Eminent Faculty with Expertise and Experience
KMCT School of Design has managed to attract qualified and experienced faculty with years of experience in academics and industry, ensuring that students are given excellent theoretical inputs along with practical skills needed for the industry. Faculty also undertake research and consultancy to be abreast of changing trends and industry needs.
In addition to our in-house faculty, guest faculty from the industry will also conduct classes and workshops to give students fresher perspectives.
DIRECTOR
Graduating in Computer Science & Engineering from Govt. Engg. College, Thrissur, he found his true calling in Design and did his Master of Design in Visual Communication from Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. After working with C-DAC (Pune) and Malayala Manorama (Kottayam), he started his own design consultancy Design Difference, based in Kochi. Catering to clients as varied as publishing houses, hospitals, hotels, IT firms and NGOs he designed branding, collaterals, magazines, newspapers, packaging, signage, websites, interfaces and products for twenty years when the academic bug bit him. Teaching at Srishti (Bangalore), DJAD (Coimbatore), MITID (Pune) and Anant University (Ahmedabad) he moved back to Kerala becoming the founding Dean at Saintgits Design School (Kottayam) before he joined KMCT School of Design. He is also pursuing his Ph.D in Design at NID (Ahmedabad).
Nikhil Kunnath
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
An alumnus of IDC, IIT Bombay, where he earned his Master’s degree in Mobility & Vehicle Design, Nikhil Kunnath is a designer and educator dedicated to the intersection of heritage and modern utility. With over five years of experience in teaching Product Design, he brings a deep academic and practical understanding of form, function and sustainability.His core expertise lies in bamboo and its traditional craft. Nikhil’s work is characterised by a collaborative approach, partnering closely with skilled artisans to contemporise age-old techniques for a modern aesthetic. By bridging the gap between grassroots craftsmanship and contemporary design needs, he strives to create products that are both culturally rooted and commercially relevant.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Roney is a passionate artist and animator specialising in sketching and painting with various mediums such as water colour, acrylic, and pastels. His expertise extends to 2D animation and graphic narratives. He holds a Bachelor's in Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and a Master's in Animation Design from IDC, IIT, Mumbai. Roney constantly seeks out compelling stories to tell, meticulously focusing on the subtle details found in everyday life. He also finds great fulfilment in teaching, believing it to be a collaborative exchange of knowledge. He has successfully completed numerous freelance animation and illustration projects for clients including leading publishers like DC Books, Mathrubhumi, and TBS.
Aliasgar Chunawala
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Born in Dahod, Gujarat he embarked on a journey in architecture, earning his undergraduate degree from SVIT, Vasad. His interest in design led him to pursue a Master’s in Integrated Product Design from Anant National University, Ahmedabad. He brings seven years of professional experience and two years of teaching experience as an Assistant Professor in Product Design at Anant National University. During his tenure, he has honed my skills in research, curriculum development, and student mentorship. His hobbies include reading, travelling and sports. He aims to contribute to academic excellence and foster student growth through innovative teaching and research.
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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Tarique primarily works with cinema and photography. He holds a Master's in Photography from National Institute of Design. Through practice, he engages with notions of memory and time, past and present, as well as still and moving images. He has worked as a faculty at The Design Village teaching programmes that emphasise immersion, exposure, and experiential learning, where students develop thenecessary abilities.His debut film When I Look at the Horizon (2023) was screened at the Centre Pompidou, Paris as a special mention chosen by the SI CINÉMA film festival jury, was selected to screen at the 18th edition of the Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival and won the Second-best Film in the Fiction Competition Category in the 15th IDSFFK International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, India.
Rishad Ali
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Rishad Ali is an educator, design researcher, and practitioner specialising in brand identity, communication, and photography. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Communication from the University of Calicut, a Master's degree in Communication with a specialisation in Communication Design from the School of Media and Communication, Pondicherry Central University, and a postgraduate degree in Digital Media and Design Management from DC's School of Media, Art and Design, UOIT Campus, Canada. He also completed a Research Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design, USA. His doctoral (PhD) research focuses on Artificial Intelligence and Design Education. He has worked with over 600 brands, including Toshiba, HCL, and National Geographic. He has presented his research at several international conferences and published academic papers in reputed publications, including Springer and Taylor & Francis. Rishad is also the founder of Ybrands, a brand experience studio established in 2016 with offices in India and the UAE, serving clients internationally.
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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
An accomplished Multidisciplinary Art Practitioner and designer, Abhishek holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Printmaking from the Government College of Art, Chandigarh. His design philosophy integrates the Anthropocene perspective, exploring the intersection of human impact and environmental narratives through innovative and sustainable design practices. After completing his Master’s, Abhishek joined Prepladder as an Illustrator, where his dedication and creative excellence led to his promotion to Team Lead of the design team within just one year. Alongside his professional roles, he has undertaken significant freelance projects, including work as a Textile Designer with Shingora Textiles and as a Designer with D-zineup, showcasing his versatility across design domains. Beyond his professional achievements, Abhishek is an active participant in national and international art exhibitions. In 2024, he received a prestigious travel grant from Chandigarh Lalit Kala to attend the Venice Biennale, a testament to his artistic calibre. Additionally, he completed a two-month fully funded art residency in Mumbai with Apre Art House Gallery, where his work was later featured in a selective alumni exhibition in April.
