Day 4 of the Mumbai Index Show and once again we successfully negotiated the traffic of the 6 lane highway to reach the tented site. Don’t be deceived though – a three lane road encourages at least 5 lanes of traffic, don’t ask me how they achieve that but I’ve spent a lot of time breathing in and holding my breath. Zebra crossings appear to provide target practice with foreigners offering a bonus. However, the hardy NDA team didn’t take long to work out that latching onto a local greatly enhanced our chances of survival.
Today, we were fortunate to meet one of NDA’s Diploma students, who had flown down from Bangalore to visit the exhibition and meet us. Coming into first hand contact with students from around the world is one of the highlights of doing a foreign show and I am always reminded what a small world we live in. Well done Pauline and we are looking forward to you completing the diploma and registering on the degree.
One of the encouraging aspects so far is the number of Indian designers who have stopped by the stand for a chat and have shown an interest in topping up their Diploma to a Bachelor of Arts degree with the National Design Academy. We also met a representative of IIID, the Institute of Indian Interior Designers, which is the counterpart of the BIID in India. They are starting to look at interior design courses to make recommendations to their members and we hope to meet up with their representative when he visits the UK in a few weeks’ time.
We have had a fantastic time here in Mumbai and everyone has been very helpful both at the show and out and about. The show is not unlike Decorex in that it is in a large tented construction with spacious walkways and effective air conditioning. We have met lots of architects who are involved in working with interiors as well as exteriors and many have been interested in progressing their Bachelor of Arts degree to the MA in Interior Design.
We will brave the traffic one last time before we set off back to our office in Dubai for a few days. If this interest converts to students, we’ll be back to Mumbai next year.
