Virkein Dhar

I work at the intersection of design, storytelling and entrepreneurship. I have a unique skill set that marries systems-thinking and strategic capabilities from a training in architecture, with the empathy, creativity and resourcefulness from a practice in the arts.I currently lead the brand, product and experience functions at 10club - an India-first brand that has something to add to every single room of your home.I'm the founder of Sundooq, an artisanal Indian brand to inspire young people to cook and simplifies engaging with the diversity of regional Indian flavours.

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I have been the founder at Poppy Seed Lab, a creative studio and consultancy that crafted cultural strategies for organisations (for-profit and not-for-profit sectors), designed and curated novel experiences and cross-disciplinary programmes, undertook research and facilitated stakeholder engagements for innovation-focused projects.I led IGNITE! Dance Festival, an international biennial with a focus on contemporary dance practices from India and South Asia; was part of the founding team (design and strategy) at OddBird Theatre, a first of its kind, curated performance venue designed as a flexible black box theatre in Delhi; led programme development at UCFS- UnBox Cultural Futures Society, a platform that instigates cross-disciplinary action towards the goal of re-imagining India's plural futures; and helped establish the first learning outpost in India for SPACE10, a design and research lab based in Copenhagen.

To explore possibilities of culturally-focussed futures in India, I was a fellow at the School of International Futures as a special awardee of the (Next Generation Foresight Practitioners) NGFP Award 2020., and have been an UnBox Fellow part of the 2014 cohort supported by AHRC, British Council and Science & Innovation Network, UK.I am an alumna of the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, having presented my work and been part of multiple international fellowships and forums for culture, arts and design. I occasionally teach courses on cultural policy, performance curation and systems design.I also volunteer my time with the Aman Movement, a not-for-profit research facility to develop technology-led solutions for improved management of social sector government programmes in India.