Genesis of design education in India the warp and weft of local global contexts

Abstract

quotThe introduction of design education was a conscious and considered act of policy makers in India. In 1957, the government of India invited the American designers Charles and Ray Eames to recommend a programme of training in the area of design which would play a catalytic role in the development of small industries in modern India and to state what India can do to resist the rapid deterioration of consumer goods within the country . The following year the Eameses wrote the India Report which led to the establishment of the modern discipline of design in India. This research examines the circumstances and debates that led to the genesis of the modern discipline of design in postcolonial India. Through an exploration of nineteenth century debates in India and Britain on art, craft and industrialization, the study traces the emergence of design and its transplantation in colonial India through art schools established in the colonial period. This was followed by the growth of nationalism which included debates on crafts, craftsmanship and the cultural roots of India. The study explores these debates to show their impact on Jawaharlal Nehru and his vision for independent India. Adding to the existing scholarship on Nehru s vision of independent India and the nation-building project of the period immediately after which focus on the emphasis on developing science and technology, modernizing agriculture and, related to this, the establishment of institutions of higher education in the natural sciences, technology and management, this research shows that an equally important aspect of Nehru s nationbuilding ideas was the rejuvenation of craft and small industries and part of the initiatives taken in this direction was the move to introduce institutions for design education. The study also examines the role played by foreign experts in shaping the nation building process, particularly the role of the Ford Foundation in the introduction of design education in India and how these worldviews were implicated in the intr