Ashwini Deshpande
- Co-founder, Director
- India
- Member since 2018
A 1989 graduate of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Ashwini is the co-founder of Elephant*, India's pioneering independent integrated design consultancy with offices in India & Singapore.
Design being a nascent profession in India, Ashwini has been at the forefront of spreading design awareness for nearly 30 years. She writes a bimonthly column on design for a leading regional newspaper.
She has done award-winning work for global brands in diverse segments. Some of the awards include Global ReBrand 100 (USA), Worldstar (Germany), & Asiastar (Singapore), A’Design Awards (Italy) and Best of the Best at Lexus Design Awards.
Ashwini was invited by Rockefeller Foundation to participate in Global Social Impact workshop. She has lectured across more than 20 countries including ICOGRADA Design Week, Business of Design Week and International Design Congress.
She has been jury at Cannes Lions (France), Global ReBrand 100 (USA), The One Club – Young Guns 16 (USA), Spikes Asia (Singapore), Design for Asia (HK), Kyiv IAF (Ukrain), International A’Design Awards (Italy), Design for Change (India) & Kyoorius Design Awards (India).
As a key member of The Design Alliance Asia consortium, she has edited Colours of Asia book published in Hong Kong that was awarded Design for Asia Special Culture Award by the Hong Kong government.
Impact magazine (India) has recognized Ashwini among 50 Most Influential Women in Media for four consecutive years and she has been on the A List of Campaign India several times.
Ashwini mentors start-ups through “Nurture” initiative of TiE and from the advisory board of Indian Institute of Management CIIE programme. She is on the Advisory Board of School of Design, Pearl Academy.
* The Economic Times Brand Equity Agency Reckoner (India) has ranked Elephant as No 1 Design Agency multiple times including their 2017-18 listing.
*At the first India edition of Lexus Design Awards, Elephant was declared as Design House Of The Year in 2018.
Contact Ashwini.
