Nissan introduces new ‘Roots of Design’ program in India
Nissan has taken a different route to expand its presence in India. Instead of just bringing new cars in the Indian market, the company aims to target the youth, and encourage them to explore their potential in non-conventional career fields like arts and design. For this, the company has launched the ‘Roots of Design’ initiative in India. They also inaugurated their Global Design studio in Chennai.
The program was launched in Chennai Public School, Chennai in the presence of Alfonso Albaisa, Vice President, Global Design, Nissan Motor Co. It aims to encourage children to look beyond fields like engineering and medicine and open opportunities for them in creative fields like automotive design. Albaisa interacted with the students in the school and inspired them by narrating his own story, where he says that his roots belong to an unprivileged family in Cuba and from there, after pursuing a course in ceramics, he eventually ended up being the Head of Design of one of the biggest car companies in the world. He also elaborated on 21st century technology trends like automation and artificial intelligence and how Nissan would play a big role in these futuristic fields.
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On narrating his experience at Chennai Public School, Albaisa said “We were at the school where we first met with the principle along with the students and their parents. And after interacting with the kids, I was super impressed because the quality of the questions was stunning. Afterwards, I looked at some projects done by the kids. A 13 year old boy showed me an auto desk 3D modeling car he was making on his laptop. 13! Just pure genius and their questions had frankness and depth”
He also shed some light regarding the all new Global Design Studio in Chennai, which according to him, is as good as their other design studios in California, Beijing and London where the designers have the liberty to experiment, research and work on any project that they think will be potentially successful. Though, in India things will be done differently. Mainly because of the education and the training that’s available here, Albaisa says there’s a great competency in the digital field and creation of the data.
