FACULTY

She is an Alumnus of NID-Ahmedabad. Having completed her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the department 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 a 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 5years. She is currently the academic coordinator & a faculty of textile design at DOT school of design.

Neethu Deepak is an accomplished fashion designer graduated from NIFT Chennai in 2001. She won the award for ‘Innovative use of Traditional Textiles and Techniques’ for her final project with Kanchipuram Silk and banana fibre. She has represented India for the Indo-German Cultural Exchange program by Ministry of Textiles and German Consulate and visited Germany in 2000. With 19 years of experience in the industry as a designer she is known for her fine surface detailing (print, embroidery) and unique colour combinations. She has got extensive experience in designing and prototyping in various segments like Apparel Design, Corporate Identity Design, Costumes, Graphics, Textile Design, Trend Research and Analysis. A specialist in Womens wear and Kidswear she has worked with various industries in Chennai, Tirupur, Kannur and Karur. She is passionate about Ethnic Arts & Crafts, Textiles, Sustainable fashion and Innovation. She has worked with leading brands like Eshakti, Maybell India, managing the design team and providing creative direction from concept, design process, range plan, sourcing to prototype development. A Star Alumni and em-panelled Jury Member of Nift Chenai, she handles fashion subjects, internal and external mentoring as a visiting faculty.

Subashini has completed her Bachelors in Architecture from Hindusthan College Chennai and completed her Masters in Construction management from NICMER, pune. She has an extensive experience in corporate interior fit out as well as in residential design. Her interests has been in up cycling the constructions materials (epoxy, acc block) into furniture making and mural. Currently she is heading the interior design education at dot school of design along with her professional practice.

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.

Dhwani Shah, is a graphic designer and an illustrator from Mumbai. She did her graduation in applied art from sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art and her post-graduate diploma in the discipline of graphic design from NID, Ahmedabad . She was awarded the first position in the category of visual communication in the battle of design projects at the Pune design festival 2013. Her work experience begun with TARA books where Dhwani designed multiple books under the mentorship of Gita Wolf and Geetha.V. She also worked with Locopopo studio on illustrating, branding, and packaging design projects. Dhwani later laid her hands on branding and packinging design projects in ‘Therefore may’,Pune. Being a speaker, she has delivered a presentation at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok on making books by hand. Adding to her profile, she has delivered a talk titled 'pushing the boundaries of the physical book in an age writing its obituary' at Melbourne. Her area of interest is editorial illustrations, non-fiction graphic narratives, hand lettering etc and she is currently employed as an assistant professor in communication design at DOT school of design.

Sanah is a designer, researcher and expert in the field of sustainable fashion. A gold medalist in Fashion Studies, underpinned her determination to pursue a career in fashion. She graduated from Pearl Academy where she was awarded the Best Academic and Most Innovative Collection. Her cutting technique Planar Flux was incorporated into the syllabus at Iowa State University. She also held a session with their graduate level students. She has also published her research collaborating with Springer Publications in the book ‘Models for Sustainable Framework in Luxury Fashion: Luxury and Models’. Her chapter is called ‘The Sustainable Model’. She has had the good fortune to be mentored by renowned designer and cutter Prof. Julian Roberts of the Royal College of Art (London) and has also engaged in multiple international collaborations. Sanah is also now the official Subtraction Cutting expert for India appointed by Prof.Julian Roberts himself.

Kavitha has completed her Bachelor’s in Architecture in Sathayabama University & went on to pursue her masters in Landscape Architecture. She has her interests on design thinking, exterior spatial design, and Landscape design. She has ranked No 1 in her university also receiving the honorable president award for her academics. Her thesis was shortlisted at the national is also thesis open day.

Deepika is a Textile Designer. Having completed her engineering in textiles in graduation, she moved on to Ahmedabad to pursue Textile design in masters at National Institute of Design. She has virtuous knowledge and experience in traditional techniques like handloom weaving and printing. She has worked with Rope International, Chennai as Product Design and Development manager and with artisans at the grass-root level. She finds pleasure in applying her knowledge of textiles in a multidisciplinary context, be it in making products or applying it in spaces. Her area of specialties are weaving, print development, dyeing, and trend analyses.

She did her bachelors in textile design from NID Ahmedabad. She has always been very passionate about textiles as a medium of utility and was quite interested in exploring its usage in and beyond fashion. Through her internships and work experience she has found home textiles a great platform for her to enrich her career. Beginning her career as a Textile, print and surface designer in the home furnishing industry working with Tracon ESPL Mumbai and for Aarnav Industries in Ahmedabad. During her college days she had volunteered for teaching art to children and found it very gratifying which lead to her working with kids in public schools as a very soulful investment of her spare time. Apart from education art and literature have been her passion since childhood and she believes they are a major influence on all her endeavours. She is currently a faculty in Apparel & textile design discipline at DOT school of design, and still practicing as home textile designer & design educator for school students.

