Audiogyan: Recent Episodes
Audiogyan
Audiogyan (founded in 2016) is a collection of conversations with luminaries of the Indian creative world. It’s a passion project to document thoughts and ideas of Indian designers, artists, musicians, writers, thinkers, and luminaries of the creative world.
What goes into making a book cover design? The secrets of book publishing include what goes into making a book, the future of physical books in the digital world, and a few tips if you wish to get into editorial design or publication.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.audiogyan.com
IntroductionIn my 204th episode with Neelkanth Chhaya, Synthesis of standardization, I asked him “Does standardization kill diversity, ingenuity?” To which he gave a brilliant insight. “Sometimes we need standardization while sometimes we don’t. For instance, standardization at a micro-level might be beneficial for scale as we grow in population. A brick can be standardised but a house is left to your imagination.”
Our today’s guests have been walking on this tightrope of building scalable systems through standardization but empowering interior designers and architects to make use of their imagination to build homes and industries. Andre Eckholt. He is the managing director of a German lifestyle brand, Hettich.
This episode is for Interior Designers, Architects, and allied work streams. We’ll try and understand Design trends or innovations in the furniture landscape, how Hettich incorporates eco-friendly practices and materials, and of course, how do they support designers in implementing their visions within the systems framework.
Questions1. Wanted to start by asking, Who are your main customers, key stakeholders in your Ecosystem? Interior designers, end consumers, architects? How does your ecosystem work? 2. In today's world, Hettich is known for its furniture system solutions. Can you tell us what is a "furniture system" and what goes beyond just individual or modular components? 3. What qualifies a good design for Hettich. How do define innovation in this world of systems? 4. Hettich operates within a complex web of integrated systems and supply chains. How does the company build and grow a culture of innovation despite these inherent constraints? Can you share an example of a successful innovation that emerged within this framework? 5. Furniture systems can lead to a degree of standardization. How does Hettich ensure that this efficiency doesn't translate into monotonous designs? How do you empower designers to create unique experiences within the system? 6. How do you see technological advancements like automation and AI impacting the way furniture systems are designed and manufactured in the future? What exciting possibilities do these advancements hold for both designers and consumers? 7. Hettich operates on a global scale. Can you share some design trends or innovations from the international furniture landscape that you think would be particularly inspiring for young Indian designers? 8. Sustainability is a growing concern. How does Hettich incorporate eco-friendly practices and materials into its furniture system solutions, while still maintaining functionality and affordability? 9. Many designers might have brilliant ideas but struggle with the technical aspects of translating them into reality. Does Hettich offer any programs or resources to support designers in implementing their visions within your systems framework? 10. The design preferences of Indian consumers are constantly evolving. How does Hettich stay updated on these trends and incorporate them into your furniture system offerings? What are some unique design considerations specific to the Indian market? 11. Space constraints are a major challenge in Indian homes. How can furniture systems from Hettich help young designers create functional and aesthetically pleasing solutions for compact living spaces? 12. For young Indian designers interested in a career in furniture systems design, what skills and knowledge would you recommend they develop? Are there specific areas within Hettich where you see a growing demand for design talent?
Reference reading1. https://web.hettich.com/en-sg/home 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hettich_(company) 3. https://hettichindiaonline.com/ 4. https://www.instagram.com/hettichindia/ 5. https://www.youtube.com/@HettichIndia 6. https://www.linkedin.com/company/hettich-india/?originalSubdomain=in 7. https://x.com/hettichindia?lang=en 8. https://linktr.ee/hettichindia2015
IntroductionWelcome to a new series, “Footprints of History”. The Drawing Board, with whom I am partnering for the 3rd consecutive year, brings this series to you. The Drawing Board is an international architecture competition based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping how communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running an Architecture competition for undergraduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders. This year, which is the 9th edition of the competition, the design brief revolves around redesigning the Pathu Thoon Lane in Madurai (Tamil Nadu, India) also known as "10 Pillar Street”. This site is somewhere between the Meenakshi Temple and Thirumalai Nayakar Place. The design challenge is to restore and integrate the lane's cultural heritage, emphasizing these 10 pillars. The submission deadline is 16th September 2024. More details in the show notes and thedrawingboard.in
Ludwig Mies, the German-American architect, once said "Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.” And this quote aptly describes our today’s guest. Hans Brouwer. Hans, originally from Hong Kong, is a distinguished architect with a global footprint. He studied architecture in Switzerland and the University of Southern California, where he graduated top of his class. Hans spent his early career with Sir Norman Foster, contributing to landmark projects like the Century Tower in Tokyo and Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt. In 1995, he founded HB Design, later relocating to Singapore, and expanded to regional offices in Phuket and Bangkok. An award-winning architect, Hans also teaches at the National University of Singapore and frequently speaks at industry events.
Questions1. What do you see when you see the 10 Pillar Street - as an architect and as a tourist or history lover? Which aspects stand out for you? 2. You have a strong emphasis on “the process”. You say this process is truly creative because the end is not known at the beginning. Can you unpack this for us? 3. At HB Design, you emphasize the importance of context and site in shaping architectural outcomes. How do you balance the need for innovation with the preservation of cultural heritage in a project? 4. You deeply engage with clients in the design process, how would you involve a community or stakeholders in a project like the restoration of Madurai’s Pathu Thoon Lane? 5. Assuming Designers or specialists are generally aware of the pros and cons of various solutions and living on tradeoffs. Given the expertise, what amount of community involvement is apt - because, if we go and ask people, they will want faster horses while the solution could be inventing a car. 6. I am very curious to know about BIM - What is building information modeling? How does it help in the process and over all practice at HB Design? 7. With BIM being such an integral part of HB Design’s process, how do you see technology aiding in the preservation and restoration of culturally significant sites? 8. You are working in South east Asia where we are seeing a lot of innovation with great emphasis on green infrastructure. What are a few trends in the technology and architecture industry which can be applied to this complex network of communities and historical 10 pillars? 9. In the future world if AI, which faculty should young architects need to build to accept or reject AI proposals assuming they have the analog context of climate change and other challenges? Especially with AI, machines can simulate and build imaginary landscapes and more…
Reference links1. https://www.hbdesign.biz/ 2. https://zakworldoffacades.com/speaker/hans-brouwer/ 3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-brouwer-70b6b0a7/?originalSubdomain=sg 4. https://www.designandarchitecture.com/article/hans-brouwer.html 5. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/architect/hb-design/ 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srX9bcl10MI
IntroductionWelcome to a new series, “Footprints of History”. This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I am partnering for the 3rd consecutive year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture competition based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping how communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running an Architecture competition for undergraduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders. This year, the 9th edition of the competition, the design brief revolves around redesigning the Pathu Thoon Lane in Madurai (Tamil Nadu, India) also known as "10 Pillar Street”. This site is somewhere between the Meenakshi Temple and Thirumalai Nayakar Place. The design challenge is to restore and integrate the lane's cultural heritage, emphasizing these 10 pillars. The submission deadline is 16th September 2024.
