The Higher Education Review

The fashion industry has always been a hotbed of innovation. Only the professionals who have a sound knack for preparing innovative designs can sustain and achieve success in this field. Giving downright importance to instill a sense of innovation and the capability of thinking out-of-the-box, Indian School of Design & Innovation (ISDI) came into existence in 2013 ushering the design industry to reach newer heights. Boasting of a curricular collaboration with the prestigious Parsons School of Design, New York, ISDI ensures its students to get access to a curriculum that is progressive and aptly matches the requirement of the contemporary design industry. Following ardently the mantra of maximizing innovation within the campus, the institute encourages the students to evolve as job creators instead of seeking for jobs. Every member of the institute works round the clock for navigating the young talents in the right direction by providing them quality and updated version of fashion education.

"ISDI abides by a unique and cutting-edge design pedagogy that is rooted in the concept of DICE- Design, Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship"

Solange Suri, Dean - Academic Excellence, ISDI says, "In the wake of entrepreneurship spirit, we believe that the time has come to foster innovators who can structure a business around their creativity. We at ISDI also leave no stone unturned for taking the aspiring and talented designers to the next level.” The students of ISDI are taught to put their heart and soul while working on any project along with encouraging them to draw from their interdisciplinary learning. “ISDI as an institute is very future-oriented and is constantly striving

to bring in the best for the students. As a young institute, we don't believe in being competitive, instead we aspire to foster collaborations with other institutes," adds Suri. Although the institute conducts courses in several areas of design, under its Fashion education wing, students are admitted to pursue a UG programme in Fashion Design and Fashion Communication & Styling and PG programme in Fashion Business Management along with an all-encompassing 11-month postgraduate program for Design Led Innovators and Entrepreneurs.

ISDI abides by a unique and cutting-edge design pedagogy that is rooted in the concept of DICE- Design, Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship. "The expertise-building support that our faculty members are given is beyond comparison. They have year-round exposure to speakers from the best universities from around the world, corporate CEOs and the nation’s policy makers who are invited to come in and engage with our faculty and students. Once-a year faculty training workshops by the Parsons faculty also get them to be deeply invested in the new-age pedagogy being practiced in the school. They from time to time involve themselves in industrial projects, which directly benefits our students in the classroom," pinpoints Suri. At ISDI, students are guided through a heavily project-based curriculum, which enables them to understand their own weakness and strengths and the pros and cons of the systems they will come to work within.

Impactful Design Education
Having the advantage of being instituted in a city like Mumbai, which comprises a host of well-known designers; ISDI's students are not subjected to struggle much when it comes to undergoing internship and project work. "We make efforts to rendering the students hands-on experiences from the first year only. During their entire tenure at ISDI, we first ask them to go and observe the functioning of a design company for a week, in the second year they are sent for a two-week apprenticeship followed by an internship which happens in between the third and fourth year," claims Suri. Owing to the fact that ISDI immensely

focuses on building future entrepreneurs, it has incorporated a dedicated Incubation center, where the students are motivated to give birth to fresh ideas and work towards it with ardent passion.

"We have initiated something called the ‘roundtable conference' at our institute. This is organized at least once in a year, bringing representatives from every design domain, faculty members and students together under one roof," shares Suri. This roundtable conference impressively broadens the horizon of the faculty members in terms of understanding the demands of industry and allows the students to clear their queries. Additionally, the initiative viz. ‘Stalwart Series' of the institute, makes it possible for the students to receive knowledge on different aspects of design from eminent guest lecturers. The students on the other side are taken to factory visits where they can witness the comprehensive operations required to process creative designs for markets. In the projects that the students handle, they are responsible for carrying activities like understanding client's requirements, collecting primary as well as secondary data, visiting stores, proposing new ideas, fabric sampling, sketching, preparing visual boards and the first prototype and lastly developing the final garment.

The high amount of skills and competencies earned at ISDI qualifies the graduates to get placed in design hubs which are run by illustrious designers such Masaba Gupta, Rahul Mishra, Sharnita Nandwana, to name a few. By all such strong points which distinguish the ISDI students from others, it becomes lucid that ISDI is an ideal space for upcoming designers who envision leaving their footprints in the fashion map. "Single-mindedly committed to creating authentic thinkers who can challenge the existing fashion norm and with sustainability as the core, we want to spread awareness about fashion being much more than just glamour. Working on industry projects and extending collaborations with leading organizations are some of the plans that we look upon to complete in the near future," concludes Suri.