Meet Drasty Shah, CCO and Co-founder of Art Space & Experiential Design Destination - 'The Project Cafe'
Drasty Shah is the Chief Creative Officer (CCO) and co-founder, at 'The Project Cafe', and also the inspiration for the strongly aesthetic approach which is a key element in the various ideas at the café. She and co-founder Ekta Chopra both shared a vision and aspiration to contribute to the enrichment of community and society through art and design. It wasn't too unlike the planting of a seed, its germination, and its continuous growth into a flowering and fruiting tree. The initial challenges included streamlining a system of operations which is based almost entirely upon collaborations; communicating the concept to artists, designers during the meticulous curatorial process to gradually build a consortium of creative individuals; and articulating it all to the general masses in the simplest of terms. These challenges were overcome with single-minded drive, patience and the willingness to learn on the go.
Drasty's experience of managing a visual communication agency honed her skills of understanding the business needs and vision of a varied global clientele. She is a business graduate (hospitality) from Johnson and Wales University, Providence, USA, and her entrepreneurship is driven by anthropology. Hence, she likes to consider herself an ' Anthropreneur'. She strongly believes that everything starts with people – knowing them through their dreams, visions, ambitions, and aspirations –it is all about getting inspired and building symbiotic enterprise models. As an anthropreneur, she has played the role of a consultant and a collaborator, as well as a partner with several establishments. She has been the Project Director for YPO-WPO South Asia’s Roaring Gujarat 2013, YPO South Asia’s Maximum Mumbai Summit 2014 and YPO South Asia Women’s Retreat 2016, Be.You.tiful. This collective experience has encouraged her to constantly hunt for uncharted territories and keep adding to her skill set.
She says, "Every new venture and entrepreneur must bear in mind that innovation, communication, time and social systems influence any new idea before it gets integrated into a sustainable ecosystem. I have a near insatiable desire to explore, learn and evolve to constantly fuel my creative instincts. This desire first manifested itself as The Project Cafe, Ahmedabad. Inspired by its success we have grown even bigger with the opening of The Project Cafe, Goa which is an art space as well as an 'experiential design hotel', where the visitors will get a lifetime of memory as each corner is thoughtfully designed. There are a total six rooms and each room is designed by different designers and it is a 13,000 sq. feet space which will give our patrons that soul-soothing art vibe."
