The event takes place every first Thursday of the month during the semester from September through December and from February through June. Positionings is open to PhD students at the Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art (HSLU), the National Institute of Design (NID), and other interested guests and PhD students from other universities.
Neelima Hasija
In Transition: Craft & Design
Thursday, October 1st, 2026
12:00 - 13:15 (CET / Central Europe)
3:30 pm - 4:45 pm (IST / India)
The rise of mass-production in India disrupted traditional craft practices and weakened the socio-economic stability of artisan communities. Paradoxically, design, originally linked to industrial development, stepped in to support the craft traditions. Decades of sustained mutual exchange between artisans and designers influenced and moulded their identities and collective consciousness. The presentation examines how historical, economic and institutional factors have influenced these identities and basis the sector's evolving needs and artisans' perspectives, proposes the emerging role of design, while repositioning the designer’s mode of engagement.
Neelima Hasija is a principal faculty at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. She specialises in ceramic and glass design and joined the institute in 2002 as a teacher. Her extended engagement with the craft sector, as a designer, researcher, and academic facilitator, spanning two to three decades, has informed and influenced her professional journey and practice. The presentation will draw on a range of academic activities and projects, aided by conversations and reflections with the craftsperson and the design students.
If you have any questions regarding the lecture series or the PhD programme please share them by mail to
esi@hslu.ch.
