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Niladri Mukherjee pg 14 | Photographed by Anuj Gupta Tejashri Patil Pradhan 02 Devina Kothari 09 Kunal Kundu 26 Sanghamitra Datta 36 Manreet Deol 47 Kaulav Bhagat 52 ArchCult 2017 60
Editor in Chief | sudhir@indidesign.in
March 2017 | # 79
Sudhir with Sanmitra and Kunal (Indi Design team) at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai
What kind of designer are you? I have been thinking a lot about this recently.
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Niladri Mukherjee pg 14 |
There are so many different kinds of design assignments. The nature of a product or communication design project depends on the purpose of that project, and that is very intricately related to the business operations. It is very important to understand these differences and match them to your own nature.
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Photographed by Anuj Gupta
Tejashri Patil Pradhan 02 Devina Kothari 09 Kunal Kundu 26 Sanghamitra Dutta 36 Manreet Deol 47 Kaulav Bhagat 52 ArchCult 2017 60
www.indipool.com pool@indidesign.in facebook.com/poolmag twitter.com/poolmagazine
Designindia was founded in 2002. It was started as a platform for interaction for the design community in India and abroad. Over the years it has grown into a forum spread over many social and professional networking domains, linking design professionals into an active, interactive and thought leading community.
Not all designers feel comfortable doing all kinds of design projects. However, for lack of projects and opportunities, almost everyone uses a variety of tags: Strategic Designer, Creative Designer, Finishing Designer, Design Presenters, Marketing Designers, Design Thinkers, Design Evangelists, Lone Designers, Team Designers. There are designers who work very well with clients, designers who work very well with other designers, designers who can think well but not execute, designers who execute very well but do not have good ideas. And then there are designers who can start projects but never finish them, and designers who finish very well but don’t know where to start... So much more needs to be understood about this. It is important for designers to understand their own nature and work within that sphere for best results. Sudhir
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CERAMIC DESIGN
Earthy Pursuits
Pickle jars
T-Pottery’s Tejashri Patil Pradhan discovered her métier as a ceramist after she turned her back on a career in advertising What took you from advertising to ceramics? TP: I studied Applied Art at Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai, majoring in Advertising and Design, and went on to work with an advertising agency. The job was very demanding and I loved it, but realized I had no time for family. Eventually I had to give up my career. It was tough to just sit at home 2 POOL #79
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Crafting
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
worthwhile experiences Industrial designer and strategist, Devina Kothari believes in changing the world through her work Drawn by the magic I was introduced to design during my undergraduation at Faculty of Design, Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, and I was then chiseled and polished during my postgraduation at Industrial Design Centre (IDC) at Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). As a child, what fascinated me was seeing toy-like houses (architectural models) translate into mansions and I wanted to grow up to be that magician. Later I realized that the magician is called a space designer and that’s how I ended up at Faculty of Design at CEPT. There I realized that I enjoy creating experiences and designing details for products, fixtures and furniture more than designing spaces. That brought me to IDC, IIT-B. The plethora of technological advancements that I was exposed to there, made me visualize the enormous impact they might have on society had they been made available to the bottom of the pyramid. Thereafter began my efforts towards channelizing current day technological advancements to rural India. www.indipool.com  9
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COVER STORY
When change is the buzzword Design entrepreneur Niladri Mukherjee believes that successful product design happens when the design team sits at the strategy table as a partner and is able to question and provide insight and inputs on the direction that a company takes. As Founder and Managing Director of New Delhi-based Glue Design Pvt. Ltd., he has been able to ensure that his team is engaged in some path breaking product design indeed!
