When the world of design opened before the students

TVIS students take part in Fusion Con, the annual design fest at National Institute of Design Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal

Design is not just a visual experiences, and its ambits are not restricted to what we thought as design conventionally. When the students of The Velammal International School (TVIS), got the golden opportunity to visit National Institute of Design (NID) Madhya Pradesh at Bhopal on the occasion of the three-day Madhya Pradesh Design Utsav (MPDU) – Fusion Con – from December 18 to 20, it was a new holistic involvement that they got, which has the potential to redefine their career outlook. Apart from the golden opportunity to visit the campus and interact with the faculty members and students, they also took part in various workshops and competitions that provided them the firsthand experience to go deeper into the spectrum of design innovations there.

“We felt we are now university students. These are the opportunities that we don’t get everywhere.  We feel that our school is providing us greater opportunity to explore new things. It is really good for our future whichever career we choose,” said Hasna Fathima, a class nine student, who felt such visits provide the experiences that no classroom can provide.

Design is common for everything and such experiences would benefit students at various levels, whatever career they opt for in future, said Abirami K, a class 8th student, who felt excited about the whole event and the ambience of the campus. 

On the opening day, they got the opportunity to take part in a couple of workshops, including tie and dye and developing cartoon characters, which they could use is developing animations and even fine-tuning their story telling skills. They also took part in the poster design competition and paper toy making competition.

What was even more interesting was that most of the workshops and interactive sessions were designed by the students, which highlighted their innovative skills and vision. 

Earlier, inaugurating Fusion Con on December 18, Dr. Praveenkumar Mishra, regional director of Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI), Bhopal said the concept of design is as old as the human civilization. “The people in the ancient civilizations did this through scratching and painting in the rocks,” he said, adding that we can see many such rock shelters in the suburbs of Bhopal. “We can find many beautiful artistic designs there that are preserved till date.” However, now the ambit of design has changed considerably, but such design traditions will definitely help us a lot in learning the importance of design in various fields, ranging from apparel design to industrial design and product design, he said.         

NID director Prof. Dhiraj Kumar, who chaired the inaugural ceremony, said NID tries to forge new relationship, and different institutions with different capacity are getting connected with the NID fraternity through such events. In the years to come we can leverage benefits from that. There are talks, symposiums, students’ display and various other activities. He also said design in central India is yet to make a mark, and such events will help people understand better as to what is happening at NID. Moreover, in the coming days NID will sign certain memorandums of understanding with different agencies, including the tribal department, he added. 

In the three-day residential programme, the students of TVIS will take part in various workshops, which would help them explore an all new world of design that would mark a lasting impression in their creative journey.