Localising Design: Best Practices

Marc de Roo is Creative Inspirator (and owner) of Link Design. After graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven in 1996 Marc has worked for several international design firms in The Netherlands and abroad before he became head of Link Design in 1998. De Roo transformed Link Design from a graphic design studio to a "creative business partner" which helps its customers achieve their business objectives through the use of media-independent creative solutions. Link Design’s international design team (15 people) is strong in developing cross-media concepts and online strategies, for which Link Design has won several international awards such as the Wolda [Worldwide Logo Design Annual] Award (2x), the Webby Award (3x), the Lovie Award (1x) and the China Design Award (2x). In 2008 Link Design opened a second design studio in Shanghai where we help Dutch companies with the local adaptation of their branding for the Chinese market.

Born and raised in Kashmir, Prateek Sadhu graduated from the Culinary Institute of America before stints at some of the world’s finest kitchens including Alinea, The French Laundry, and Le Bernardin. A tenure at Noma drove home lessons of how to cook from the region and harness the soil; this food philosophy changed his life. He then moved to The Pierre Hotel in New York, followed by a return to India as sous chef at Le Cirque. In 2016, Prateek opened Masque in Mumbai, where he is head chef; the restaurant advocates holistic, indigenous cooking, inspired by the produce of India and has garnered numerous accolades since opening.

"Preeti Vyas is the founder of FunOKPlease, a publishing company that creates contemporary Indian content for children. Its portfolio includes popular titles such as ‘Toto the Auto’, ‘Your Turn Now’; and ‘ 366 words in Mumbai’; They also co-publish books with publishers such as Penguin Random House, Scholastic and Harper Collins. In 2017, they were awarded the ‘Best Children’s Publisher’ Award by popular children’s portal Kidsstoppress.com. Preeti spent most of her childhood reading books and most of her adult life reading to children along with buying, selling and publishing books for children! Through her 22 year long career in the retail, publishing and content industries in India and Australia she has worked in a variety of business roles at organisation such as ToysRUs, Sony Music, Crossword, Future Group and also ran an independent children’s bookshop called Kidztown in Mumbai. Preeti is passionate about children’s content, children’s rights and empowering children to whet their curiosity, reach for their biggest dreams and have fun every step of the way!"

Rajeev Thakker received his BArch from Syracuse University and Masters in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University GSAPP and has worked for several offices like S.O.M. & the Arnell Group in NY on conceptual design & architectural projects. He came to Mumbai in 2000 to teach architectural design & theory and has been actively engaged in pedagogical activities at several institutions including KRVIA, NMIMS & Raffles and ISDI and curated Columbia University’s Studio X Mumbai from 2011-2016. He currently runs his own practice, a-RT, which engages design through a series of artistic, cartographic and architectural processes, provides consultancy & design services for architectural & interior projects. Over the past 13 years a-RT has designed and realized several projects in the Hospitality, Retail, Commercial, Residential and Art space segments. His works have been published in DOMUS India, IAB, Inside Outside and Home & Design Trends as well as other publications. As an artist, his work has been part of a group show at the Museum Gallery Mumbai in 2010 and most recently was invited as a participating artist at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 with his installation entitled ‘HOME’ and executed a series of collateral installations entitled ‘Happy Medium’.