Design Ecosystem

TEAM

EXPERTS

STUDENTS

PARENTS

ALUMNI

COLLABS

Design Ecosystem

We are a diverse and evolving community of Designers, Researchers, Academicians, Artists, Architects, Social Impact Enablers, and Thought leaders! We collaborate to empower young minds through structured Design Thinking processes, methods, frameworks, and tools.

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Our Team

Kiran Sabnis
Co-founder &
Director
Pranali Valsangkar
Co-founder &
Director
Anushree Ketkar
Principal Mentor
Space Designer
Dhwani Bhutada
Principal Mentor
Interior Designer
Aparna Darode
Head Business
Development
Pradnya Danke
Counselor &
HR Executive
Neha Kadam
Student Coordinator &
Counsellor
Gauri Dharmadhikari
Parent Coordination &
Counsellor
Mugdha Khare
Mentor
MFA Arts & Painting
Sweekar Garg
Mentor
Partha Khare
Mentor
Mrunal Deshmukh
Mentor
Atharva Gantellu
Mentor
UI/UX Designer
Sweekar Garg
Mentor
Dhwani Bhutada
Principal Mentor
Interior Designer

Our Team

We are a highly passionate team of professional designers and educators from the Top Design institutes like NID, IIT, NIFT, Srishti. MIT and various Management Institutes in India and abroad.

They cover the entire canvas of Design Specializations such as Product, Communication, Animation, Interior and Space, Fashion, Textile, Transportation, UX and Design Research.

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Domain Experts

Prasanna Joshi
Co-founder Director
Vivek Velankar
Renowned Counselor
Arvind Shiralkar
Consultant
Nachiket Joshi
Aptitude mentor
Charuta Kulkarni
Coach for mental health
Abhinav Kafare
Artist, Founder Bade Moochwale

Domain Experts

Our students interact with the Gurumantra panel of experts from various enterprises and corporates at regular intervals. The Designers, Technologists, Researchers, Psychologists, and Counselors review the summer assignments, annual projects, and portfolios created by the students and share valuable feedback to broaden their worldview.

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Gen-Z Students

Gen-Z Students

The creative abilities and orientations of the students are nurtured through a well-defined set of activities, projects and exercises such as Design Katta, Mock Tests, Skills Katta, Practice Sessions and celebration of festivals, this holistic and methodical approach of “Design Thinking” helps them ready to conquer any type of Design challenges.

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Parent Collaboration

Parent Collaboration

Our well defined periodic meetings with parent groups help them understand the progress of their child in the journey of design. Parents are encouraged to collaborate with the mentors for various initiatives and motivated to participate in a few activities and projects done by the students.

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Global Alumni Network

Global Alumni Network

You name the Design School and you will find the alumni of Gurumantra! We have a well connected network of students in all the Design Schools – NID, IIT, NIFT, Srishti, MIT, UID, Symbiosis across India. Our alumni are closely associated with all the Gurumantra mentors for the guidance related to their projects, competitions, specialization selection and internships. They enthusiastically support the aspirants in providing help for smooth onboarding in the respective Design Schools.

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Collabs

Various planned interventions are designed for the students to collaborate with diverse set of start-ups, incubation labs, social enterprises to expose them to the broader societal context. It makes them more empathetic towards multiple users, situations and scenarios.