Born in New Delhi, Astha Thakkar studied design at Central Saint Martins in London and later earned her Masters in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017. Thakkar works across painting, collage, image-making, book design, and primarily identifies as a graphic designer whose practice investigates the deconstruction and reconstruction of meaning. As design educator, researcher, and practitioner, she explores how found materials—images, texts, and typographic forms—can be recontextualized to generate new visual and conceptual relationships. Her creative work places particular emphasis on the design process—not only as an act of creation but also of unmaking, deconstruction, and reinterpretation. She explores how existing works—her own and others’—can be dismantled, recontextualized, and reassembled to generate new narratives and meanings. This process-oriented approach engages deeply with history, materiality, and transformation, highlighting the dynamic interplay between artistic experimentation and design pedagogy.

Learn more: asthathakkar.cargo.site and teachingdocuments.cargo.site