For its 2nd edition, F of X, India’s first residential forest festival at Jim Corbett National Park lodged more milestones that it began with. It clocked 600+ potential collaborations across 3 days, discovered over 15000 hours’ worth of hidden insights & inspiring stories alongside riverside walks and late-night fireside chats with some of the best creative geniuses in the country; experienced open mics and performances by the best in the music + art space. All this over 6000 hugs collectively exchanged at an experiential festival that aims to help attendees find their Ikigai when it comes to our creative process and as a contribution to the world.
A rare edu-caytion that combined a journey of creative excavations with unique possibilities, the residential festival discussed an array of topics such as crafting powerful narratives in today’s times, nothing is a coincidence: the patterns of your decision making, marketing 102: from rookie to expert in the most un-conferenced way possible. Some even called this year’s F of X a mix of experiential travel and ‘creative networking on steroids’ with speakers of enviable standards such as Akshay Cherian – Business Coach, Nihal Ahmed – Founder Limitless, Yohan Sudheer Co-founder Fishhook, Bijay Gautam Co-founder WYN Studio, Gaurav Joshi – Design Head Hotstar amongst others. Dynamic, hands-on sessions allowed all who attended to engage as a collective tribe and explore their most authentic selves as collective artisans and custodians of a better tomorrow, over 40 events spread across 4 zones namely Heart (Passion, Purpose Conversations), Mind (Insights, Hacks & Learnings), Soul (Wellness for the Creator Inside) and Hands (Space to Move, Shake & Create).
Some creative erudite worthy of a special mention include Sanaya Ardeshir – Musician Sandunes, Deepak
Ramola, Founder Project FUEL, and Raghava KK – World’s first AI x Art Show Curator who spoke on what it
meant to use activated-listening as a practice to tap into the creative faucet, turning life lessons into big collaborations,
Knowdlege hacks of being a master of multiple skills and making big bucks of them each.
One of the major highlights of the festival is the closing session of Day 3 by Abhijit Satani the 22-year-old whiz-kid from Ahmedabad, who already has 19 patents to his name in as diverse fields as human-machine
Interface to stopping acid rain, is trying to apply his innovation for improving healthcare. The attendees got
an insight into the future of technology and experiments with the tribe.
In 2020, F of X truly catalogued the tapestry of collaboration as over 300 CEOs, CFOs, freelancers and creative business drivers, all of the diverse intentions and from different vocations, gathered new skills, unschooled what tradition dictates and unearthed tangible creative wisdom from not just from the speakers, but also from each other. Stories of passion, crazy failures and personal battles; solid insights to growing one’s creative journey from the best in the country; introspection and reflection on your own life expedition thus far; opportunities to meet your future co-founder, collaborator or mentor were commonplace here. Simply put, a mob of founders, professionals, rusty creators, corporate misfits and explorers from art, music, design, fashion, film, food, photography, tech and genres that are yet to be defined; answered their wild call to lead a life of ingenuity and unlock the majesty of human potential.
Across India’s largest experimental community table sat 300 creators and 40 guides who discussed the future of creativity via love letters to themselves one year into the future and openly discussed common deficiencies in our personalities that disallow us to collaborate, as well as pitfalls to avoid when chasing one’s dream. At the open mic, creators attending the festival also presented impromptu comedy acts, acoustic performances, classical dance sequences, product pitches and mental healing sessions to give voice to their creative business/projects.
We at F of X collaborated with The Butt Ballot to ensure cigarette stubs became the means to determine the results of polarizing questions while ensuring they’re not littered around at the property, ensuring a 90% collection of the cigarette waste at the festival (as opposed to other festivals where they collect only about 50-60%). Since most of our designs were re-used materials, we got a brand called Twisty on board for using recycled craft paper called honey-comb, which can withstand immense weight when compressed, and be carried around while travelling.
A brainchild of The Experience Co. that has created 20+ projects designed for creators in India & South East Asia and enabled over 100+ collaborations thus far, F of X’s second edition received over 4000+ applications from creators
across the world, giving founder Jay Ahya and his team access to tons of insights & mind-blowing understanding of what Creators need today.
