One of India's most trusted and popular industrial house, the Godrej group was established in 1897 and has since then diversified with offerings across the verticals of FMCG, real estate, agriculture, office, consumer durables and home appliances.
With the brand often being lauded for churning some of the most innovating ATL campaigns over the years, it now also boasts of having an impressive presence in the experiential space as well. The Godrej India Culture Lab initiative the brand, is a fluid experimental space that cross-pollinates ideas and people to explore what it means to be modern and Indian.
Having been launched in January 2011, the lab is as an attempt by Godej to create an intellectual hub in the city of Mumbai, which would act as a catalyst for conversations about contemporary India. The initiative aims to evoke interactions by introducing representatives from academia, creative industries, corporate world and the not-for-profit sector.
Parmesh Shahani, who heads Godrej India Culture Lab for the group is vehement that this endeavor by the Indian multinational giant is making boundaries disappear between India and Bharat.
Citing the phycology behind the conceptualization of The Godrej India Culture Lab Shahani shares, “The reason for setting up an experiential space like is deep-rooted in the brands belief. We at Godrej look up to India as an important world power and strongly believe that our contemporary culture needs to be chronicled, amplified and debated across interdisciplinary silos.
There was no reference space as such for the Lab as what we were trying to do was rather unique in a corporate Indian context. We wanted to open ourselves out as a platform for outsiders to come in, think and experiment, in a very public sense.”
The Godrej India Culture Lab’s interactions take the shape of curated events of different sizes, most of which are held within the Godrej campus in Vikhroli and are free to be attended by all. The theme of the events range from Friday Fundas speaker and performer series to and film and book clubs, with filmmakers and authors in attendance respectively.
The Lab also organizes larger events within Mumbai including full day conferences like Urban (Re) Imagination (2011), or lectures with internationally acclaimed speakers like Tadao Ando (2012) or Henry Jenkins or Sheena Iyengar (2015). It also organizes pop-up spectacles like the Museum of Memories (2012) and Vikhroli Skin (2013) that combined the elements of art, science, performance and design in an unconventional manner.
