Kirit Dave
Kirit Dave is a design mentor at LLDC focusing on several projects that incorporate the hand crafts of Kutch with a sensitivity to fair trade, innovative design and sustainability, of not only the planet but also the craft itself.
He is an architect by education and this background gives him a comprehensive understanding of the arts, the sciences and mathematics. It is this balance between the three that helps him with the problem-solving aspect of design. With a keen interest in the history of design and ideas that have been created in the past, he believes that if something has been done before, one must do something fresh.
Kirit’s interest in problem solving brought him to handicrafts. Factoring in appealing designs that are cost effective and production friendly for artisans to execute is what interested him. If his solution impacts a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods, he considered his work within the sector of building crafts and handicrafts a success.
Through his career, Kirit has worked in several different geographical zones of the country with different crafts and organisations as a designer and a system trainer. He got the opportunity to work in the underprivileged sector and rural handicrafts, where not too many people were giving design inputs to give longer shelf lives to traditional crafts. Over time he realised that for this process to be sustainable and ongoing, younger designers were needed and that is where LLDC came in. He is currently in the process of identifying design talent that is sensitive to the ground realities of the craft sector and don’t demand the stars in terms of the skill level needed for their design solutions.
One thing that is very close to his heart is identifying resource people for the future to reduce the dependency on urban or international designers, to train young artisans to be the future resource persons for their respective communities, so that the circle is complete, and they can be more independent. Along with independence, this thought also addresses his concerns of sustainability within the craft and fair trade.
Lives & Works
Gujurat, India
Acknowledgements & Funders
Exhibited at
John Curtin Gallery
JCG is one of WA's foremost public art galleries and curates the Curtin University Art Collection, located at Curtin's Bentley campus.
Address
Curtin University, Building 200A, Kent St, Bentley WA 6102