Yet it is simple to introduce the team behind SDA. In this early stage of the project only the two founders Boris and Kai are working on the idea of a global archive for design driven projects on social impact.
Boris Indra Bandyopadhyay is an independent design researcher as well as an interior and communication professional. He founded the Berlin/Frankfurt based studio BANDYOPADHYAY interior + communication in 2013. At the Köln International School of Design he studied design as well as cultural studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin. On the topic of “Non Intentional Design”, he interviewed designers such as Andrée Putman, Konstantin Grcic and Ettore Sottsass on a research trip to find out how people take advantage of design and “misuse“ or better repurpose it. The Museum für Gestaltung in Zürich published the results.
He won the ecodesign competition “Eco-intelligent solutions through the use of new media” of the Republic of Austria. Boris Bandyopadhyay taught design analysis and history as well as communication design at the Würzburg University of Applied Sciences and the Bern University of the Arts, where he worked from 2006 to 2009 to set up the research field social communication.
His current research focuses on the relation between the user and the artefact which is changing due to the digital transformation of our living and working environements. One important aspect for him is to explore the design of participation or user involvement as key element of social design.
Kai Rosenstein is a design strategist and consultant with a strong interests in the practice, research and theory of concerned and engaged civic design. He studied industrial design in Darmstadt and Manchester. With the collective Rennsalon, he implemented spatial interventions in the sphere of Cologne Furniture Fair. This resulted in numerous collaborations with the activist theater scene, including the Theater der Welt festival (Duisburg), the Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin) and the Mousonturm (Frankfurt am Main).
While establishing the design office studioschoenstrasse he also graduated the master program Design Culture at the Zurich University of the Arts Institut Design2context. In addition, he was involved in Ruedi Baur’s central research projects as well as in the management of the course.
In 2010 he left the self-founded office. Since then, KRDK | Kai Rosenstein Designkultur has been moderating, initiating and directing design processes that promote socially and ecologically sustainable design. In addition, Kai Rosenstein teaches, lectures and publishes on a regular basis.