Prof. Anubha Kakroo

Prof. Anubha Kakroo
Professor and Director, School of Design, Anant National University

M.Arch. in Industrial Design, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi
Anubha Kakroo pursued her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Industrial Design (B.Arch.), from SPA, New Delhi. She has received training in Design Management from the School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, London.
Before joining AnantU, she was the Dean, Faculty of Architecture at DIT University, Dehradun where she introduced innovative pedagogical practices, led research and consultancy initiatives. She has remained on several boards of studies, research and management for institutes such as School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi and Centre of Innovation, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and an advisory board member for institutes such as National Institute of Design (NID) and National Institute for Fashion Technology (NIFT).
In her long career, Professor Kakroo has been affiliated with organisations such as Future Brands, British Council and has run her own design consultancy practice that has worked on several prestigious architectural, interior and product design projects.
Anubha Kakroo is a Professor and the Director of School of Design at Anant National University.

Anisha Shekhar Mukherji
Architect, Author, Architectural Historian

She is an architect, who has had a consuming interest in books ever since she was gifted a motley set on her sixth birthday. She works selectively as a conservation consultant, architectural historian and an independent designer, researcher and author. Anisha believes that history is as much to do with the present as the past, and seeks to address inter-related issues of design, history and education through her blog (http://anishashekhar.blogspot.in/), as well as through her published books on The Red Fort of Shahjahanabad (Oxford University Press, 2003); Jantar Mantar, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh’s Observatory in Delhi (Ambi, 2010); and most recently on Attributing Design Identity, (Ambi, 2020). This book explores the implication of being ‘Indian’ and the meanings of philosophy and aesthetics in the lives and history of Indians, which make them culturally responsive to the creation of certain elements in design. She has also been a contributing author to Shahjahanabad, Tradition and Colonial Change, Manohar, 2003 (Eds. Eckhart Ehlers and Thomas Krafft); A Work of Beauty: The Architecture and Landscape of The Rashtrapati Bhavan, Publications Division, Government of India, IGNCA, 2016 (Ed: Narayani Gupta).

Shaguna Gahilote

She is a  performance oral storyteller and an education, peace and culture specialist. She began storytelling with telling tall tales to her newborn nephew, Raghavendra but now performs regularly on stage. Shaguna studied at the University of Bristol, U.K. as a Commonwealth scholar and after her stint in the UK, she followed her heart back to India to work with communities and has since been actively working on conserving rare and dying folk art forms and the art of storytelling. She has worked with organisations like INTACH, UNESCO and the British Council. She helms Ghummakkad Narain – the Travelling Literature festival and Kathakar – International Storytellers Festival, since 2010. Her first book, Curious Tales from the Himalayas was published by Penguin Random House and her second book is due this summer. She spends her days solving math problems with her nephew, looking after her pet Labrador Ginger, neighbourhood strays and dogs and neelgais in the Jahapanah forest. Her other interests include drawing cartoons and yoga. She has trotted around the globe on a staple diet of potatoes, rajma (kidney-beans), eggs, chick-peas and hummus!

Shradha Jain
Game Designer and educationist , Srishti Manipal Institute

She studied Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Printmaking from Govt. College of Art, Chandigarh (2003) and further pursued her post graduation in Film and Video Communication Design from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad (2007). Her interest lies in studying and reviving the culture of playing tabletop board games from around the world (traditional & modern) and create active play communities. She is interested in exploring the politics of play and creating meaningful public spaces with intent and content that has a recreational value for the  participating actors. She is the founder of Studio.Clock.Works. The studio brings together the most celebrated classic games and the latest contemporary tabletop games and put them out in the public through game workshops as well as recurring game nights in cities like Ahmedabad and Bangalore. She has facilitated and conducted game workshops for schools, colleges and independent organizations across the country. These include some prestigious names like The Doon School, National Institute of Design (NID), Pearl Academy, Nirma University, The Riverside School, Footwear Development and Design Institute (FDDI), University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Samvedna, Tresna Foundation, etcetera. She currently holds a full-time faculty position at SRISHTI Institute of Art, Design & Technology in Bangalore where she leads the Game Design pathway under Digital Media Production for BA and MA program. Her responsibilities include designing & disseminating fundamental modules related to Game Design and engaging industry professionals to conduct short term technical courses and master classes. Modules taught by her include elements of game design, brief history of traditional & modern tabletop games, introduction to game mechanics, basic prototyping and playtesting games.
Under her studio capacity, she is working on a worker placement game about the coffee cultivars and a resource management game on waste segregation. She is also instrumental in building an active game group in collaboration with a local community space called ‘Project Otenga’ in Ahmedabad and ‘Lahe Lahe’ in Bangalore.