Story

Interview with MA Graphic Design Communication graduate Neeraja Dhorde

Portrait of a Indian woman in a blue top and white pants

Written byAnnam Ahmed
Published date 21 March 2024

Neeraja Dhorde graduated from MA Graphic Design Communication at Camberwell College of Arts in 2021. The course introduces students to the key debates and methodologies of contemporary design practices.

We spoke to Neeraja about her time at Camberwell College of Arts, the projects she has been working on and her goals for the future.

A book named Shifting Food Cultures in front of a rock held by a hand — **Shifting Food Cultures, 2020 │ Credit: Neeraja Dhorde**

Hi Neeraja! Thanks for joining. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself and your background?

I did my undergraduate degree here in Bombay, India, in graphic design, specialising in typography. After graduating, I worked for a production house as an animation designer for 2 years. I then felt like I had done enough work in illustration and visual design, so I decided to explore design from the perspectives of ideation, conceptualisation and research, and that’s when I started looking for courses to study.

I saw the MA Graphic Design Communication course at Camberwell College of Arts which was a mix of making as well as research. It intrigued me and that's why I applied for the course and thankfully I got in.

I was studying in London on the course when COVID happened. I had to come back to Bombay for 6 months and then I went back again to complete the course.

So, did you do part of the course remotely from Bombay?

Not from Bombay. My parents are farmers, so I went to the countryside to live with them. It was quite a huge shift for me because I was in the middle of studio practice, and we were working with 3D models and everything. Then out of nowhere I was on the farms in the countryside.

Describe your design practice for us.

It lies in the area of design, but it’s not pure hardcore graphic design or visual design. While I was in the countryside, I was still communicating with my course leader Sadhna Jain. My family is in the food business and agriculture, and Sadhna pushed me to look around my surroundings and seek inspiration that way. That’s when my own personal design practice shifted from visual design to design research and food design. I realised I wanted to work around food and seek inspiration from my roots, where I come from, where I was born.

What was your favourite project you’ve completed so far?

I would say my project called ‘Virtual Dinner Party’. It was fun and the most long-lasting project which had a huge impact, not just on myself, but on the local design and food community as well. It initiated a lot of conversations around conscious consumption, sustainable farming, food and research. We had a lot of stakeholders in the whole-food systems. There was a session when we had farmers, marketing people, industry people, designers, all of them on 1 table which gave a lot of insight and helped me shape my practice even further. It built a foundation for my design practice today. We got to speak to a lot of people from around the world.

An open book with Hindi writing with the title 'Farmer Profiles' and an image of a farm field — **Shifting Food Cultures, 2020 │ Credit: Neeraja Dhorde**

Can you tell us about your graduate project and how it translated into your career?

So, ‘Shifting Food Cultures’ is a project that I worked on because I shifted my practice from design to research. I worked in the field doing primary research and then created a publication and a short film. We had to put our work out there for the whole world to see. It was the end of the course, that is when I started ‘Virtual Dinner Party’.

Dongaon Local started as an extension of Virtual Dinner Party when I started sending out samples of the fresh produce from Dongaon to my friends and colleagues in urban areas. My mom makes ghee which is clarified butter originating from India. We slowly started to get requests for this product. We also started reaching out to other women farmers in the community keen to join our efforts and encouraged them to become a part of the enterprise. The desi ghee is made using traditional methods that have been practised in the village for centuries, leading to a consistent quality and taste.

I really want to delve deeper into the world of food design by continuing to build a stronger community where I come from. I want to instil a sense of entrepreneurship in the women of my village and create a system where they are self-motivated and independent emotionally as well as financially. India in general is a very patriarchal society and woman empowerment is a huge thing here.

A woman's hand is holding up herbs to a bowl of ghee (clarified butter) — **Herbs being added to loni, Dongoan Local, 2022 │ Credit: Neeraja Dhorde**

A jar of ghee being held up in front of a field with yellow flowers — **Homemade ghee, Dongoan Local, 2022 │ Credit: Neeraja Dhorde**

How was your time studying at Camberwell College of Arts?

I had a lot of epiphanies during my time at Camberwell, because my practice before I joined the course involved a lot of illustrations. I used to have these conversations with Sadhna after class about my practice. I asked “What do I do? I can’t get out of illustration and this zone where there’s more thinking involved and less making”. She pushed me to do things and encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone and experiment. Explore.

I worked with the clay and print departments, and this was fun. What I liked about Camberwell was that there were a lot of making facilities available there and we had versatile mediums.

What are your day-to-day inspirations?

I live in Bombay which is a very busy city, so there’s hustle and bustle everywhere. You step out and you’ll see it’s the most populated city in India. I would say my first inspiration would be people because there are so many kinds of people coming from different backgrounds, wearing different kinds of clothes and speaking different languages. That inspires me a lot, seeing so much variety, different styles of speaking and different cultures coming together.

Second thing would be my roots, where I come from. I realised it quite late in my life that there is some potential in farming, agriculture, and the practice of farming and what my family has been doing for generations. I try ground myself time and again by going there, by being there, by being with the women in the village and trying to seek inspiration from there. It helps to clear out my mind and just make more space for this busy life here.

A woman in a blue outfit interacting with a young cow — **Anita Dhorde, Dongoan Local, 2022 │ Credit: Neeraja Dhorde**

What advice would you have for current MA Graphic Design Communication students studying at Camberwell College of Arts?

I would say to try and look deeper into seeking inspiration from around you. Sometimes, whenever we’re working on a project or thesis, we try to do what we see as ‘ideal’. We look up to the work of our favourite designers, favourite artists and try to mimic that in our projects. You can do that, but along that you could also try and go back to where you come from, see your surroundings, seek inspiration from there, pick up things from there. That helps a lot to come up with a subject for your thesis project.