Ravishankar Design

This is in the context of design education where one is getting carried away by the florescent, gimmicky technology confused notions of innovation and design, etc….fiddling and enticed, start-ups, customized manufacturing, programmable objects, etc… ...in the meanwhile there is lots more to be done, we all know what we mean!! The country needs ants. Design professionals who are experts in providing solutions by: following a systemic process, are contextual in problem solving and giving useful, usable, desirable and empathetic solutions (opportunity vs problem is a business-friendly term agreed and needed!!). The curriculum and pedagogy of design education needs to focus on and train the ants who will sustain growth and the grasshoppers who will reveal the ‘change’ in time. We need the ants, more of them, who have the ability and are trained in the said skill sets above, while letting the grasshoppers of the lot freewheel in design :)  Ants are the support system, the ‘sth...

In one of the recent design conferences in Chennai, the gentleman from Yanko Design asked, “tell me what is Indian design, like you have Italian Design, German Design and others who have distinct terms or adjectives associated”. I said to him, “now this is a big question or rather intriguing thought!!” While starting to write this article for Paperworld 2013, Germany, of which this is an extract, it was Diwali time in India, the festival of lights and New Year for the business community in India. The flavour of ‘Indianess’ if I call it can be seen in traditionally made products such as the accounts book for Diwali. It’s called Chopda Puja, a practise of opening a new accounts book on this festival day and making the first entry. The use of cloth on the cover is centuries old, typical to many ritual texts and books.  Like in any other culture, textile the most visible and used product would I believe reveal the attributes of design in its variety of forms and context. Design in ...