Our Purpose
DesignX exists to embolden each child’s unique creative voice. Through studio-style design programs, young people are taught to dream it, design it, and make it—working with real materials, real constraints, and thoughtful processes to bring ideas into the world with imagination and care. Our pedagogy is grounded in nearly two decades of experience in K–12 design education.
As technology accelerates and the world becomes increasingly automated, human creativity is not just valuable—it is essential. DesignX provides an intentional space where young learners engage deeply with the world around them, developing the skills that are inherently human: curiosity, problem-solving, craftsmanship, collaboration, expression, and care for the planet.
We believe that when students are trusted to create, they don’t just make projects—they develop confidence, judgment, and a lasting sense of purpose. DesignX prepares young people to shape their world thoughtfully, creatively, and with meaning.
Our Philosophy
The DesignX philosophy begins with a simple belief: we learn best by engaging fully with the world—through our hands and senses, our ideas, and with one another. Design at DesignX is both a creative practice and a way of thinking, where imagination is tested, shaped, and brought into form through thoughtful making. Creative confidence in young people grows when they work with real materials, real constraints, and real tools, supported by a studio community that helps them feel capable, curious, and encouraged.
01The Human Experience Is Physical
We embrace technological progress, but our home is in the physical world. When young people work with their hands—shaping materials, testing ideas, and making something real—they develop focus, patience, and presence. Making grounds imagination in the body and turns ideas into something that can be felt, held, and understood.
02Creativity Is Our Human Advantage
In a world shaped by efficiency and powered by artificial intelligence, creativity keeps us human—curious, expressive, and open to possibility. While systems can generate and optimize, people imagine with purpose, choose with care, and give form to new ideas. At DesignX, we invite students to explore, experiment, and originate—learning to create with intention and care.
03Craftsmanship Is Care
When students learn how things are made—and how to make them well—they develop attention to detail, patience, and pride in the process. Craft teaches that quality takes time, effort, and intention, and that how something is made matters as much as the final result. In caring for the work, students learn to care for the work, the process, and the world it shapes.
04Confidence comes from Completion
Finishing a real project—a garment that fits, a toy that works, a model that stands—gives students a deep sense of capability. Through follow-through and revision, they build resilience and the belief that their ideas can be carried through to something real. Completion teaches that ideas gain power when they are carried through with care.
05Design Is a Way to Understand the World
Design gives form to thought and shape to feeling. Through themes such as nature, emotion, and the senses, students learn to pause, observe, and translate both their inner and outer worlds into something tangible. In doing so, they discover design as a language for meaning, connection, and expression.
06We Meet Each Student Where They Are
Our curriculum introduces students to the full spectrum of design and grows in complexity as their skills deepen. By nurturing curiosity, capability, and individual voice, we create a learning environment grounded in care, relevance, and real-world connection. Learning is designed to begin where students are and unfold with intention.
At DesignX, we teach children not just to make things, but to think deeply, feel fully, collaborate generously, and create with intention. Our philosophy shapes not only the work they produce, but the people they are becoming.
The DesignX Pedagogy
From these beliefs comes a very specific way of teaching. Here’s what learning looks like inside a DesignX studio.
At DesignX, we believe creativity grows through practice — through doing, making, testing, refining, and discovering. Your child learns design the way real designers do: in a studio environment, with real tools, real materials, and real responsibility for their ideas.
a.Studio-Style Learning
Our classrooms are set up like design studios — collaborative, hands-on spaces where students work both independently and together. Kids are encouraged to ask questions, try things out, share feedback, and feel part of a creative community. They learn to explore more than one idea, support one another’s work, and trust their own creative instincts.
b.Learning by Doing
Students don’t just learn about design — they learn design by doing. Every session centers on a physical project that moves from sketch to finished piece, whether it’s a garment, toy, object, or structure. Working with real materials builds problem-solving skills, spatial awareness, and the follow-through it takes to bring an idea into the world.
