Anant National University to Host Collaborative Studio, Redefining the Future-focused Design Learning

PRNewswire
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], October 27: Anant National University will host Collaborative Studio, a series of 10 interdisciplinary workshops beginning 28 October 2025, bringing together artisans, experts and faculty to help Anant's design students engage deeply with India's vast Indigenous Knowledge heritage.
The Studio will feature hands-on workshops on Bastar's ironwork, papier-mache of Madhubani, lacquered woodcraft of Madhya Pradesh and leatherwork of Kutch. Students will also explore sustainable fashion, designing resilient villages and reviving Kashmir's musical heritage, learning how cultural practices can inspire responsible, forward-looking design. As part of the on-field studios, students will travel to Alwar and the Chambal region and work with Dr Rajendra Singh, the Waterman of India and Professor of Practice, Anant National University. There, they will experience first-hand how indigenous ways have revived over 23 rivers, gaining invaluable exposure to the power of community-driven design and environmental stewardship.
Distinguished experts and artisans who will lead the workshops include Shri Mushtak Khan, Nandlal Vishkarma, Makhanlal Sodhi, Shila Devi, Mukesh Bishwakarma, Dungarshi Teja, Saumya Pande, Arundeep Singh Majhtia, Shripal Shah, Manzoor Ul Haq, Mohd Amin Mir, Rajeev Wind and Ravi Raj.
This Collaborative Studio is part of Anant's commitment to offering holistic and contextual design education and nurturing future-ready designers equipped with the skills and knowledge to design for India and the world. To enable this, Anant integrates Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) into the design pedagogy, empowering students to draw from a sustainable, community-centric and culturally grounded knowledge pool.
This integration enables them to understand the world more deeply, appreciate cultural contexts and develop practical, sustainable solutions that serve communities meaningfully.
About Anant National University
Anant National University, India's premier design university, is dedicated to training students to devise solutions for global problems. Anant follows the DesignX pedagogy, where 'X' is the symbol drawn from mathematics, representing enhancement. This new learning approach multiplies traditional design pedagogy with liberal arts disciplines, emerging technologies and knowledge drawn from hands-on community experiences to help understand our world better and to devise impactful solutions.
Our multidisciplinary undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in design, architecture, climate action and visual arts harness knowledge from various disciplines and traditional practices to integrate it with cutting-edge technology to address diverse challenges. We train our designers to become solutionaries -- revolutionary thinkers with a solution-oriented mindset.
Anant National University has been recognised as the Centre of Excellence by the Government of Gujarat, highlighting our efforts to provide our students with world-class education, innovative pedagogy, high employability and enhanced entrepreneurial and research opportunities. Anant has also received the prestigious '5-Star Rating' in the category of Architecture and a '4-Star Rating' in the University category in the Gujarat State Institutional Rating Framework (GSIRF) 2023-24. These recognitions reinforce our commitment to creating a world-class institution of great eminence and excellence.
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