Prazzi has completed her costume design and fashion from NIFT TEA College of knitwear fashion. She believes that as a good fashion designer one should take care of anything from sketches to textures and patterns from styling outfits to looks. Design education has helped her better to enhance her career in fashion design as well as participating fashion shows as a model. Her motto on career follows Sabyasachi's quote that ' clothes should just be an extension of one's intellect’ .Her career highlights are familiarity with fittings, approvals, pattern making and garment construction, exceptional knowledge of the active wear trends and colors, silhouettes, fabrication, color ways, sewing techniques, trim, strong product design and textile pattern design.

Siva Sai Jeevanantham is a documentary photographer based in Chennai, India. He is a graduate of Photography Design from National Institute of Design (NID), India. He was also a student of English journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Jammu and Kashmir. Siva Sai started his photography practice in 2012. In his recent work ‘In the same river,’ he discusses the importance of memory in resistance movement using the family photographs of victims of enforced disappearances in India-controlled Kashmir. ‘In the same river’ was also exhibited in a slideshow event, curated by NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, Co- Founder & Director of Photocircle at Angkor Photo Festival 2019. It will also be part of the 2020 edition of Blurring the lines, curated by Steve Bisson, Lisanne van Happen & John Fleetwood. In his long term documentary project ‘Animals in love’ he questions the boundaries of love by looking at zoophiles. This was exhibited in Obscura Photo Festival in 2019, in Malaysia. Siva Sai has also exhibited his work ‘Avant-Garde Politics’ in Format festival 2019, Photo Israel 2019 and published in PIX magazine in India.

Vanitha, completed her bachelor’s degree in Architecture from SVS School of Architecture, Coimbatore. She started her career as a Junior Architect in a Chennai based Firm. Later on, she found out her interest in teaching which led her to share her knowledge with others. As a result, she started her career in teaching as a Design Educator. Currently, she is working as an Assistant faculty in Interior Design Discipline at Dot School of design. She always believes that “the more we share our knowledge the more we gain it as well”.

Jegadeesh, is the founder of Amalgam Design Labs in Chennai. He has expanded his expertise and proficiency, designing and fabricating products for the retail and architecture industry. All his work processes deeply resonate with the ethic of creating physical products that make a difference in the real world. Projects where he has worked with large global retail brands, have helped hone his abilities to go from product ideation to mass manufacturing timely and cost-effectively. This has led him to create a fully equipped design workshop which has the ability to design and manufacture in-house. This serial entrepreneur is now utilizing his vast in-depth knowledge of manufacturing methods and evolving innovative products for aquatic animals and life.

Azhagiya Manavalan is a cinematographer who has more than two decades of experience in the film industry. He has worked in multi lingual projects and carries the privilege of working in several feature films, tele-series, ADfilms, short films and documentary films. He has also worked with eminent personalities in the film industry and is a guest faculty for several media schools. His proficiency in cinematography with latest equipment and technology as well as his sound communication and project management skills are appreciated and followed by the next generation. He has accomplished several projects which include, five feature films, twelve tale serials, more than 50 ad films, more than 40 documentary as DOP, two short films as director, more than 20 corporate films as project head and more than 25 reality shows in the major south Indian channels. Having passed his distinction with grade II from Trinity music college of London, he has also won the best supporting actor award for a television series, ‘KATHIRVELU’.

She is the founder of altlab innovators a concern which creates up cycling waste products. She started her design interest from her graduation in Architecture at National Institute of technology, Tiruchirapalli. Then went on to National Institute of Design to pursue her masters in Furniture & Spatial design. Sustainability and cost effective solutions in design has always been her foremost interest since her college days. Her interest made her to drive into the similar industrial experience. After practicing as furniture & Spatial designer at various concerns such as RF square, Hindustan Unilever ltd, Ideinlab Architects, She found her current design firm at Bangalore. She feel, as a designer one has a great responsibility to design that makes sense. Her love for this planet and the creative urge to find opportunities with things that are otherwise considered waste has led to the birth of AltLab Innovators. She is currently a visiting faculty for Industrial & Spatial design discipline at DOT school of design.

He is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design – Ahmedabad (Batch of 2010). Soon after NID, he worked with ‘Aamir Khan Productions’ in the production of television show “Sathyameva Jayate” as a research associate. After which, he moved to Chennai and joined hand with this two other partners to startup a production house called ‘Kadhai films’.

He currently leads a Design Research Cell with an architecture school. He did his Bachelors in Architecture from SPA Delhi, Post-graduation in Photography Design from NID Ahmedabad and is a Ph.D. candidate from IIT Hyderabad, with Architectural Documentation as his primary research area. His interest in search falls between Architecture and Imaging, with a special focus in History and heritage. Photogrammetry and technical imaging in conservation practice are his expertise.

