The Look Back Look Forward - HfG ULM conference (very successfully conducted and documented by Prof Ranjan and his team) generated several discussions about the design thinking and research scenario in the present day India. While most of us felt that is merely a snippet of what is to come, it did initiate many important thoughts.
This brings me to two specific points that I have personally wanted to develop further on. Whether or not directly related to design research, these in my opinion do impact the philosophy of design - hence probably tell us what needs to (and what does not) be re looked at in the design schools and design studios. The first is mentioned below - the second one would need another post considering the length of this one alone!
Contemporary Indian Design: A case of a missing identity?
What is contemporary Indian Design? Does the design (or designers) from India have an identity that speaks of Indian design beyond the showcase of traditional Indian motifs largely seen on the ramps of the largest fashion shows across the world? While we as design students have been most inspired (read could relate to) the post modern and contemporary art and design movements - did we forget to understand the potential of what our roots could give us. And by this I do not mean to harp on the 'Indian culture and traditions' that we have heard of so many times before - most of the times distorted and quoted out of context - to the extent of giving nothing but embarrassment in the name of being Indian. (eg, Bollywood flicks full of their song and dance sequence and zardozi lehengas - cant blame outsiders for thinking that this in fact is the true India - that mixed with some more poverty and run down cabs - thanks to Danny Boyle's saga of poverty in India!)
On a more serious note - this is a question that came to my mind while I was developing a line of what I call contemporary furniture. The fact that it was conceptualized by an Indian (in this case me) would suffice to make it an Indian design or would it have to follow the reason and research of the traditional culture - low seating (or no seating) concept of the ancient times. Without hurting any individual or groups' sentiments - my clients are not the ones living in small towns and villages - instead my clients (ideally) are those who live in the metros of the country and are well traveled, well aware of what they like and dont like. Do we still need to literally go back to these roots while we want to prove that India is a successful nation full of bright minds and resources? That I think is inching towards hippocracy!
As designers we are all inquisitive of the products that come out of the top of the line manufacturing companies in New York, Milan, Paris, Japan. In my opinion most of the furniture designs from the large scale manufacturers would not vary from the US to Europe in terms of it being straight lined and made available in a certain range of finishes. Yet each company will not forget to remind you how truly Italian/top of the line/superior quality their product is in terms of its design, details and manufacturing. Dont deny this fact entirely - ofcourse what they give to the design world is good and that is why they are the top companies of the world. But these companies also consult designers from all over the world including India. Then is the product Italian/Indian or is it a result of good thinking on the part of the company, good business sense and its great production line.
Are we as Indians too apologetic of our 'traditions' and 'culture'? The software engineers or scientists that have made tremendous progress in their fields across the world dont care where they come from. Should we then as designers have to explain where we or our work belong/s to? Not if it comes in the way of our potential to create products at par with the other countries. A good design cannot be the result of a nationality - it is only the idea of an individual and a society.
However not to ignore the fact that India has had its share of great designers and design researchers - in the past and today as well these people continue to great work of very diverse nature - and continue to be truthful to the design philosophies they carefully instilled in their students over the years. Where have we lacked then - unless one went to a design insitute or literlally was trained under one of the pioneers of Indian design (as we see it today), it is unlikely that one heard of the word design beyond its 'superfluous and elitist' purview.
One finds enormous documentation on various design philosophies and isms from across the world. The Bauhaus, Ulm schools of design, Scandinavian design and infact most of the art and design movements originated in the European countries. The history of design as taught to us in the design schools very aptly covers these and the key designers involves in these movements. But it all stops there. After 60 years or more today, we as design students failed to do project reports of designers other than Charles and Ray Eames, Mies Van Der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen to name a few. We have of course learnt a great deal and they have inspired generations of designers and manufacturers giving us a number of master pieces.But ask a student who is their inspiration from the current lot of designers - and one draws a blank. Stretch your mind and you might be able to come up with 10 names? (A friend of mine and I tried it and we were blank after 4-5!)
There is a certain nature of their work that goes beyond the fact that these are well documented histories. Each of the institutions/design houses/individual designers had a strong individual identity - an extremely exciting mix of creativity and a thorough knowledge of materials. Any individual/institution or a company with the right resources can do it. We are (hopefully) already doing it - its visible from the numerous design forums - but the perception of Indian design as seen by the world has a long way to go!
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