, for his outstanding contribution in evangelizing Design and Design Education.
Welcoming Prof Chatterjee, Prof Dheeraj Sanghi, Vice-Chancellor, JK Lakshmipat University said, “This year, we are delighted to have Prof Ashoke Chatterjee among us who is bubbling with ideas and is an institution in himself. We thank you for sparing your precious time to inspire our students and for accepting this award. We are proud of our faculty and students and hope to continue on our path towards excellence and keep having these kind of events in future.”
Prof A Balasubramaniam, Director, Institute of Design, JK Lakshmipat University mentioned, “AC, as he is fondly called, stands tall amongst his peers for teaching his design students the importance of user details, the necessity to have a moral compass and the bravado to call a spade a spade. He believes in the values of design”.
On the occasion, which was attended live by over 200 design professionals, academics, university faculty, staff and students and hundreds of others on social media, Prof Chatterjee was awarded the Design Guru trophy. There were tributes from the who’s who of the world of design and from design students of the university. Prof Asheesh Gupta, Pro Vice Chancellor,
JK Lakshmipat University read out the Citation felicitating the Design Guru. Design Guru, Prof Ashoke Chatterjee, delivered the MP Ranjan Memorial Lecture 2022 –“The Hope & the Reason: Design Education in India”. During his address, while highlighting the importance of the role played by India in design education, said, “Design came to India for development. It has to be understood that the profession was brought to this country, the only developing country in the world, under the constraints of framework in understanding what development should be. How many design schools have a theory of development? How many even use this word today?” His advice to the young designers of today was, “Ensure that your choices are honest to yourselves and honest to the beliefs of the country that gave you the opportunity to learn”.
The programme ended with a vote of thanks from Prof Devanuj Balkrishan, Dean, Institute of Design, JK Lakshmipat University.