A networking event dedicated to helping design businesses solve problems and grow

Are you an up-and-coming designer getting started with your own business? Or perhaps you’re already in the industry but want to understand how to grow and become better established. Whichever point on the spectrum you’re at, there’s a networking event created especially to help you. It is called Business for Designers, and it will take place in Mumbai on December 7^th. And we hope you've signed up already!

The ideas is as simple as the name conveys, this is a networking event where members of the design community share learnings and find answers to basic questions related to setting up, managing, and growing a design-related business. If you’ve been paying attention to Beautiful Homes’ Instagram account @beautifulhomes.india then you’ll know that BH is also a part of this event, discussing the impact and importance of social media and communication in the business of design.

Mumbai-based designers Sarah Sham of Essajee’s Atelier and Jasem Pirani of MuseLab first hit upon the idea of setting this up when they realised there was a need for sharing information. “Through Instagram we were receiving a lot of queries regarding setting up an office, contracts, client relations, and design process. We realised that we did not have any formal guidance so it would be a good idea to get people together and share our lessons.” So, earlier this year, the pair organised the first edition of this networking event, where they shared their own insights and went into great deal about the fundamentals of making a design firm work.

Despite the unseasonal September downpour, almost 50 people attended and there was a very positive response to the event. For this next edition on December 7^th, the principals of Essajees Atelier and MuseLab have teamed up with Networking Now, a platform for bringing professionals together, and beautifulhomes.com as media partner, in order to finetune the event and broaden the spectrum of topics covered, including media and communications.

The event is only open to designers, and they are required to sign up and get vetted in order to be invited for the event. The hope is that listening to one another’s experiences and sharing information will allow everyone to benefit. “A lot of people appreciated the fact that we were open about sharing our stories and experiences with them and that the event in fact was helpful and informative for them. Even though there isn’t one answer or solution to a particular challenge or problem what was appreciated was that there was a platform at which issues that are commonly faced were discussed,” says Jasem.

If you haven't managed to sign up on time then don't worry. We'll be updating our social media channels with lots of information from the event. So, stay tuned.