Today’s episode is called, “Pillars of Past and Present”. I am pleased to have Architect Uday Andhare with us on Audiogyan. Uday has been a design principal at Indigo Architects since 1998. He holds a degree from CEPT University and the University of New Mexico. Uday advocates for technically appropriate and ecologically sensitive architecture, blending traditional wisdom with modern design. Uday teaches at CEPT University while leading his firm in Ahmedabad. He has drawn diverse experiences during his internships with B.V Doshi and while working in the USA.
Questions1. What do you see when you see these 10 pillars on Pathu Thoon Lane? Which aspects stand out for you from an Intent, Material, and Context point of view? 2. The Getty Podcast - B.V. Doshi said, “Is Architecture defined by theory or it’s a convention, or it is something which is rooted in the place?” What are the potentialities of such a project? Do you consider it be a restoration project or conservation or anything else? 3. You have consciously chosen friendlier materials in your projects at Indigo. If one has to restore or build things around the pillars, would you build with new materials and new technology or continue with existing materials or the same fabric? 4. What are the few anchor points of traditional Indian architecture that still hold relevance today? (More meta) 5. Likewise, what are the few enduring aspects of Indian architecture that can inform students in this project? 6. Your Philosophy is “search for contemporary rootedness in this ever-changing environment”. How do you spot it? What are the key parameters on which this search happens? 7. For you, every new project feels like your first. How can any practicing architect or any creative individual maintain this fresh perspective, this outlook/worldview? 8. Which faculty would young architects need to build for the future digital world? Especially with AI, machines can simulate and build imaginary landscapes and more… What will make architects accept or reject AI proposals assuming they have the analog context of climate change and other challenges?
Reference reading1. https://indigo-architects.com/ 2. https://www.instagram.com/indigoarchitects/ 3. https://www.instagram.com/udayandhare/ 4. https://www.instagram.com/rohanbuilders/ 5. https://www.instagram.com/mindspacearchitects/ 6. https://www.instagram.com/thedrawingboard.in/ 7. https://thedrawingboard.in/ 8. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFIgtET-7ZIzMxVo0EeOdO3NaG-g0V2ve 9. https://www.linkedin.com/in/uday-andhare-0b34406/?originalSubdomain=in 10. https://theloftforum.org/people/uday-andhare/ 11. https://x.com/indigoarch_amd?lang=en 12. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/know-your-architects/a1534-indigo-architects-15-iconic-projects/ 13. https://thinkmatter.in/2017/02/27/indigo-architects-mausami-and-uday-andhare/ 14. https://www.archdaily.com/author/uday-mausami-andhare 15. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1264525753603165 16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT1jqsobX8o 17. https://audiogyan.com/ 18. https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/audio-b-v-doshi-modern-architecture-in-india-part-2/
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “We should be a mirror of being: we are God in miniature.”. I Had Srijan Jha in Ep. 258 on “How mini can a miniature art be’ and a case study of ‘Green humor’ with Rohan Chakravarty in Ep.253. And today’s episode is an amalgamation of both. Today’s guests do a lot of work in the realm of nature in miniature.
I am pleased to have Nayan Shrimali & Venus Bird (earlier known as Vaishali). They are the duo who run the “The Paper Ark”, store, project - we’ll find out soon.
Nayan is a furniture and interior design graduate from NID, Ahmedabad. He now works full-time as a paper cut artist. Venus holds a diploma in animation and visual effects, she brings life into these objects through colors. They both are from Ahmedabad.
Questions1. What is The Paper Ark? How did you start and why? What initially drew you both to miniature papercutting and specifically to birds and animals as your subjects? The "1000 Days of Birds" series is a remarkable feat! How did the concept for such a long-term project come about, and how did you two stay motivated throughout? 2. Does this art form have a rich history in various cultures? Do you have a specific name for the style of papercutting you practice? Are there specializations? 3. How can one get into this? For aspiring artists interested in papercutting, what basic skills or knowledge do you think are most important to develop? 4. Given the intricate detail, can you give us a rough estimate of how long it typically takes to create one of your miniature artworks? 5. What is it about working in miniature that appeals to you? Is it the focus on detail, the challenge of working small, or something else? 6. In your collection, you have a wide variety of birds and animals. Do YOu also have various themes such as ‘Rare’, and ‘Pollinator project’? How do you decide which subjects to create miniature paper cuttings of? How do you start and what is the process like? 7. As successful artists selling your work online, have you encountered any specific challenges in marketing or running a business focused on miniature paper cutting? 8. Can you share some insights into your tools and materials? Are there any specific types of paper or cutting implements that you find essential for creating your miniature objects? 9. It's fascinating that your primary audience is overseas! What do you think attracts international collectors to your work? 10. What is the future? Any new series, themes, or techniques you'd like to explore? Where and how can people collaborate?
Reference reading1. https://www.thepaperark.com/ 2. https://www.instagram.com/thepaperark/ 3. https://www.instagram.com/nayan_venus/ 4. https://www.instagram.com/venusbirdart/ 5. https://audiogyan.com/2022/10/19/green-humour/ 6. https://audiogyan.com/2022/12/21/how-mini-can-be-miniature-art/
John Pathrose interviews me in this 300th Episode. The Host becomes the guest. John is an old friend and a media professional. The following topics were covered in our conversation.