Understanding human behavior, that's her passion. This passion has driven her to explore a wide range of experiences in branding, Designing, consumer research spread over a period of 10 years. With this experience, backed up with an Undergrad from M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women (Chennai) in Visual Com and Post Grad from the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) in Strategic Design Management, she has a knack of understanding any product/service from multiple perspectives with complete focus on the consumers. After running her own consultancy in Dubai for 4 years where she applied her well-honed techniques of design thinking to promote creative practices in different industries. Trained over 10,000 people (and counting) from across the globe in the field of creative thinking and design thinking for all age groups. Currently, she is with EvolveMantra and The Toggle Hub to incorporate the International standards of Design Thinking practices for educational institutions and corporates. She handles the strategic design management for all design disciplines at DOT School of Design.

Deepak Panicker is a Fashion Design graduate from NIFT Chennai (1998-2001). As one of the seven toppers in India he was nominated for scholarship in Nottingham Trend University, UK for higher studies by Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India in 2001. Winner of the Most Creative Designer for his project "Resurgence of the Obsolete' which was based on discarded billboard vinyl, he worked with CLRI (Central Leather Research Institute), Adyar to transform the vinyl into a leather substitute. He was one of the finalist of the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards. An ardent lover of nature and a self-taught artist he joined College of Fine Arts Trivandrum after graduating in economics. He believes in sustainability & recycling and also an advocate of Biomimicry for innovation. As a freelance designer he has worked for international brands like Primark UK & Ireland, Conforama France, Tesco, etc for more than a decade with graphics, styling, prints and textile design concepts. Considered to be one of the best in India in the field, his work for Caines Clerk used to be sold in Surtex Fair, New York. His passion for Couture garments has been expressed through Wedding Dress & Evening Gown customization. He works as a Guest Faculty, Jury Member and Mentor at Nift Chennai inspiring and motivating young talents with his skills in Advanced Draping, Creative Pattern Making, Graphics, Garment Making & Seminars. He has been associated with Thuli (NGO)for designing and production of up-cycled garments for the unprivileged. He also works closely with Nift Core Team on various projects apart from being a consultant to many brands and training institutes. At present he is working on his brand of natural and sustainable clothing under the brand name of Lefel for women and kids. He is the founder of Mantiz Atelier Design Studio based in Chennai and also one of the directors of Altheas Apparels Pvt Ltd, and working as Creative Head for both.

Mohamed Farooq is an advertising filmmaker at Kadhai Films Chennai. He is one of the co-founders of the production house which was started in 2012. He did his bachelors in fine arts at Government College of fine arts, Chennai and did his post-graduation in filmmaking at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He has produced and directed several popular television commercials in his career. His love towards visuals and storytelling has made him work in post-production as well like editing and color grading. He is an avid photographer too, who loves to shoot & process on film.

Chippy Diac Vivekanandah, a product designer, is currently the VP of Design at Ionixx Technologies, a design-centric software development company based in the US, Canada, Singapore, and India. She has spearheaded the campaign of changing the face of Ionixx from a solely technology-led company to a competent design-driven digital product development company. Chippy has been instrumental in redefining key strategies in the product development process at Ionixx. Starting her career in Industrial and Material Design with a background in Mechanical Engineering, Chippy has dabbled with projects spanning across geographies. She has worked in diverse domain areas that include banking, healthcare, telecommunication, design for children, and service design to build a steady and exciting track record as a versatile design strategist. She developed an interest in teaching design a few years ago and now she teaches research methodology, user experience, and introduction to product design. Nature journaling, a subject close to her heart, drove her to develop a curriculum for children - age 8 to 10. She believes that “learning the art of keen observation can unleash an immense potential in her students,” and therefore building observational skills becomes a vital component of the courses she designs.

Sivakumar is an Industrial Designer with over 6 years of international experience across Industrial Design, Interaction Design and Architectural Design. He believes in exploiting the sweet spot between technology and human factors to create delightful and meaningful product experiences. He has worked with global brands like Microsoft, Hitachi, Haier, Bissell, Bosch, Karcher, Mercedes, DJI etc. He is also passionate about sharing his design knowledge to the upcoming bright minds. He has been a visiting faculty for national design institutes. He is currently being a visiting faculty in Industrial design discipline at DOT school of design along with his industrial practice as a lead designer at Deepblue technology, China.

Tawfik is a Senior Industrial Designer with more than 5 years of industrial experience. He has worked with companies like Panasonic India, Lokus Design, Jonex Sports and Godrej Innovation Cell. Thus, attaining various experience working in appliances industry, health care and packaging design. With a graduation of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Tawfik pursued his masters in Product designing at National Institute of Design Ahmedabad.

A graphic designer turned storyteller/filmmaker. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design (Film & Video Comm.). Worked also as a production designer for an independent feature before venturing to starting up - an advertising film production house called Kadhai Films as a co-founder, where he dons the cap of one of the producers and a director. His constant quest to unearth new stories, nurture skills and finding ways to produce them be it in any format of storytelling - has helped branch into initiating another venture (along with his partners) - that aims to create a space for producing parallel content that’s also commercially viable.