Saat Rasta near Mahalaxmi Station

A unique feature of Mumbai, the dhobi is a traditional laundryman, who will collect your dirty linen, wash it, and return it neatly pressed to your doorstep. All for a pittance. The "laundries" are called "ghats": row upon row of concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone. The clothes are soaked in sudsy water, thrashed on the flogging stones, then tossed into huge vats of boiling starch and hung out to dry. Next they are ironed and piled into neat bundles. The most famous of these Dhobi Ghats is at Saat Rasta near Mahalaxmi Station where almost two hundred dhobis and their families work together in what has always been a hereditary occupation. It is definately a sight to see.

Sunset in Mumbai

Here you can see the sun setting over a city slum, over-shadowed by electricity pylons.

Elephanta Caves

Although we only had a short time for 'tourist' days we did manage a trip to Elephanta Island and it's caves. There are two groups of caves on the island, a large group of 5 Hindu caves and a smaller group of 2 Buddhist caves. The former caves depict rock cut stone sculptures, belonging to the Shaiva Hindu sect, dedicated to god Shiva. This was a great day and a wonderful sight - well worth the 2hr round boat trip. Watch out for the monkeys however if you are planning a trip...

Traditional Indian Dance

During our time at the conference we were fortunate enough to watch a traditional Indian Dance on the life of Gandhi. This was a fantastic show full of colour, music and energy.

Children on Juhu Beach, Mumbai

I thought I would upload a few photos that I feel capture the expereince of India for me - a good starting point to a blog about my reasearch during my final year of my PhD.



After a few hours walking along Juhu Beach (Party Beach to the locals) we reached a small fishing community who were living on the shore. The children pictured here came running out of their home all excited when they saw we had a camera, all of them asking to have their photo taken. Even the smallest one spoke in perfect English - a far cry from the youngsters of Western Society. I love how excited and happy they all are...for me these children truely capture the essence of Mumbai. The picture still makes me smile everytime I see it!

'Designing for Children' Conference - IIT Mumbai, India

I have just returned from the 'Designing for Children' conference at IIT in Mumbai, India. A fabulous experience and many friends made!

Have to say that I love the food, weather, colours and people of India and feel I will have to visit again in the future so that I can do some more exploring.

It was definately a great insight for my research - the passion with which the children learn, their approach to life and the manner in which they embrace the outdoors and play. All great things to have experienced and bring back to my research in the UK.

Design Background

I always had an interest in design and engineering and in 2007 I graduated from the University of Dundee with a Bsc Honours Degree in Product Design. It was here my skills and knowledge in product and service design best practice developed.

In my final year of study, I chose to work with visually impaired people to design a product that improved their lives. This involved in-depth active research with elderly people who were severely visually impaired and provided the Product Design course with examples of best-practice for future years studying in this difficult design domain.

Throughout my studies on the course my expertise was grounded within the research domain of my projects – investigating people, proposing design solutions, and evaluating design impact. Thus my strengths now lie in working with people to create insights into their lives and providing an informed background for designing new products and services.