DOT School of Design’s Chairman, Mr. AR R Raammnath, started his career as a practicing architect having an affinity towards conservation and preservation of geographically ethnic buildings. He has also been trained under Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Pondicherry, on several renovation and revitalization projects. Leadership has always been his strong forte as a Manager, Leader and an Executive in renowned architectural firms. He also found his passion for journalism and writing which led him to explore his line of work as sub-editor for ‘Buildersline’. He has always been interested in sharing one’s acquired knowledge and believed strongly in pedagogy.
In line with the above, Mr. Raammnath always believed that ‘when provided a right learning environment, any child or a person is eligible to learn and do wonders beforehand’. This drove him to craft a creative environment for the students to learn design. He started an educational platform for all the creative and design enthusiasts to meet, explore and learn mutually, irrespective of their educational background and age. When he met designers with a similar vision, the platform grew out to be “dSchool'' in Chennai. dSchool was started to fill the gap of awareness on design and creative education in Tamilnadu. Mr. Raamnnath is currently pursuing his research on Conservation and Enhancement of Athangudi tiles.
Recognizing that a university approved certificate programme with career driven courses would greatly enhance the prospects of the students, Mr. AR R Raammnath also launched Vista Institute of Design – a branch of dSchool that laid the foundation to bridge the gap between design education and industrial experience. The courses were designed around real-life projects that provided students with hands-on experience within the design industry.
In 2020, fuelled by the success of dSchool and Vista Institute of Design, Mr. AR R Raammnath wished to build a bridge that comprehensively connected the voice of the design industry to an academic environment. He accomplished this by designing a syllabus that followed the structured characteristic akin to an academic institution, and at the same time, providing a creative environment with the right infrastructure to help students develop skill-based learning. The result of this vision is DOT School of Design – an academic institution that plays off the strengths of dSchool and Vista Institute of Design.
Deepika has finished her bachelors in Architecture from National Institute of Technology Trichy and moved on to National Institute of Design Ahmedabad to pursue her masters in furniture and spatial design. She has a background of designing spaces and furniture for various concerns; she is also experienced in design education and has been teaching design for school students, design and Architecture institutions. Her area of interests are in Furniture design, Design research and Design education; currently handling the discipline of Industrial design at DOT school of design alongside with her professional practice.
She is an Alumnus of NID-Ahmedabad. Having completed her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the department of fine arts, Stella Maris College, Chennai. She went on to pursue a post graduate diploma course in textile design from NID Ahmedabad. She started off her career in 2011 as the senior designer in a leading export house in Bangalore and then went on to work as an independent textile designer in the field of home textiles, fashion/apparel, costume and styling. Elizabeth is a textile enthusiast and her keen interest towards design education has urged her to take up teaching. She has been teaching different design modules to students at NIFT-chennai for more than 5 years. She is currently the DEAN- ACADEMICS & a faculty of textile design at DOT school of design.
Yoganand VP is a Car & Transportation designer from Milan, Italy. After his post-graduation from Domus Academy in Milan, he worked with multiple international design firms including FIAT, Pininfarina, BTS - Design Innovation srl, FCA-Canada, Landini SpA and more. Yogi expanded his design strength into Industrial, Interior & Graphic Design in the early days of his career. He worked as a Deputy Manager - PD in TI Cycles of India, bringing over 100 products to the Indian bicycle market successfully through brands like BSA, Ladybird, Hercules, Roadeo & Montra. He was also part of the Advance-Design team innovating various industry-first creative concepts. He has also designed various brand identities such as the logo design for TATA International’s bicycle division - “STRYDER”. Having a proven track record in project management roles, combined with demonstrated design experience, Yoganand has worked towards continuous business growth through design. With strong interpersonal & teaching skills, he has the ability to motivate & drive students to mold them into world-class designers.