Power of Design
- What is design (your definition)?
- What is the impact of design (beyond visual – socio/economic/political)?
- What is the current opportunity in the design world – past, current, or future?
- How would you pitch ‘the world of design’ to someone – why is it exciting?
- Three favorite design moments
Power of Knowledge
- What are your top 3 learnings through Audiogyan
- Share some aahaa moments during your conversations
- How has this helped you?
- Role of knowledge in a ‘fake it till you make it’ world
- Spoke to 300 knowledgeable people – what is the commonality amongst them (attitude/ qualities/ aptitude)
Power of Passion
- What does passion mean to you - and how has it influenced your Audiogyan journey?
- How do you maintain and nurture your passion over time, especially when faced with obstacles or setbacks? How do you keep the energy high?
- In your opinion, what are the signs that someone is passionate about something – how do you apply this in your professional life?
- How do you think passion differs from mere interest or enthusiasm, and why is it important? What advice would you give to someone who is struggling to find their passion or purpose in life?
- Have you ever had to make a decision that required you to choose between your passion and a more practical or secure option? How did you approach that decision?
Reference links
- https://audiogyan.com/2018/05/02/noopur-datye/
- https://audiogyan.com/2023/12/13/discussing-typeface/
- https://audiogyan.com/2019/10/02/anupama-hoskere/
- https://audiogyan.com/2020/12/02/neelkanth-chhaya/
- https://audiogyan.com/2019/01/02/ayaz-basrai/
- https://audiogyan.com/2024/04/10/measure-of-good-designers/
- https://audiogyan.com/2024/04/16/design-leadership-in-startups/
- https://audiogyan.com/2017/09/27/shiva-n/
- https://audiogyan.com/2017/03/19/varun-grover/
- https://audiogyan.com/?type=wrtd-series
- https://audiogyan.com/?proffession=typographer
design #podcast #art #audiogyan #kedarinterview #300episodes #designthinking #passion #knowledge #consistency #humility #openminded #learning #questioneverything #embracethegrind #loveandempathy #stevejobs #opportunity #brucelee #water #porous #johnpathrose #typedesign #architecture #passionproject #milestone
We're delving into the exciting yet complex world of African architecture, with a particular focus on Nigeria. We'll explore trends that hold valuable lessons for India, a nation grappling with similar challenges. Nigeria is experiencing rapid urbanization, with the urban population projected to reach over 200 million by 2050. A significant portion of this urban population lives in slums and informal settlements due to housing shortages. Many urban areas lack proper infrastructure like sanitation and water supply.
We discuss all this from a Designer’s lens, I have James Inedu George with me on Audiogyan. James is one of the most eminent and influential West Africa architects and designers of recent decades recognized for his innovative approach to solving complex urban challenges, and most famously his brilliance with space and design. He is the founding partner and Design Lead at HTL Africa Ltd, Tao South Africa, and HTL Asia Plus, which works on projects around the world and is widely considered “among the most significant in contemporary architecture”.
Questions
- Why and how does architecture empower people?
- What do you mean when you say, “Buildings become citizen”? You also say, architecture should become land pads. Tell us more about it?
- What are metro houses? What are some successful examples of involving local communities in the planning and construction process for metro housing projects in Nigeria or around the world? yes, it’s innovative and radical but are their any proof of concepts?
- What is the main reason that government choses to provide housing and not land? Is it easy to manage given the state capacity?
- What makes you believe in so decentralised and democratic way of thinking in Africa or Nigeria? Can you share examples of successful projects that bridge the gap between urban centers and rural communities in Nigeria?
- India’s per capita GDP is 2.4K USD and Nigeria’s is 2.1K. Nigeria’s literacy rate is also almost in the similar range of 75-78%. What gives you hope that Mama Ya Bo, she generates employment, produce energy, distributes, build stuff for future generations and become part of the main economy?
- Can you unpack the word Affordacity in context of architecture, urban design and planning?
- In your TED talk, you said, ‘cities are dying’. In India, especially the financial capital, Mumbai, we see a lot of ghost buildings where they are either not in use or built illegally. With the city growing vertically and no land to build, What would be your advice to repurpose architecture.
- Cities are economic power hubs where people migrate for better life and opportunities. But few thinkers in India believe that life is truly in small towns and villages. How do you see this as a designer and urban planner?
- Can you share few tips for young designers who wish to get into this profession of architecure?
- When you see all problems, I can understand that you see opportunity. But being a designer, you also see solutions. Tell us more to wrap this episode. What insights have you got as a designer?
Reference reading1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Inedu-George 2. https://www.instagram.com/jymsig/?hl=en 3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-inedu-george-2ab80a24/ 4. https://x.com/unfolding_arch?lang=en 5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Next1LJHCVU 6. https://www.htlafrica.com/ 7. https://www.ted.com/talks/james_george_introducing_the_future_of_african_cities?subtitle=en 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCIrCwmv70
This is the last episode of the #designersdigest series where we have Daniel Burka and co-host Shreyas Satish.
We talk about blurring lines between product and design, the importance of being a generalist in design, and the role of product managers in the design process.
This series is created by Audiogyan in partnership with @godrejdesignlab
Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, its daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
Daniel is the director of product and design at the not-for-profit Resolve to Save Lives, where he spends most of his time on the open-source project, Simple. Simple is used by thousands of hospitals in India, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia to manage over 2 million patients with hypertension and diabetes.
He is on the board of Laboratoria, a not-for-profit based in Peru helping Latin American women build successful careers in tech. In 2021, Daniel also started the open-source Health icons project to provide free icons to healthcare projects around the world. He is also a member of Adobe's Design Circle, which grants scholarships to a diverse group of designers each year. Previously at Google Ventures as a Design Partner, Co-founder of Milk.inc and SiverOrange, and more…
Questions
- At RTSL, You’re a Director of both Product and Design. How do you distinguish between the two verticals daily, especially concerning concerns and metrics?
- Who is a Product manager and who is a designer according to you? Who according to you is supposed to focus on defining the right problem and then crafting the perfect solution? How blurred are these lines? What are the primary differences if I may ask?
- Seems like a designer can become a PM. Can it be the other way around? This is in the context of a few hard skills.
- A PM is torn between a thousand things from business to analytics and many other things. How can designers venture into this role? Also, can you steelman the case for a designer to become a PM?
- In a lot of companies, tech and design functions are both product reports, while in many these are separate verticals. In your experience what works best and when?
- One criticism of product managers, by folks like Marty Cagan, is that product managers often function as project managers. What in your view should a product manager focus on bringing to the table?*
- Designers in their romantic vision want to solve problems for all users. While Product folks go after those getting the dollars. Can you give any example from your experience where you have balanced it elegantly? What did it take?
- One death is a tragedy while a thousand deaths are statistics. How do you see this in the world of Product managers obsessed with data over real emotions? This is specifically for your work in healthcare.
- Some companies Like Airbnb have evolved their org structures to have Product Marketing Managers and Apple of course has Program Managers who report to a Product Director. Do you have a framework to think about organizational design with product teams, of course, knowing that different organizations have designed differently based on what they are focused on?
- What do you consider the key responsibilities of a product designer? Again, from tiny startups to large MNCs*
- You work on Simple, which is of course, primarily focused on creating impact. Can you talk a little bit about what it’s like designing for social impact compared to increasing market share or profitability? In a digital landscape, how can we ensure our products create real value and positive impact beyond just solving problems?
- What is the future of Product Managers and Designers in the AI world? What does the career ladder look like? What skills do we acquire for the future of WWW?
Reference linkshttps://audiogyan.com/?type=wrtd-series
https://audiogyan.com/2021/10/06/shreyas-satish/
https://twitter.com/shreyas_satish
https://www.ownpath.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyassatish/?originalSubdomain=in
https://designup.school/teacher/daniel-burka/
https://library.gv.com/defense-against-the-dark-arts-of-design-a114e5f048bb
https://iconscout.com/contributors/healthicons
https://medium.com/@dburka
https://x.com/dburka?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/dburka/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dburka/?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&originalSubdomain=uk
https://danielburka.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burka
Tune into this 9th episode of a 10-part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Chandrashekhar Wyawahare. We talk all about Industrial Design, Make in India, and the skills required to become an Industrial Designer.
This series is in partnership with @godrejdesignlab. Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, its daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating design world.
When you look at Braun or any industrial product designed by Dieter Rams, whether it’s the Braun T4 Radio designed in 1960 or the T2 Table lighter designed in 1968. Undoubtedly, you’ll fall in love with the form factor and the simplicity. Industrial design has always been fascinating.
Chandrashekhar Wyawahare, co-founder of Futuring. Chandrashekhar graduated in architecture with a master’s in industrial design from IDC in IIT Mumbai. Before co-founding Futuring, he worked in Europe with leading design studios. His work in Neumeister Design exposed him to a fine sense of styling and helped him develop a keen eye for perfection. Chandrashekhar has been subsequently responsible for a strikingly wide range of work from appliances to transportation design. He is a keen educator and has been on design juries at many architecture and design schools. Futuring sees Industrial Design as a dynamic, empathetic, and strategic process.
Questions
- Who is an industrial designer? It has a wide canvas, specializing in multiple sub-disciplines. But what is the core of being an industrial designer? Or being a designer for that matter?
- How has the landscape of industrial design evolved in India? What were the biggest transitions you’ve witnessed, and how did Futuring adapt?
- Make in India is now a buzzword. Where are you on that? Should it be designed in India or made in India? Are we ready for it?
- In an era of mass production and globalization, what does it mean to be an "Indian" industrial designer? What Indian ethos do you think we can bring to the products we design or make?
- By the very definition of industrial products, it’s safe to say that it’s mass produced. Can mass-manufactured products truly be "high quality"? What compromises are typically made, and how can we advocate for better quality standards in Indian design?
- Consumerism often drives design trends. How do you balance aesthetics, user-centricity, and sustainability, and yet be cost-sensitive for a market like India?
- You have a keen interest in education and have been on jury panels in top design schools in India. What’s happening in new-age India and how is the talent gearing towards entering the workforce? From skill to gender diversity to leveling up for actual work.
- How do you spot talent for Futuring? What gives you the confidence to recruit designers? What do you look for in their work/portfolios?
- You often speak about Industrial design one needs a good tech background, be it engineering or architecture. What does the Industrial designer’s career ladder look like? From a new entrant to say, being a principal designer?
- What one piece of advice do you get from your mentor that you still practice? What advice to young designers?
- What according to you is the future of industrial design in India? Perhaps in the world of automation and meta-verse.
Reference Reading
- https://futuring.design/Voices
- https://onlyonceshop.com/
- https://www.punedesignfestival.com/speaker/chandrashekhar-wyawahare/
Tune into this 8th episode of a 10-part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Akanksha Sethi.
This series is in partnership with @godrejdesignlab. Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, its daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating design world.
Starting with a few numbers collected from SIAM, (Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures) and the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA)
- Over 4.4 million vehicles were produced in India in 2022-23.
- We’ve around 10 Big players in the Automobile industry, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Honda Cars India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Renault India, MG Motor India, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto.
- India ranks as the fourth-largest passenger vehicle market worldwide.
- 1.2% of cars sold in India were EVs. However, as per ETAuto, EV sales are rapidly growing, with a 230% increase.
- The Indian government aims to achieve 30% EV penetration by 2030 through various initiatives and policies.
To discuss all this and Automobile Design as a career in India... Akanksha Sethi joins us. Akanksha has been a Colors, Materials, and Finish Design, Group lead at Maruti Suzuki for the past 13 years. She did her Bachelor of Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Before joining Maruti Suzuki, she had worked at Amrapali Jewels and Titian Industries.
Questions
- Who is an automobile designer? What are the sub-disciplines within it? You deal with Colors, Material, and Finish. Tell us more about it. What do you do when it deals with CMF?
- How does one grow in a career in automobile design? Can you describe the career ladder for automobile designers in India? What are the typical milestones, changes of responsibilities, and challenges at each stage?
- What is the difference when they say, “Manufactured in India” versus “Assembled in India”? How and where do designers from India fit in this setup? What goes when collaboration happens - Suzuki + Maruti or Hero and Honda?
- What are some of the most iconic or impactful car colors or materials and finishes you've been part of in your career? What makes them special?
- What defines the success of a good color for a car?
- How do we define a good, reliable, and safe material? What are checks and tests done to test materials?
- How have the skills required for automobile design changed after liberalization (1990)? Or maybe when Maruti 800 came on the market in 1983?
- What new skills are becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of electric vehicles and sustainable technologies when we talk about CMF?
- What are the major trends and challenges that are shaping and will shape the industry in the coming decades when it comes to CMF?
- In this 10-part series, I have 4 woman designers and you are one of them. As per the D’Source repository, only 2 women designers out of 19 Automotive designers in India. Can you talk a little bit about gender diversity within the automobile design industry? What unique challenges have you faced being a Women Designer in the Automobile / Man’s world? What advice would you like to give young designers entering the Automobile Design world?
Reference reading
- https://www.dsource.in/resource/history-automotive-design-india/top-automotive-designers-india/akanksha-sethi
- https://www.dsource.in/resource/history-automotive-design-india/automotive-design-schools-india
- https://www.dsource.in/resource/history-automotive-design-india/important-automobile-models/cars-designs
- https://www.dsource.in/sites/default/files/resource/history-automobile-design-india/downloads/file/history_automobile_design_india.pdf
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/akanksha-sethi-a7549723/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.siam.in/about-us.aspx?mpgid=1&pgidtrail=2
- https://www.fada.in/
Tune into this 7th episode of a 10-part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Ruchita Madhok. Audiogyan creates this series in partnership with @godrejdesignlab
Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, its daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating design world.
Ruchita has been a guest on episode 159, named “Designing a Visual Guide”. The poetry of everyday life inspires her. Through the mediums of cyanotype printmaking and drawing, she explores the conversations between nature, the cosmos, and the inner self. An award-winning communication designer, Ruchita brings a passion for print, photography, and illustration to her work as she plays with words and images to create works of art, books, and zines. Ruchita is the Founder and Director of Kahani Designworks and built Storycity, Imaginative books, maps, and guides for curious people.
We talk about what it means to be a graphic designer, in India, as a woman, and how you grow as a designer, many things to unpack.
Questions
- Who is a graphic designer? What's the job? You engage yourself in Poetry, Literature, and many other things beyond design. How critical it is for any creative endeavor?
- How do you see growth in this discipline? What does an entry-level designer do in Graphic Design? A person with 30-40 years of experience like Paula Scher or Milton Glaser - Will they be still hands-on like a performing artist? How do you see the graphic design career ladder?
- I understand that Design has many aspects, including communication, solving problems, and more… Particularly in graphic design, it’s communication, right? What is making you move (or have moved you) from Graphic Design and infographics to ‘art’ and more niche sort of storytelling? Why have you started exploring cyanotype printmaking and more?
- Kahani Studioworks and StoryCity believe in collaboration? Do you hire? What do you seek in people with whom you hire or collaborate?
- How does your trio identity as an Indian woman, a designer, and now an artist influence your artistic style and perspective?
- Do you see a distinct thread running through your work that speaks about your Identity or Indian-ness? How do you harness it to give it a personality or avoid it stereotyping your work? What would you share as a tip/advice for young designers?
- Do you think your design work / or art needs to impact society? Should it influence fellow and young designers? You have been taking a lot of workshops and are interested in education. Tell me a little bit about it?
- Ethical practices and sustainable design choices are now becoming mainstream buzzwords. Where are you on that and what are your principles in this dynamic world of Graphic Design?
- In today's digital age, where people have been looking to increase the number of followers on social media, what advice would you give to Indian Designers (especially women)? What do they chase? What can make their work stand out or be impactful in this noisy world? How long can it take to find one’s voice?
- The design field is vast and multifaceted. How would you encourage Indian women designers to explore their unique strengths and passions to find their niche within the industry?
References
- https://www.instagram.com/ruchitamadhok/?hl=en-gb
- https://www.ruchitamadhok.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchitamadhok/?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.behance.net/ruchita
- https://www.kahanidesignworks.com/
- https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-creators/ruchita-madhoks-botanical-cyanotypes-are-vibrant-interpretations-of-the-poetry-of-light
- https://audiogyan.com/2020/01/22/ruchita-madhok/
- https://www.storycity.in/
Tune into this 6th episode of a 10-part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Dhruv Jani.
This series is created by Audiogyan in partnership with @godrejdesignlab
Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, its daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
Dhruv Jani joins us on Audiogyan as we talk about the role of the creator in the world of Game Design. Dhruv Jani is an artist at, and the founder of the independent game studio: Oleomingus. He studies postcolonial writing and interactive fiction and explores the use of video game spaces as possible sites of protest and reparation.
Questions
- What does a game designer do? What does it mean to be a game designer? How can one become a game designer? What skills are required? Which other professions are required while designing a game?
- Can you give a quick snapshot of how games came into existence and how they evolve into today’s video games and mobile games? A short history of sorts?
- What are the broad categories/genres of games and which ones do you deal with? What’s special about your genre?
- Your games often start with a narrative. What comes first when you think of a game? An event, a discovery of the past or a speculation of the future? An event? Where and how does any of your game start for Oleomingus?
- What has politics to do with games? Is it because you have to pick a side? Is the game a Western concept for India? India has been a land of compassion, inclusivity, and forgiveness.
- You call games to be Interactive fiction. Narrative interface design. What can and can not be told using games? Where does the medium flourish and where does it break?
- Games have certainly evolved and come a long way. Now, I guess it’s the biggest industry on this planet. The games I recently got to know were Werewolves and Mafia and somehow the theme seems to be based on trust. What’s going on? How do you see it impacting the new generation and society at large?
- Games are highly addictive, why? Which ingredient makes it addictive? Who is supposed to design it? Can you explain with an example of how the process happens?
- Given the power of games, what’s the biggest responsibility of game designers?
- Where are we heading as game players and game makers in this world of meta-verse and AI?
Reference Reading
- https://audiogyan.com/2022/05/25/game-design/
- https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/news-the-right-consume-histories-dhruv-jani-studio-oleomingus-talks-creativity-meaning
- https://indiaifa.org/grants-projects/dhruv-jani.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)
- https://oleomingus.com/about-1
- https://www.stirworld.com/think-opinions-gamescapes-indian-video-game-developer-studio-oleomingus-reconfigures-history
- https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/sep/22/video-games-india-politics-dhruv-jani-sushant-chakraborty-studio-oleomingus#comments
- https://indiaartfair.in/game-grammar-dhruv-jani
- https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/3kxpgw/this-first-person-game-is-a-surreal-meta-fictional-experience-in-colonialism
- https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/studio-oleomingus-surreal-video-games-marginalised-stories-india-history/
- https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/the-indiebeat-how-studio-oleomingus-is-crafting-its-indian-post-modern-fairy-tale/
- https://killscreen.com/studio-oleomingus/
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=AMZG-C4AAAAJ&sortby=pubdate
- https://www.ted.com/talks/dhruv_jani_the_interactive_fictions_of_generous_history
Tune into this 5th episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Saif Faisal, A new breed of bold Contemporary designer and founder of SFDW
This series is created by Audiogyan in partnership with @godrejdesignlab
Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
Massimo Vignelli’s once said, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” Even in our part of the world, somewhere in 15 hundred.. Mirza Khan Abdul Rahim once said, “Ek sadho, sab sadhe”..
Saif completed his training as an Architect from RV School of Architecture in 2010-11, alongside designing and participating in Formula SAE-Racing with the Mechanical engineering students at the college, where he acquired diverse experience in design, manufacturing, and technical know-how. After college, he went on to learn woodworking. These diverse formative explorations gave him a polymathic learning experience.
His work draws heavily from his understanding of Anthropology, Processes, and Technology, which is very integral to his creative explorations. The deep appreciation he cultivated of ‘Essentialism’ from racing is revisited in his Design and Architecture.
Saif is involved in guest lectures and talks at design and architecture schools. Apart from being an avid motorcyclist and a lover of cafe racers, he is into boxing and pursues his culinary interests rather seriously.
Questions
- You’ve done architecture, lifestyle products, furniture, jewelry, accessories and more. How do you define your work? You also have diverse interests, from motorcycling to boxing and cooking. How do these pursuits influence your creative process?
- Who according to you is a designer? You talk about “Essentialism” - What is the essential quality to become a designer?
- What is the difference between Essentialism and Minimalism according to you? Is Essentialism more inclusive than minimalism? Lets take Loup of example.
- You draw inspiration from sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. How do these disciplines inform your understanding of the human experience, and how does that translate into products you create? Any example of a product you made?
- If I can take the liberty to say, Art is expression while design is functional, responding to a problem. Where and how do you see art and design lines blurring, given your work deals with higher levels of aesthetics.
- Why do you call wood to be a humble material? What did you learn in wood work? What made you consider learning that? How can it help any designer interested in making physical products?
- Do you see geometric forms as a universal language? Do you see that in Indian history or culture? How have you borrowed this universal language and contextualised for India? May be you can explain with the lamps that you have made?
- Where are you on Massimo Vignelli’s quote, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” How comfortable the journey has been to switch domains? What advice would you give anybody who has such wide range of interests? or does one need to master something before traversing?
- You often talk about Indian design education need to level up. Our work needs to appeal to a global audience. What do you mean exactly? Where are the gaps? What can be done about it?
- We have often seen us using Jugaad as one of the primary methods of innovation. What is you take on that?
- What do you wish from the new “Make in India” generation? How can they push the boundaries of design?
Reference Reading
- https://www.saif-faisal.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/saiffaisal.designworkshop/
- https://www.platform-mag.com/design/saif-faisal.html
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/saif-faisal-51247315/?originalSubdomain=in
Tune into this 4th episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with @chitrav89 (Chitra Vishwanath) - Principal Architect and Managing Director of BIOME Environment Solutions (@biomearchitecture)
This series is created by Audiogyan in partnership with @godrejdesignlab
Designer's Digest series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder, and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
Chitra Vishwanath is an Indian architect based in Bengaluru who works on themes related to ecology and architecture. She has been running her own architectural firm since 1991, working with other architects on many projects of all sizes. She is currently the Principal Architect and Managing Director of BIOME Environment Solutions. She firmly believes that the true essence of a remarkable firm lies in the gradual fading of its founder's individual prominence. The establishment of a firm is influenced not only by the founder's drive but also by various contextual factors. Chitra cannot be solely identified as Chitra Vishwanath without acknowledging the integral role of Biome. Similarly, Biome's existence in its current capacity is inseparable from the contributions of her colleagues. BIOME has been involved in more than 700 projects encompassing the construction of buildings of all sizes and water harvesting and sanitation structures with specific relevance to the ecology of the sites. With earth as a basic material input in construction, BIOME has designed and built many structures. We’ll be talking about ecological architecture in today’s episode.
Questions
- We often use “architect” as a word who guides, designs, and oversees. Etymologically as well, it’s derived from arkhi-, chief + tekton, builder - chief builder. Who according to you is an architect?
- What constitutes an ecological architecture? Could you talk about the 4 aspects of architecture from your TEDx talk, resourceful spaces, designing construction systems, water and waste management? Maybe by taking an example of one of the many schools you have built.
- What is Maximise to minimize? Good design is no design at all, right? How do you strive to create a positive impact while building structures? What are the key principles and values you live by?
- What should be / can be the index/metric of good ecological architecture? Why?
- What according to you is the biggest role of architects in India, given the current time?
- Over the last 31 years, you have grown to 31 member strong team. Seems a conscious choice to stay lean. Why?
- You have a lot of Junior architects on the team. What are their primary job responsibilities?
- For Biome, every project is a test bed for developing a collaborative multidisciplinary approach grounded in informed decisions. How does Biome onboard, execute, and deliver any project? Where and how are Junior architects involved? What do you expect from them?
- What according to you is a good measure of an ecologically sensitive outlook in a student or junior architect entering this field of architecture?
- What kind of architects do we need for India’s future? What tips/suggestions would you like to give young architects?
Reference Reading
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitra_Vishwanath
- https://www.instagram.com/chitrav89/?hl=en
- https://www.biome-solutions.com/about-us/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chitra-vishwanath-8513593/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.archdaily.com/tag/chitra-vishwanath
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMiekG0IJfM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41tlOqU-6PM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlf3TyKdcAg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EviAtiqoLTE
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlwbK-ybQX0
- https://dev.earth-auroville.com/chitra-vishwanath-architects/
- https://www.e-coexist.com/mailchimp/building-small-chitra-vishwanath.html
- https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/know-your-architects/a686-chitra-vishwanath-creating-an-ecofriendly-way-of-living/
- https://medium.com/@ar.aesha/ar-chitra-vishwanath-and-her-design-philosophy-282b64a99f83
- https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/a5644-the-paper-workshop-by-chitra-vishwanath-architectural-semantics-with-vernacularism/
- https://www.facebook.com/chitra.vishwanath.3/
- https://www.instagram.com/biomearchitecture/
- https://www.biome-solutions.com/
- https://audiogyan.com/2022/01/10/design-of-wells/
This is the 3rd episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Dr. Susmita Mohanty, an Indian spaceship designer and a serial space entrepreneur. This series is created in partnership with Godrej Design Lab - a platform that encourages and advances design excellence and exploration. Godrej Design Lab believes in the power of design to make a meaningful change. I am so happy and proud that Godrej Design Lab is supporting the journey of Audiogyan.
Designer's Digest is a series about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
I want to start with a line by Vincent Van Gogh, “For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream”.
Questions
- Can we start by, who is a spaceship architect or a designer? Can you also elaborate on the 3 genres of space architects [Voyage d’Esprit, Man-in-a-Can, Trans-Gravity]? Where and how do designers fit in?
- What does it take to become a spaceship designer or an architect? If you can share your version of a career? What does one do in their early years and then possibilities as they become a veteran like you? Design is broadly about problem solving and we see a lot of lateral entrants. Is it possible in this discipline?
- You’ve said, traditionally government agencies tend to design in a very engineering centric approach where they don’t invite architects, designers to build stuff. With designers engaging in such space, collaboration with other professionals like physicists, engineers, biologists, seems inevitable. What are the challenges and rewards of such interdisciplinary teamwork?
- Importance of multidisciplinary. You’ve straddled across design, art, tech, humanities, choreography. What was it like growing in Ahmedabad in 70-80
- What are the unique challenges and opportunities in this sector for a designer? You mentioned about designing spaceship interiors for long distance travel, spacesuits to keep away from sharp dust on other planets, especially on the moon. Climate is another important domain to look into.
- What all sections of the rocket or a spacecraft (For eg: Soyuz, I loved the video) could be given to designers? Where all design interventions can be done?
- What made you start Earth2Orbit and later Spaceport Sarabhai and what exactly you folks do there? Can you share any specific project or a milestone that made you very hopeful about this it having a huge potential in India?
- Considering costs, policies and constraints of this highly guarded sector, what makes your hopeful about brewing design talent in India? Can you slightly talk more about your 2017 article “India is sitting on a space goldmine”?
- You often say, “space is not just about technology. It’s also about business, social impact, geopolitics and more about perspective. Could you please elaborate on it from a designer’s lens?
- You often encourage entrepreneurs to look earth from 400km above. After working closely with such great organisations like ISRO, NASA, ESA what has been your biggest learning so far.
Reference reading
- https://www.weforum.org/people/susmita-mohanty/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susmita_Mohanty
- https://www.imd.org/ibyimd/innovation/beyond-earths-boundaries-a-journey-of-innovation-and-leadership/
- https://www.stirworld.com/think-columns-soyuz-the-world-s-most-reliable-human-spacecraft
- http://earth2orbit.com/index.php
- http://www.themoonwalker.in/write.php
- https://thebrilliant.com/opinion/why-billionaires-playing-space-ping-pong-leaves-me-cold/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Adams
This is the second episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Hardik Pandya, Sr. VP of Design at Unacademy Group. This series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
I have a co-host with me, Shreyas Satish. He is the founder of ownpath.com, ownpath is a platform for designers to upskill, find community, and unlock exciting opportunities, and also helps companies grow their design teams. I had Shreyas as a guest in episode 218 when I did a series “Where are the designers” talking to 12 top influential Design leaders from India.
And for today’s episode which is also my domain of designing Digital products, we have a perfect guest and a common friend, Hardik Pandya. He is a Design leader with an innate love for building products with good design. Currently He is a Senior Vice President, Design of The Unacademy Group. Previously a Design Lead at Google Search, G Suite and Google Cloud, Ola and more.
Questions
- How did you get into Design? You are a lateral entrant? What were early days like?
- Can you walk us through your journey towards being a lead designer? Were there things that came fairly naturally, like taking ownership and initiative, and were things you had to deliberately learn?
- In No Career Conversations in Isolation, you write “The way to get to the work you want to be doing in the future is earning the trust of your manager. Are there any stories or examples you can share where earning that trust unlocked the opportunity you were looking for?
- Now that you are heading teams, how does your typical day look like? Do you happen to work hands-on still?
- From where and how do you hire? Do you look for talent laterally? How do you spot talent? Junior / nerdy / geeky / high end colleges / pedigree? Is hiring a gamble?
- What are some traits you look for when you’re hiring a senior designer? How do you actually tell if they possess those traits?
- What are some common mistakes you see designers make with portfolios?
- Who have been your best hires and why? Which background did they come from?
