Shashi Caan

Architect; Interior Designer; Product/Industrial Designer / United Kingdom; United States / Shashi Caan Collective

www.sccollective.com

Founding principal of the Shashi Caan Collective, Shashi Caan demonstrates an understated sensibility in all her projects, uniting the multiple layers of two- and three-dimensional design in the built environment. Through a unique collaborative design process, The Collective provides architecture, interiors, and workplace and product design solutions that focus on innovation and supporting people both pragmatically and qualitatively. The Collective’s collaborative structure results in highly successful work as exemplified by the firm’s reputation and receipt of major industry awards and accolades from such publications as Metropolis, Architecture, and Indesign magazines, as well as from associations and industry shows including GlobalShop, and NeoCon, among many other publications and organizations. Caan was Contract Magazine’s U. S. National 25th Anniversary “Designer of Year” in 2004.

Shashi Caan is a multi-talented designer, acclaimed internationally for bridging the divide between design practice, theory, and education. At the forefront of advocating the role of design in society, Caan holds the highest positions in international design advocacy, as president of the International Federation of Interior Architects Designers (IFI)—representing over 175,000 designers worldwide—and as the Rotating Chair and Executive Committee member of the International Design Alliance (IDA)—the international umbrella organization that encompasses IFI as well as the leading world bodies for graphic design (International Council of Graphic Design Associations [Icograda]) and industrial design (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design [Icsid]).

Previously, Caan held senior positions at major firms, including Gensler, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), where she was Director of Design and Associate Partner. Her diverse international portfolio of work includes architectural interiors projects of 1,300 to 3 million square feet, as well as several product lines and an executive aircraft interior. Her clients include The Scottish Government, Edinburgh University, Inver House Distillers, Mohawk Industries, Carnegie Science Center, DuPont, and numerous companies in the financial services sector. Caan is also a sought-after textile and product designer and is an internationally recognized color authority, as evidenced in her widely publicized live lab study, “Spatial Color.”

Equally respected for her valuable contribution to design education, Shashi Caan is the former Chair of the Interior Design Department at Parsons The New School of Design in New York City. She has been on the faculty of several educational institutions, including Pratt Institute. Caan has also worked with Columbia University, conducting research to explore parameters and content for an innovative new curriculum. Invited for keynotes, juries, and panel discussions, she regularly lectures internationally and, in her capacity as visiting professor, conducts master classes at educational institutions worldwide. Caan sits on numerous advisory boards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). She holds two master’s degrees, respectively, in Architecture and in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute, and a BFA (with honors) from Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh University in the U. K. Her professional work and writing has been widely published in design journals and periodicals.

Her first book, Rethinking Design and Interiors: Human Beings in the Built Environment, was released by Laurence King Publishing in August 2011.

comments powered by Disqus

Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

Order the book.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

Order the book.

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

Order the book.

Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Order the book.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

Order the book.

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

Order the book.