Design today extends far beyond products and aesthetics. As organizations grapple with sustainability, rapid technological change, and evolving human needs, designers are increasingly being asked to solve complex problems that cut across disciplines.
Henry Skupniewicz, Head of Godrej Design Lab, Godrej Enterprises Group, has spent more than a decade working across India’s design ecosystem.
An MIT graduate, his journey includes founding and mentoring at the FabLab at CEPT University in Ahmedabad and leading design outreach initiatives for major Indian corporates. Since 2013, he has worked to advance design and maker literacy across India, partnering with universities, foundations, and businesses to cultivate creative communities.
In our conversation, Skupniewicz reflects on why sustainability must shape decisions from the outset, how AI should complement rather than replace creative thinking, the value of participatory design, and what it takes to build a stronger design ecosystem in India.
Over the past decade, Godrej Design Lab has brought together architecture, sustainability, education, and maker culture under one platform. What has guided your approach to connecting such diverse disciplines?
At Godrej Enterprises Group, we see design as much more than merely form or material, aesthetics or function. Design incorporates all of these, and more through a deep understanding of the human experience and commitment to ideals beyond the immediate. It’s a way of solving problems, shaping experiences and creating meaningful impact. Whether through products, spaces or experiences, design has always been central to who we are because it shapes the way people live, interact and engage with the world around them.
So, in that light, this contention that design cuts across discipline, background, job title, etcetera, is a real preoccupation within Godrej Design Lab (GDL). While we all might not be “designers” we all interact with, are shaped by, and shape design, and with it, the world around us.
Real world challenges like climate resilience, urbanisation and material innovation us all to come together, alongside researchers, designers and communities, to create solutions that are more relevant, resilient, and meaningful.
One key methodology that we employ to keep this focus on an inclusive, multidisciplinary approach is to focus on people and particularly people who have developed expertise and conviction through heterogeneous or non-linear journeys- those that have a host of diverse experiences to bring to the table.
Whether through products, spaces or experiences, design has always been central to who we are because it shapes the way people live, interact and engage with the world around them.
Over the years, GDL has evolved from showcasing design outcomes to building the ecosystem that enables better design. Through initiatives like the Fellowship Programme, Conscious Collective and Campus Connect, we’re investing in people, ideas and long-term collaboration rather than one-off projects. As India’s design ecosystem continues to grow, our focus is on nurturing a new generation of designers who can create climate-responsive, human-centred solutions that are rooted in India and relevant to the world.
You recently wrote that sustainability is becoming a lens rather than an add-on. Can you talk more about what changes earlier in the process when sustainability drives decisions from the start rather than getting checked at the end?
Gone are the days when sustainability meant “plant a tree” or “cool…it has an ‘organic’ sticker”. We all have become more literate about the complexities, the nuance, and the magnitude of our relationship to the environment. While daunting, we are also more equipped to include sustainability as a first-order consideration as designers. It changes the questions we ask from day one: Are we using the right materials? Does the design respond to the local climate? Can it be repaired, reused and adapted over time? Most importantly, who benefits from it?
We all have become more literate about the complexities, the nuance, and the magnitude of our relationship to the environment. While daunting, we are also more equipped to include sustainability as a first-order consideration as designers.
We are lucky at GDL to see how organizations at all different scales are applying these questions to both forward-looking projects which open new territories for exploration as well as with ones that focus on the immediate need to develop practical, accessible, and relevant solutions to local communities- sometimes at a massive scale, sometimes at a hyper-local scale.
For instance, the team from Anomalia, an architecture firm based in Mumbai, received one of our Fellowship grants to problem solve around scaling mycelium growth so that this material (the root structure of mushrooms) can, in the future, be used within the building industry. In another instance from our Fellowship program, Taro Collective, a furniture design company based in Bangalore, developed and already launched a collection of furniture made from aluminum a material which offers lots of functional, but also crucially, recyclability benefits.
And of course, as part of Godrej Enterprises Group, we get to see how sustainability is delivered at scale across product, industry, and space. At this scale the levers are different. Process, supply chains, and factory efficiency become drivers for key metrics. Developing shared standards, coordination across partners, and shaping preferences become the ways to unlock both business and environmental impact.
What are some of the benchmarks you use to assess whether a project has been successful when its impact is social, environmental, or cultural rather than commercial?
Success isn’t always measured by scale or revenue. For us, it’s about whether a project changes the way people think, influences practice or creates new possibilities for the future. We look at whether it generates meaningful knowledge, encourages collaboration across disciplines, strengthens communities and inspires others to build on the idea. Just as importantly, we ask whether the work has longevity, whether it continues to spark conversations, informs future research or leads to lasting partnerships beyond the project itself.
Success is very context and input-dependent. Generally, as a program within a company with such a rich legacy as well an expansive vision well into the future, GDL tries to foster longevity in whatever we do. Within each project or program, I, personally, see success as adding value to the professional, creative, and personal journeys of those we are collaborating with. These three pillars have helped me to understand the different layers of value being created and to help prioritize and adapt in real time.
We ask whether the work has longevity, whether it continues to spark conversations, informs future research or leads to lasting partnerships beyond the project itself.
The way we evaluate impact is not very different from how we approach innovation across Godrej Enterprises Group. For instance, with solutions like Delta Bloc road safety barriers, success is measured not only by their ability to make roads safer and reduce the severity of accidents, but also by their contribution to creating more resilient and sustainable infrastructure.
Similarly, through Interio’s work in educational institutions, healthcare facilities and public spaces, the value created goes beyond products to improving user well-being, accessibility and everyday experiences. These are outcomes that have a lasting and meaningful impact on people, communities and the environments they inhabit.
A lot of the talk around AI focuses on its benefits — what do you see as the drawbacks when it comes to creativity?