Rishita Bharadwaj
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Rishita Bhardwaj is an experience designer with a strong interest in research and technology-driven design. She holds a Bachelor's in Fashion Design from Banaras Hindu University and a Master's in Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar with specialisation in experience design. With experience in the IT industry and freelance projects, she combines creativity and strategy to craft user-centered experiences. Her focus areas include Human-Computer Interaction, contextual research, UX design, and data visualization. Her skill-set includes sketching, doodling, graphic design, contextual research, UX design, and data visualization. Committed to the philosophy of knowledge sharing and continuous learning, Rishita is also deeply invested in academia — both as a platform to contribute her expertise and as an environment to grow alongside the next generation of designers.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Tarashis Mohapatra is a Mechanical Engineer and Product Designer with a Master's in Product Design and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He brings over seven years of industry experience across industrial design, packaging design, and architecture, enabling him to bridge engineering principles with creative problem-solving. He served as a faculty member at Chandigarh University, where he mentored students in design thinking, innovation, and product development. Alongside academia, he leads ventures in designer bronze and brassware and architecture-driven customisation, bringing real-world industry experience into the classroom. His teachingemphasises on user-centred innovation, rapid prototyping, and multidisciplinary collaboration, inspiring students to transform ideas into meaningful products through research, experimentation, and hands-on product development while preparing them for successful careers in industry and entrepreneurship.
Sudheendradas V R
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Sudheendradas is a visual artist, sculptor and educator working across sculpture, installation, and conceptual art. He completed his Master of Visual Arts in Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. His artistic practice examines the intersections of technology, language, systems, and contemporary experience, exploring how meaning is constructed and mediated through digital technologies, institutional knowledge, and everyday materials. Employing casts,frames, printed matter, and QR codes, his works investigate the relationship between physical experience and digital mediation.His academic experience includes appointments at the Department of Fine Arts, University of Hyderabad and the School of Design, JECRC University, Jaipur, where he engaged with students across disciplines through studio-based and interdisciplinary learning environments. Alongside academia, he has worked in commercial and applied art, including professional experience in Bahrain. He has conducted workshops and collaborative projects with institutions including Banasthali Vidyapith and C-MET Hyderabad, and has served as a jury member at IIIT Hyderabad.
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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Hemant Sharma is a game designer, interaction designer, and educator with a passion for crafting engaging, player-centric experiences at the intersection of gameplay, technology, and human behaviour. Having studied Digital Game Design at the National Institute of Design (NID), he combines design thinking, systems design, and user experience principles to create interactive products that are both meaningful and intuitive. Alongside his professional practice, he teaches Interaction Design and Game Design to bachelor's students, mentoring aspiring designers in user-centred design, game systems and creative problemsolving.His work spans game design, UX design, rapid prototyping, and interactive experiences, with expertise in Unity and cross-disciplinary collaboration from concept through production. Hemant's projects have been showcased at premier industry events, including the India Game Developers Conference (IGDC) and India Gaming Show (IGS), reflecting his commitment to innovation and the advancement of the Indian games industry. Driven by curiosity and a passion for education, he enjoys transforming complex ideas into compelling interactive experiences while empowering the next generation of designers to think critically, design empathetically, and build with purpose
Ravikiran Rangaswamy
VISITING FACULTY
Ravikiran is a photographer and a writer based out of Auroville. He has studied Photography Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in affiliation with the University of Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. He has done photo features for various travel magazines and has a desire to pursue work that includes combining visuals and words to explore stories from around the world. He brought out a set of Postcards with Photographs clicked by him titled ‘Spiritual & Traditional India’. Ravikiran has also diversified into Textile and Product/Fashion Photography. He has authored books titled ‘46+14=06, A Story of a Genius’ and a fiction with photographs titled ‘Camera & Conversations’ with his mother Sapna. He also wrote a fiction for children titled ‘Traversing Through Dreams’. Ravikiran also teaches photography at design schools and institutes where journalism is taught.
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VISITING FACULTY
After earning a degree in Animation Film Design from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, he’s worked for a large variety of clients. He and a handful of friends ran the animation studio ‘Ghost’ in Kolkata for several years, and is now running ‘Nalloru Studio’ in Thrissur. He likes to experiment with mixed media, including traditional and digital techniques of animation, illustration, 360 videos, projection mapping, interactive media, etc. He’s interested in finding ways in which technology and art can mix, and telling stories rich in local contexts. Made the animated short film ‘Watchmaker at Time’s End’ using only open source tools, and developed workflows using them. Currently making the hand-drawn video game ‘I Can Human’ about a robot reconnecting with his feelings and with others.
Sudith Xavier
VISITING FACULTY
Sudhith, a self-taught designer and multifaceted consultant in branding and product development is a passionate individual with a profound interest in technology, art, economics, history, and various other domains. Currently, he operates the design studio Pixel Nirvana and manages the research platform Route Cochin, while also venturing into the development of a climate-positive platform named AWA. Sudhith’s journey in the field of design commenced 15 years ago, and his ongoing evolution and learning have been instrumental in shaping his extensive expertise. Armed with an academic background in Sociology and Social Psychology, he brings a holistic, human-centric approach to his design work, deeply understanding the mechanics of society and culture. His abiding passion for design, art, and technology extends beyond the digital realm, encompassing architecture, urban design, and retail experience design. Sudhith’s self-taught journey has enabled him to collaborate with visionaries across diverse industries, from art and fintech to SaaS and hospitality.
VISITING FACULTY
Roshan began his professional journey with a degree in Mechanical Production Engineering and spent two and a half years working as an engineer. However, driven by a strong creative inclination, he transitioned into design and pursued a Master’s degree in Universal Design from the National Institute of Design (NID). He went on to work for three years at Hamleys as a toy and game designer, alongside completing several industrial design projects. With a growing interest in education, Roshan started teaching as a visiting faculty at MIT Pune and Symbiosis Bangalore.