To hone the skills of its students and help artisans embrace technology, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) is planning to set up a “design village” within its campus,

The three objectives of this initiative are to help the traditional artisans and craftsmen make use of technology, provide better facilities to the students of Master of Design and excel further in the field of design research.

A team of IIT-K faculty, including Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences Satyaki Roy, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Vishal Bhattacharya and Lecturer in Humanities Koumudi Patil, has been working on the project for the last few weeks.

The Design village will be given a rural look, and the IIT-K faculty members are in favour of having lecture and training sessions in the open.

To give a final shape to the project, the team has been interacting with representatives of some foreign institutes who recently visited the institute. Teams from University of Texas, San Antonio, US, and some institutions from France have also visited the institute.

“We have chalked out our plans for the Design village and are currently holding discussions with experts to give the project a final shape,” said Roy.

According to Roy, artisans and craftsmen from across the country will be identified and invited to the Design village. “These artisans will be invited in groups and our technicians will train them in using technology to improve their quality and work efficiency,” added Roy.

For the initial phase, the institute has identified artisans from the glassware industry of Hyderabad and leather industry from Arga.

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