AI is inherently pattern-based; it learns from what already exists. While that makes it exceptionally good at accelerating workflows and generating multiple possibilities, it also creates the risk of normalising ideas, where outputs begin to converge rather than challenge convention. Design, therefore, risks losing the unique, the surprise, the delight. Designers working today will need to figure ways to express their voice. Opinion and judgment will become more important, more valuable.
At Godrej Enterprises Group, we believe AI delivers its greatest value when it augments human expertise and decision-making. Through Amethyst, we are building an AI-led enterprise by embedding intelligence into business processes that help employees make faster, better-informed decisions across manufacturing, supply chain, customer service and corporate functions.
This philosophy extends across our businesses. In the Appliances business of Godrej & Boyce, AI is being leveraged to create more intuitive consumer experiences while improving manufacturing quality and operational efficiency. At Interio by Godrej, AI enhances the design journey through better visualisation, personalisation and planning, allowing designers to spend more time on creativity and problem-solving.
Participatory design is a recurring theme across many of the projects you work on. Why do you believe involving communities directly leads to stronger outcomes?
Because communities, and the individuals within them, inherit whatever we design.
Once a product, a building, a streetscape, whatever, leaves a designer’s grasp, they cannot, really, control how (or even if) it is used; even less if it becomes a meaningful part of life. Don’t we have an obligation and an incentive to engage with the world to figure the things that actually matter, that actually make something not just useful, but used? Loved? How much of this is actually the purview of the physical object or product? How much of this is actually driven by the design of the communications and socialization strategy and execution?
So many of these answers and hints to other opportunities are right there, outside the walls of the studio or office.
This is not to say that a collaborative design process necessitates the diminished role of the designer. Our core skills, expertise, and value add as designers resides in our ability to read the human element, to bring together diverse perspectives, mediate between experts, communities and end users, and translate these insights into solutions that are both meaningful and practical. This approach not only helps solve existing challenges but also uncovers unmet needs, creates moments of delight and delivers outcomes that people genuinely connect with.
This year’s GDL Fellows reflect the diversity of how different practitioners are incorporating participatory frameworks into their design processes. urbz, an architecture and urbanism studio and research organization, has built their entire practice around participatory design, implementation, and socialization to weave their interventions, almost seamlessly, into life. Chaal Chaal Agency takes a slightly different approach in their installation work where projects even culminate in participatory performance.
How important is collaboration between academia, industry, and independent practitioners in building a stronger design ecosystem in India today?
These are not separate ecosystems, while they might have different focuses and strengths, they feed into and out of each other from people to tools to product to regulation.
It is particularly interesting to see how the Indian design school ecosystem is evolving in a direction that is open and hungry for participation of industry and independent practitioners in the classroom, in research, and in special projects. Design does not have the same opportunities or relationship to research or skill development that say, math, physics, or even art does. It benefits when teachers are both educators as well as active practitioners. The ways that I’m seeing curriculum change and how certain schools see themselves are only going to make them more relevant to multiple industries as well as to the global education and research ecosystem.
Have you found clients becoming more daring in their design choices over the years, and how do you lead them in that direction?
I think the conversation around design has become much more mature. Earlier, it was often viewed primarily through the lens of aesthetics. Today, more organisations recognise that good design influences everything from business strategy and customer experience to sustainability, innovation and long-term value creation.
As a result, clients are far more open to exploring new ideas, provided those ideas are grounded in research and a clear understanding of people’s needs. Our role isn’t to encourage boldness for its own sake, but to help organisations ask better questions, understand the context and see the long-term value of design-led thinking. When decisions are backed by insight, purpose and evidence, innovation becomes a natural outcome rather than a leap of faith.
Over the course of your career, is there a particular project you’re most proud of?
Building up the FabLab at CEPT University was certainly a defining experience. Not only did it reinforce my belief that design education should be rooted in curiosity, making, and collaboration, it was the context in which I really began to see India as ‘home.’ It was also a time, professionally, of creating a skillset around connecting people to other people, to ideas, to tools- a skillset which is central to my work today.
I think a lot of the pride recently has come from the ripples from our Fellowship Program. We have seen projects incepted within the program go off to the best of international exhibitions, for example, Anomalia being invited to both the Venice and Seoul Biennales. We have seen businesses and professional journeys grow and develop; this has been one really nice feedback when Fellows look back on the program. And we have really seen a community of mutual support grow in and among the alumni of the program. To me, that’s what good design is about: creating meaning, not just new objects.
Many brands and organisations don’t realise the importance of good design to their overall business goals. What advice would you give them?
My advice would be: design is about the human experience, and the skills and tools to tap into that. You have humans outside the organization as well as within it. A designer’s greatest strength lies in understanding people’s behaviours, motivations and unmet needs, and translating those insights into solutions that create value. That perspective extends beyond products and services. Designers can help organisations bridge different viewpoints, align cross-functional teams, navigate complex challenges and build consensus around shared goals.
A designer’s greatest strength lies in understanding people’s behaviours, motivations and unmet needs, and translating those insights into solutions that create value.
Good design isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about making organisations more empathetic, collaborative and responsive. When design becomes part of leadership and decision-making, it not only drives innovation and better customer experiences but also strengthens the way people work together to create long-term value.
Quick Hits
A useful app or tool you’ve started using recently:
The Internet Archive’s book borrowing program – amazing if you are always in search of rare or niche books. It’s instant and it’s free.
A book, podcast, or resource you recommend:
I’ve recently started reading ‘Together‘ by Richard Sennett. Every time I read one of his books, I’m stuck by his insight and foresight.
Something you want to learn or get better at:
Anything with color. As a product of the architectural school system my comfort zone was monochromatic. I’ve been doing a lot recently to build up my color literacy. Being in India helps, to say the least.