c.The DesignX Process
We teach a simple, age-appropriate design process that builds skill and confidence:
1. Inspiration – noticing what sparks curiosity
2. Ideation – generating and exploring original ideas
3. Making – planning and building with real materials
4. Refining – improving through feedback and iteration
5. Completion – crafting a final piece with care and sharing it
d.Real Materials, Real Tools, Real Constraints
We use professional-grade materials and tools because we trust kids with real responsibility. Under supervised conditions, they learn technique, precision, safety, and care — and discover the satisfaction of working to a higher standard. Constraints become invitations for resourcefulness and creative problem-solving.
e.Critique as Conversation
Feedback is a core part of the learning process. Our feedback sessions are constructive, encouraging students to articulate their choices, reflect on their process, and consider new perspectives. They learn to speak confidently about their work and listen generously to others — essential skills for any creative community.
f.Mentorship From Emerging Designers
Our studios are led by DesignX Fellows — talented university design students and early-career professionals. Fellows bring deep craft knowledge, fresh perspectives, and real-world experience. Because they’re closer in age than traditional teachers, they offer a unique kind of mentorship: approachable, inspiring, and genuinely excited about creating, designing and making things.
g.Safe Space for Risk-Taking
We teach students that creativity involves risk — trying something new, embracing uncertainty, and revising with courage. Our studios are designed to be safe spaces for exploration, where students feel supported in making bold choices, making mistakes, and learning through iteration.
h.Completion, Reflection, Celebration
Every project ends with a moment of pride. Students present their work, share their process, and see how far they’ve come — at our Fashion Shows and Design Expos. Over time, they internalize a powerful belief: “I can make my idea come alive.”
Team
Durga Kalavagunta
Founder, CEOHope Daly
Community Relations
Richa Krishna
Brand StrategyDesignX is proud to hire a diverse cohort of thoughtful up-and-coming talent each summer, from schools local and away including San Jose State, Stanford, UC Berkeley, USC, SFSU, Parsons, RISD and many more. We are honored to put our students in the hands of those creating the future of our designed world!
Founding Story
DesignX began with a simple idea: that young people could access real design—long before college, long before anyone expects it of them—giving them a chance to imagine boldly, work with their hands, and bring ideas into form with care and intention.
That idea comes from the lived experience of our founder, Durga Kalavagunta. As a child in India, she spent summers in her grandfather’s textile mill, surrounded by the rhythm of machines and the artistry of skilled hands. Watching raw materials become something purposeful and beautiful left a lasting imprint. It shaped her early career as a designer at TATA Exports, her formal training in apparel design/manufacturing at Virginia Tech, and her belief that design is both an act of problem-solving and creative expression.
When Durga moved to Silicon Valley in 2000 as a young mother, she noticed a growing void. Children were increasingly surrounded by technology with diminishing opportunities to create, build, experiment, and problem-solve in the physical world. Schools were cutting creative programs, and the spaces where kids once learned through making were disappearing. The need was obvious, and so was the opportunity.
She began building the studio her own children would enjoy—one that honored both joy and rigor, where students would be trusted with real responsibility and real tools. Over time, that early work evolved, expanded, and sharpened in purpose.
In 2017, Durga founded DesignX, stepping fully into the vision shaped over the years. The studio has continuously added new programs, refined curriculum, and elevated the standards year after year. Under her direction, DesignX has become a place where craft meets modern design education, where each course reflects fresh thinking while remaining grounded in the fundamentals: hands-on work, thoughtful technique, and respect for the creative process.
Today, DesignX is a studio where students move from sketch to finished piece, working with real materials, real constraints, and real creativity. They learn to make decisions, solve problems, collaborate, and stand behind their ideas—supported by emerging designers who model both skill and care.
More than the work they create, we focus on who they become. Through practice and persistence, students develop something lasting: creative confidence—the belief that they can shape ideas into reality and that their voice matters.
In an age defined by digital and the virtual, DesignX provides a space to build something real—to make choices with intention, to create with meaning—because that is how we believe young people will learn to move through the world with clarity, purpose, and possibility.
DesignX exists for that future.