Gauri Wagenaar brings over 30 years of creative expertise across the Netherlands and India. An art historian (M.A., Leiden University), she bridges cultures and corporate worlds, with fluency in six languages. Her career spans teaching, dictionary production, exhibition design, and restoring paper. For 15 years, she led the Dutch Government’s trade office in Ahmedabad, expanding its mission beyond trade. A pragmatic activist, she builds networks, advises non-profits, and champions “learning by doing,” applying creativity to navigate complex challenges in public and private sectors.

This is my first article on design, and I felt it necessary to unravel the mysteries of design, art, and craft, as these terms often spark confusion. The roots of this ambiguity may trace back to the establishment of India’s first design school. Mr. Nehru, who founded several nationalized institutions, rightly foresaw the importance of good design education. At the time of Independence, India was a highly skilled nation, with crafts contributing almost 2.5% of the world’s exports.

The invention of the steam engine revolutionized production, ushering in the age of automation and mechanically mass-produced goods. By the 1800s, the British Isles were pioneering steam-powered innovations, making products more accessible to the masses but often at the expense of aesthetic quality. In response, the Arts & Crafts Movement emerged—not as opposition to industrialization but as a critique of the poor quality of machine-made goods. Advocates of this movement, including William Morris, John Ruskin, T. J. Cobden Sanderson, Walter Crane, C.R.

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