Industry focused exhibition design course now available for aspiring professionals

“We don’t call ourselves a school, but a studio, because unlike a conventional institute, the interactions here are not like that of a professor and a student but more like that of an entrepreneur and designer, and this is more of an experiential centre,” says Ankit Pallan, Co-Founder, The School of Thought, who  is also an exhibition designer and entrepreneur with many years of experience in the industry.

Set up in 2018 in Mumbai by Ankit Pallan and Nimish Kotwal, a production designer and entrepreneur, the  School Of Thought focuses on offering practical, hands-on learning in the areas of exhibition design and production design. Ankit informs that this is the first school in India to offer such a focused programme on exhibition and production design.

Taught by working industry professionals, the 6-month course gives students exposure to real life scenarios  and projects, thus making them industry ready

Ankit shares, talking about the need for such a learning programme, “Many interior designers and architects pass out of colleges with not much exposure to areas like exhibition design or production design and as a result their creativity and talent get wasted. Most of the things that they learn from their textbooks are all outdated. The existing courses in areas like exhibition design are offered only as electives. There is no full fledged course on exhibition design or production design and that is sad because these are big industries.  Exhibitions contribute majorly to the Indian GDP and economy and also OTT platforms are huge today in terms of production opportunities.”

He adds, talking about the faculty at The School Of Thought, and how industry professionals are invited to be part of it, “We work for major brands and we invite our clients to give a live brief of exhibition set-ups to our students so they get exposed to real life scenarios and are taught not just design, but also about how to talk to customers, body language, etc.  We also have various vendors and professionals like carpenters coming in to talk to the students about the latest materials, their costing, etc.  Also, since we are located at the Lakshmi Industrial Estate in Mumbai, our students have easy access to materials and other aspects to study in detail.”

The 6 month programme offered in two batches includes 50 lectures and live projects, which also become  part of the student’s CV, informs Ankit, so that when they pass out, they are not treated as freshers but have the edge of practical experience to be able to negotiate better with prospective employers and find meaningful and relevant work opportunities.

Open to “anyone inclined towards design”, as Ankit informs,  the course,which is also offered online, helps students find jobs easily as the founders come from the industry and are constantly informed about relevant job vacancies and  requirements.