The Higher Education Review

Rupali Gaur, CEO

Rupali Gaur is the CEO of the institute. She is an MBA holder having 12 years of working experience with finance companies - Escorts Finance and Larsen & Toubro Finance.

A formal education in interior designing plays a vital role in developing and harnessing right brain – the creative half. With this clear perspective in mind, Urbane - The Design workshop, one of the leading architecture and interior design firm in the country that has been operational since 1997, started IVS School of Design in Delhi. IVS School of Design constantly strives towards developing tight brain techniques that act as catalysts for creative thinking and internal focusing. “Whatever, we have achieved till date, has really been a process of creating a seed for the actual plant to grow and finally shape up as a tree. Our vision is to create best creative minds and make India as a centre of design in Asia, competing with Singapore directly. We want our brand IVS to be in the steering position in this endeavour,” opines Darpan Katyal, Chairman, IVS School of Design.

"IVS makes its students as much observant as possible by lifting the “four walls” teaching methodology and exposing them to the possibilities beyond"

The institute has drafted a very clear methodology to create a breed of designers in India, who are demanded and hired internationally. “Interior Architecture and Design course does demand a lot of practical knowledge. Our teaching methodologies clearly states Experiential Learning, Learning by Doing and Practical Exposure to name a few,” says Rupali Gaur, CEO, IVS School of Design. Be it art, graphic design, fashion design,

branding, visual merchandising or installation design, IVS School of Design has a curriculum with tailor made design exercises that transcend various creative disciplines. Such activities act as an effective catalyst in pushing the creative limits of the brain and develop inter-disciplanarity. Gaur adds, “At IVS School of Design, we lay major focus on model making right from the beginning. It not only helps students to learn teamwork and material sourcing, but also opens up their spatial visualization skills, which are one of the most powerful tools in becoming successful interior designers.”

IVS makes its students as much observant as possible by lifting the “four walls” teaching methodology and exposing them to the possibilities beyond. The institute organises visits, expositions, heritage walks and live sketching sessions to strengthen the learners’ observation skills, which in turn form their experiences and would help in creative imagination and detailing for their projects and learning outcomes. “We strengthen cognitive skills of our students by building a strong foundation required for weaving vivid creative imagination through hands-on activities coupled with freedom to choose the ways our students can approach a particular design problem they are presented with,” opines Gaur. IVS also encourages students in co-curricular indulgence for a comprehensive development of the creative half of their brains. Through these activities, they connect with their individual emotional and psychological selves and remain better focussed.

Learning beyond the Four-Walls

IVS is a platform, where students, teachers and professionals of the industry are able to share views and ideas, with peers of the world. Gaur claims, “We provide the students with the content that is market need oriented and inculcates the current practises followed in the field of design globally. Up skilling the students with the latest trends and technologies through exposure given during exhibitions, guest lecture, workshops, market surveys and site visits improves the knowledge of the students, thus, better chances of employability.” IVS helps the students in skill building by providing the classes on personality development along with

communication and soft skills. This makes the students better equipped to face the market challenges. One of the most important initiative’s taken by IVS to improve the industry skills of the students is the Mentorship Program, under which, the students take regular guidance from the esteemed Architects and Interior Designers on the work they are doing.

In fact, IVS is highly equipped with faculty members who are not only well-qualified and experienced Architects and Interior Designers, but also possess great versatility. The greatest quality of all the faculties in IVS is that they develop a trusting relation with students in order to create a positive and productive learning environment. “Our faculty members listen to all the problems and do understand the pace and capacity of the students while teaching the various topics. No student is left unnoticed as teachers in IVS always motivate the students, engaging them in every discussion,” explains Gaur.

Other than mentorship, IVS provides the students with a chance to learn the minute details about designing and architecture by letting them enrol for the internship programme with some of the esteemed firms operating in the market, wherein they gain real time industry exposure. Helping IVS in achieving this goal are Urbane, Orient Bells, Asian Paints, Greenlam Laminates, Merino, Ozone, Hitachi and so on. Katyal shares, “In the coming years, we want to set up more design and related courses like Fine Arts, Industrial Design, Product Design, App Design, Retail & Exhibition Design, Furniture Design, Green Building Design, Vastu-Shastra & Photography within IVS- School of Design, to allow healthy exchange of ideas within various disciplines. To have multiple centers, at least 40 PAN India, starting from North India, covering all the tier-1 destinations and some tier-2 citie, is also on the pipeline. Today, IVS through its brand tries to create an impact in the design industry – to not only change how design is taught in India, but to change the perception of the rest of the world towards India, in terms of design capabilities. “For us, success is not about how much money we make, but it’s about creating history,” concludes Katyal.