By Anijo Mathew
Head of Department of Art and Design/American University of Sharjah + Founder/Vamonde
This year, an alumna of the Design Management program at the American University of Sharjah was hired by Palmwood. Palmwood is a collaboration between the UAE Government and the global design consultancy, IDEO. On their…
By Anijo Mathew
Head of Department of Art and Design/American University of Sharjah + Founder/Vamonde
A few weeks ago, Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Chairperson of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, described a vision for the future of art experiences in the UAE. I…
Tea, Opium, and the Future of Information Politics
By Anijo Mathew
Head of Department of Art and Design/American University of Sharjah + Founder/Vamonde
1840. The Politics of Geography
Tea, as everyone knows, is a quintessential part of British culture today. In fact, over 60 billion cups of tea are consumed by Britons every year. The British had their first taste of tea towards…
How the Indian giant, Godrej used design-led innovation to create a whole new product category.
By Anijo Mathew
Head of Department of Art and Design/American University of Sharjah + Founder/Vamonde
Our story begins over a century ago when a young Indian entrepreneur started playing around with safes. Ardeshir Burjorji Sorabji Godrej was not new to innovation. A few years ago, he founded a company with…
How companies can innovate beyond their founding competency
By Anijo Mathew
Head of Department of Art and Design/American University of Sharjah + Founder/Vamonde
Most companies are founded on the premise of either technology or business innovation. …
It’s that time of the year. Students are starting to talk about jobs, job interviews, career choices, hopes, dreams, student loans, and such. As a professor at the IIT Institute of Design, one part of my job is to counsel students on their career decisions. …
A couple of weeks ago, I had the good (or mis) fortune (depending on how you look at it) of traveling halfway across the world and being in five major international airports in less than three days. During my travel, I noticed something interesting. It appears as though all of…
By Anijo Mathew
Founder and Chief Experience Officer/Vamonde + Academic Director of the Ed Kaplan Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship/IllinoisTech Chicago
We all know how Apple Stores have mapped out a whole new level of retail experience for their users. I recently walked into the flagship Apple Store on Chicago’s…
My name is Anijo Mathew, and I am an Associate Professor at IllinoisTech’s Institute of Design (ID) in Chicago. Two years ago, I founded Vamonde because I saw that most institutions did not have a way to engage their audiences through technologically enabled cultural narratives. For these institutions, Vamonde provides…