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ILLUSTRATION
TALKING PICTURES After doing a gamut of work, Kunal Kundu has found his niche as an international children’s book illustrator
What drew you to art? KK: As a child I would draw on everything, nothing was spared! Drawing kept me occupied – it was something I liked to do. Getting prizes and accolades at local sit-n-draw competitions kind of boosted my morale. At around age 13, I realized drawing wasn’t doing much for me - there wasn’t much opportunity for me to share my skills with a bigger audience. The inevitable happened, and I stopped making art, and concentrated on regular studies. I didn’t want to be an engineer or doctor, but at the same time I had no clue how to pursue art beyond that point. I vaguely knew about an institute called NID that could let me pursue my dreams, but was also aware that it was like the ‘IIT of art and design’ and obviously beyond my capabilities! During my first year in college something interesting happened and it sort of changed the course of my life. Some boring lecture one afternoon prompted me to pick up my pencil and try to 26 POOL #79
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AUTOMOBILE DESIGN
Sanghamitra Datta, India’s first woman automobile designer, has come a long way down the road since she was first smitten by cars as a teenager Where did your design journey begin? SD: My journey into design started long before I even knew that I wanted to make a life out of it. I suppose it started with my father; he was a painter and an eminent art critic in Delhi for over 40 years, a teacher at the School of Planning & Architecture, and most importantly, a modern forward looking father to a daughter. I was brought up in a home full of a stunning collection of books on art, history, design architecture, sculpture, poetry, and literature in many languages. I think it was here that esthetics and communication, and through it, teaching, seeped into me. I studied at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya Delhi, where I was encouraged to express myself. When I gained admission to NID, Ahmedabad for a Diploma in Industrial Design, I had to leave my beautiful and secure home behind and study in one of the most amazing educational institutions in the world. Just stepping into the campus, I knew I was going to have one of the best times of my life. Not just being taught by giants of Indian design, but the library and prototype museum, the space, the courses, the general approach of independent thought changed my life forever. At NID I saw my country through a new set of eyes. When did you get drawn to automotive design? SD: It was in 1993, during my first year at NID, when I went to see the pre-diploma 36 POOL #79
Sunrayecer interior
presentation of a senior product design student and saw some renderings of cars, beautiful, exciting, untouchable and enormously sexy. I had just turned 17 years old, and I fell unaccountably in love, with cars! All I wanted was to learn
JEWELRY DESIGN
Manreet Deol creates striking contemporary sculptural jewelry using traditional Indian metalsmithing techniques How were you introduced to design? MD: I have always been interested in crafting things and drawing. My journey in design truly started when I started creating jewelry from recycled materials for the iconic Delhi store called People Tree. As a ninth grader, it was incredible that my pieces were selling and I was earning money! This inspired me to apply to design school. I studied Accessory Design at NIFT in Delhi and went on to do Fashion Marketing at Parsons NYC.
Vine and spring bangles from the Sprout collection
When did you decide to set up your own venture? MD: Most designers hope to start their own companies where they have ultimate creative control. I had been working in product design for almost 16 years and had this profound realization one day that there was a limit to how far one could rise as a designer in a company! I wanted a more limitless scope to my work and for that the only possibility was to open my own design house. It was really my brother Samraat who decided for us that we were going to have a jewelry business. I was living in Pondicherry after moving back from
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FURNITURE DESIGN
Kaulav Bhagat, Founder and Design Director of ÉKAM, a Mumbai-based space and furniture design studio, believes that the most effective solutions can be developed when various design disciplines work together
Maspar interiors
Briefly describe your design journey from academics to entrepreneurship. KB: I pursued a Diploma in Interior Design at School of Interior Design, CEPT, Ahmedabad, and went on to do
a Post Graduate Diploma in Furniture Design at NID. I then started working at Ajay Shah Design Studio (ASDS) in Mumbai where I sharpened my skills and design process. I faced real world
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ARCHCULT
ArchCult 2017
A three-day festival in March promises to highlight the potential of architecture to students from across South India
Emphasizing a culture of architectural discovery, Archcult establishes itself as a platform for student interaction that fosters a sense of shared community. Initiating them into the professional world, it creates opportunities to witness, learn about leading architects and understand their journey towards creating a niche for themselves in the world. It exposes students from colleges across South India to topics trending in this field, encouraging a competitive drive in students to excel in their domain. Archcult aims to display promising artists’ works through exhibitions, acting as a stage for constructive criticism and acclaim by amateurs and professionals alike. With these objectives as guidelines, the students of the Department of Architecture, NIT Trichy launched the first Archcult way back in the early 2000s. From a singular event in a 10x10 m studio hall, it has grown into a three-day event. Its present format consists of lectures, workshops, online design competitions, panel discussions, formal and informal events. The attending student diorama has evolved from a small region-based crowd to a national level reach with a consistent footfall of over 1,000 participants in the last few years. Stemming from our need for esthetic excellence, the symposium is planned over several months of ideation and execution.
Indoor workshop
The department is decked up using handcrafted luminaries, giant lamp installations, wall art scapes, and other installations. With over a decade of work etched into the bricks, they unfold to tell the story of curiosity and creativity in aspiring students. This year, ‘Melange’ is the theme of choice. Archcult 2017 seeks to showcase the multitude of directions that are available to move ahead in, after architecture. Architecture is a discipline that directs focus on creative thinking that supports the practical foundations of building science. It is a perfect blend of science and art. Unknown to the layman, it is also interspersed with other creative
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