Well, another star artist that we found in our pursuit of unconventionalism is

Shikha Narang Shah: Architecting Ideas, Gifts and Memories

Art is freedom of expression and inspiration in itself. Shikha Narang Shah’s unconventional journey seconds this saying and motivates artists to let that creative energy flow out. Design Diaries is a studio that not only shelters art pieces but nurtures ideas and concepts of even other visionaries, that can be shaped with a little more passion and determination.

• How and when it started?

Shikha Narang Shah had studied product design and had even worked with a few prominent FMCG companies. After, freelancing for some time and working in the industry for a few years, she realized that it lacked the creative energy in the field and also how people around the town lacked the understanding and know-how of product designing. She travelled across India where she met and worked with various NGOs and manufacturers to find the right material and expertise to turn her designs into real artistic products, like coasters, lamps and wall clocks. In the meanwhile, the urge to manufacture something she designed herself, took strong hold of her and she started Design Diaries in February 2014. It is a studio where people with ideas come to learn and give it a real shape, as well as people without any idea, come to find inspiring possibilities. Major three services that Design Diaries provide are art, design & craft workshops, decor consultancy and corporate/ personal/ customized gifting.

• What was the motivation behind it?

The lack of creativity and the awareness of product designing in the town was a major setback, and that’s what drove her to start taking classes and while designing things herself.

• Challenges faced:

Lack of knowledge of product design also led people to speculate and pitch original products against Chinese counterparts. It was hard to make people understand the efforts and skills that went into designing one piece from materials to final product.

• Future plans:

She would like to have a full-fledged art and designing studio with the infrastructure of the workshop where there is freedom and accessibility to turn any idea into a product. She would also like to launch membership plans, whereby members would be able to use the amenities and place with uttermost convenience.

On a parting note: “She wishes to see people with creative ideas and urge, executing them  it.”

Stay tuned for more such stories.