Mathew Kurien

MIT Institute of Design / Head of Department

Designer, photographer, artist, biker, sneakerhead, mentor – these are all roles Mathew has played interchangeably during the 20 years of his design career. Graduated in Applied arts and post graduated in Museum studies, Mathew began his career as a Museum specialist and then as a design professor.

He design-managed the team at Dorling Kindersley (A Penguin Random House Co), Design-directed the teams at the Outdoor Journal, Ernst & Young, and Classmate (Stationery company – ITC) before finally returning to his first love, mentoring.

In the middle of all this, he also found time to design a video for Apple Sales India, Graphics for the United Colors of Benetton, design murals for the Ministry of Environment, and take a couple of trips around the country and Europe to shoot photos for exhibitions in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chandigarh. He received CII Design Excellence Award for his book called “Style of India” by Hachette Book Group.

Mathew believes that design should be both empathetic and intuitive and that learning is a life-long process.