Mar 02 2026 to Mar 02 2026 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

For over forty years, legendary British designer Dame Zandra Rhodes and Indian design visionary Rajeev Sethi have shared a rare creative partnership rooted in friendship, curiosity, and cross-cultural exchange. From the landmark Festival of India exhibitions to collaborations with artisans across the subcontinent, their work has reimagined how traditional craft, contemporary design, and global aesthetics can meet.

In this special conversation, Rhodes and Sethi reflect on journeys through India’s textile traditions, experiments that bridged craft and couture, and the communities of makers whose skills shaped their work. They will discuss the evolving role of design in sustaining cultural heritage, the transformative power of collaboration, and the personal bond that has sustained their creative dialogue across decades.

Rich with stories of travel, experimentation, and shared vision, this session offers a rare glimpse into a friendship that helped reshape global conversations around craft, fashion, and cultural diplomacy.

Image Credits
All images in the posters and header are from early photographs of Zandra Rhodes and Rajeev Sethi preparing for the Festival of India in 1981.

Speakers

Zandra Rhodes
Fashion and Textile Designer
Dame Zandra Rhodes is a British fashion and textile designer renowned for her bold and colourful hand-drawn prints and unmistakable personal style. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art with a Master’s in Printed Textiles in 1964, Rhodes went on to revolutionize the fashion industry as a trailblazer in fusing the craft of screen-printing and fashion design. She launched her label in 1969, designing five decades of groundbreaking fashion collections and dressing rockstars and royalty, including Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana. Her designs are housed in prestigious museums globally. In 2003, Rhodes founded London’s Fashion and Textile Museum and in 2020, she established the Zandra Rhodes Foundation to preserve her legacy and open up her vast archive as a learning resource for current and future generations. Rhodes continues to work from her London studio, focusing on both archiving her life’s output and designing new collaborations with leading fashion and lifestyle brands. She recently published her memoir, ICONIC: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects and had a solo exhibition, Zandra Rhodes: A Life in Print at The Holburne Museum, Bath.

Rajeev Sethi
Design Activist and Scenographer
Internationally acknowledged as one of India’s foremost designers, Rajeev Sethi has been engaged in pioneering work in architectural design, visual arts, craft innovations, performing arts, festivals and cultural policy and planning over the last five decades.

He is the first to build on the intersection of architecture with the arts, crafts and live performances to elevate our relationship with spaces and our understanding of the stories held within them. His unique commissions of festivals, exhibitions, community engagement programmes and urban renewal, have entailed a tireless crusade for the creative and cultural industries across South Asia. His ‘Business of Handmade’ supports innovative entrepreneurship for new markets, scripting a sustainable future for our traditional knowledge systems. His seminal work for design-led livelihoods is the life force of the Asian Heritage Foundation, of which he is the founding trustee.

Honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Bhushan, by the Government of France with the Order of Arts and Letters, and by the German Government with the Order of Merit, Rajeev Sethi’s transdisciplinary scenographic narratives have set artistic benchmarks. They include:

Basic Needs Pavilion, Hannover Expo 2000
Silk Route Festival, Washington DC 2002
Universal Forum of Cultures, Barcelona 2005
Jaya he! GVK Art Work Program, Mumbai T2, 2010
Shantivan – Adani House, Gujarat 2014
Art at Shantigram – Adani HO, Ahmedabad, 2018
Art at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi