Mr. Nivasarkar is the first Indian to become the president of the IFI. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Mr. Nivasarkar will hold the IFI president’s post for a tenure of 2 years

The federation founded in 1963 in Denmark, currently has 53 members from 33 different countries. “We are present in 5 continents, and reach almost 50 per cent of the world’s population, through our innovative designs. The idea is to have a healthy exchange of designs and applications, between the developed and developing countries,” said Nivasarkar, who took charge of his new role on October 9.

He said that his main agenda was to promote young talent, with the help of another worldwide organization called the World Interiors for Next Generation (WING). “A major requirement, that we need to address is of promoting the knowledge of Indian handicrafts and their designs. With the advent of modern designs, traditional handicrafts are suffering in a big way. Thus, using this opportunities platforms to share our knowledge with foreign countries and vice versa,” he said.