Sarah Merchant belongs to a brood of young professionals willing to experiment and take upon themselves newer and fresher challenges each day.  She is an interesting package of an architect and a writer all rolled into one. In 2011, she completed an MBA, specializing in Project Management and also earned herself an MSc in Psychotherapy and Career Counselling from India.

 

 

Armed with a basic education in Design (she holds a degree in Architecture from the Mumbai University), her first foray into the world of international designing in 2001, was after her relocating to Dubai. The next couple of years within the design industry taught Sarah many valuable lessons and it was around this time that her passion for writing was revived. Having always been an active contributor to periodicals back home, in India, and having been one of the founding members of the annual college journal, writing about design came easily to her; and by 2003, she decided to channelise her energies towards alternative creative pursuits. 

 

Starting with writing for and editing a children's publication and penning down lifestyle articles, her career graph saw a quantum leap when she clinched Senior Regional Editorship at In house Creative for a design-based magazine titled Architecture+. To help her settle into her new position, she formally completed a Post -graduate diploma in Journalism from Mumbai in 2004.

 

Since 2007, Sarah has been a part of the academic team at the Interior Design Department at Manipal University, starting with a full-time and then moving to a part-time work schedule. 

 

As part of the publishing industry, she has contributed to several national and international publications. In the past, she has been connected with symposiums such as Index, Cityscape etc. She has worked in close tandem with programmes initiated by the Dubai Municipality to preserve local architectural heritage. She has also been the core organiser of the Architecture+ Awards in 2004; and a founding member of RIAD (Regional Institute for Architects and Designers).

 

Sarah Merchant has always been an active team-builder and has been regularly involved in putting together events, conferences, seminars, lectures etc.  In a bid to adopt and employ newer methods of teaching, she has always favoured that lectures go hand in hand with tactile experiences. She is committed to quality and discipline.

 

Her other areas of interests include Hindustani Classical Music, experimental Cooking and a recent foray into portraiture Photography.