July 29: Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi conducted an interesting speaker session in the second edition of its Design Science Café, led by internationally recognised sculptor and Director of Matu Ram Art Centres Pvt. Ltd, Naresh Kumar Kumawat. The Design Science Café is an informal gathering where designers, researchers, and creative minds come together over conversation, coffee, and shared experiences. Unlike traditional lectures, the Café is a space for storytelling, dialogue, and learning from real-world design journeys. The session by Mr Kumawat highlighted his remarkable journey, accomplishments, creative process and aim.
Mr Kumawat is famous for having done over 600 large-scale installations in 40 countries by merging the beautiful tradition of Indian art with modern technology. He narrated the life story from childhood to the present based on the experiences he had throughout his life; in other words, he shared the story of his journey and the challenges and opportunities he had.
One of the key elements of their discussion was the importance of technology in art and sculpture. Mr Kumawat said that several devices such as 3D scanning, 3D printing, and Artificial Intelligence have changed the way huge projects are designed and implemented, but stressed the importance of technology having to come together with the artist's inspiration, vision, and expertise.
According to Mr Naresh Kumar Kumawat,
“Technology has enabled people to dream big and accomplish great things, though one must remember that concepts come from the artist alone. Creativity combined with engineering and technology can turn into reality even those ideas that seem unattainable. Nevertheless, we must be courageous enough to dream and steadfast enough to implement those dreams.”
Mr Kumawat went on to reveal details from his projects, such as the Statue of Belief ,the 75-foot Samudra Manthan mural in India's new Parliament building, and elaborated on engineering difficulties that arise when making large sculptures. He underlined the significance of issues related to size, perspective, structural integrity, creativity, and inspired students to think out of the box.
Dr Anmol Srivastava, who chairs the Department of Human- Centred Design at IIIT Delhi, commented:
"Naresh Kumar Kumawat's path is a great testimony of how vision, perseverance, innovation, and technology unite with a view to generate something of great significance. We were very pleased to facilitate this discussion, and we hope that the points made by him are taken by our students."
The session finished with the honours given to Mr Naresh Kumar Kumawat by Dr Anoop Ratn on behalf of the Department of Human Centered Design and IIIT-Delhi for having provided a great contribution to art and the collaboration of creativity, technology, and innovation.