- A lot of hiring conversations tend to be very backward looking i.e the work they’ve done, the situations they’ve been in and so on. But, I believe the real alpha, especially from a company’s point of view is being able to gauge what they can do in the future. What’s your take on this and how do you try to identify potential in designers?
- What skills do you expect from designers for the future in the world of AI?
Reference links
- https://twitter.com/hvpandya
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardikpandya/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://medium.com/@hvpandya
- https://hardik.substack.com/
- https://www.ownpath.com/
- https://hvpandya.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/godrejdesignlab/
- https://www.godrejdesignlab.com/
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrrt1Y8BkAyph0bmVRVsRF1UTgsf1Lxo9
This is the first episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest”. This series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design.
We start with Ayaz Basrai. Ayaz has been on Audiogyan’s 104th Episode where we spoke about “Designing interiors for your city.”
He is the founder of The Busride Studio based in Goa and Mumbai along with his brother Zameer. Ayaz Graduated in Industrial Design, specialising in Product Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2003. Ayaz studio ‘The Busride’ as an independent Design Studio specialising in the design and creation of environments, ranging from Hospitality, Entertainment venues, Film and Production to Exhibitions and temporary installations, and more.
Questions asked in the episode
- Who according to you is a designer? You have been questioning this a lot.
- What according to you is a role of a designer when they mature in their practice. Do the lines blur with art and then things become political or social in nature?
- You have been engaging with very young talent like Prathmesh Jaju and others. Whats the reason for going so wide in our interest areas? How does it enrich your practice?
- Eliel Saarinen’s famous line, “Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." What’s your take on it? Is it a pyramid kind of a thinking?
- You have been tinkering a lot with rizhomatic thinking? Tell us a little bit about it. Does the other node need to have equally good to understand the larger context context to pass it on?
- You talk about intergenerational kindness by giving the Oxford examples. What is it and how can that be practised by us who are future ancestors?
- What is India Futures Project? Why do you engage in speculative fiction from a designer’s lens? Why create these future looking narratives? Are there instances of this done in the past of which we, inadvertently, we are part of? How real these narratives were back then, if any?
- You have an article about placeless-ness. What provokes you to think of these future spaces while we are still having cows and camels on the road. Would you venture into these 15 minute cities or explore shapes and forms of cities in the meta-verse? On which principles of foundations these exploration happen?
- We are looking at how AI in the cradle is smiling at us. What kind of skills do Centaur Designers will need to have?
- How would designers of the future look like? Not just in the software and industrial realm but textile, graphics, interiors and so on…
Reference reading
- https://www.architectandinteriorsindia.com/lists/ayaz-zameer-basrai-co-founders-the-busride-design-studio
- https://www.instagram.com/thebusride/
- https://www.thepracticecept.com/thebusride
- https://thehardcopy.co/in-conversation-with-ayaz-basrai/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEiJMVjMyrE
- https://issuu.com/thebusride
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQWAJBpfzp8
- https://www.stirworld.com/inspire-people-arthur-mamou-mani-x-ayaz-basrai-cross-border-conversations
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMEaLTat3wE
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZJ4T50o95E
Einstein once said “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” He also said, “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” Why I am talking about this? In today’s episode, we’ll documenting all about Play and Work.
For this, we have Nitesh Mohanty and Sonal Choudhary with us on Audiogyan. Nitesh is a Educator, Photographer, Art Director, Writer, Curator. A JJ and Bombay boy, now in Goa. He did his post-gard from NID, Ahmedabad, specialising in Textile Design. Sonal is a Visual Communication Designer, Writer, Educator. We’ll be discussing about their new venture, or should I call it “school of thought” - Plork. Well, lets find out in this case study.
Questions
- NM & SC: Tell us a little bit about your background. Which school of thought are you coming from?
- NM & SC: What is Plork? Why are you doing this? Who is it for?
- SC: Paula Scher said, “Great design is serious, not solemn”. What is your take?
- NM: What makes you go so broad with poets, chefs and philosophers, while education these days is task / job oriented?
- NM: What is taste and how do you acquire taste during education? (aesthetic, intellectual)
- NM: You teach, “Ways of Seeing”. Tell us more about it?
- NM & SC: How do you define a ‘mature’ designer?
- NM: What is the role of “play” in corporate structures? When there are clear objectives and deliverables, is play required or possible?
- SC: What are key big gaps in today’s design or art education?
- NM: What do you think the future of design education in India?
Reference Reading
- https://www.instagram.com/nimo_obscura/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitesh-mohanty-46562777/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.jioinstitute.edu.in/faculty/mr-nitesh-mohanty
- https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-creators/nitesh-mohantys-nowhere-is-a-visual-story-of-resilience-amidst-tragedy-and-despair
- https://medium.com/@artwintent/the-art-of-visual-storytelling-4b1ad2e159b0
- https://studioanugraha.com/Nowhere-Now-here
- https://www.instagram.com/sonalchoudhury/?hl=en
- https://www.behance.net/sonalchoudhury1
- https://www.instagram.com/plorkschoolofthought/?hl=en
“The characteristics of jazz help. Its sense of improvisation, individualism, sound, and rhythm are all present and important in graphic design, too.” - Niklaus Troxler, who have been improvising with letterforms like Jazz Musicians since 1960s.
In my opinion, a Poster is a mix of typeface and graphics communicating something. In here, typeface matters a lot. To discuss this and more, today we have Sarang Kulkarni with us.
Sarang is a type designer and co-founder of Ektype. He also has his own agency called as The White Crow where he does branding and typography work. This Audiogyan will be in English and Marathi.
Questions
- What according to you is Type / Akshar?
- Massimo Vignelli said that he is comfortable with half a dozen typefaces lasting a lifetime. Rest all is visual pollution. What's the need for more typefaces?
- What triggers a need for new typefaces? Medium, Language, Expression, Enhancement, Technology, Content?
- Are there ways to systematically study and distinguish between an improvisation of a typeface versus a different typeface? For eg, Mukta and Modak have different anatomy, so we can say that they are 2 different fonts. But can we say that Inter is an improvised version of Helvetica?
- You deal with a lot of abstract forms as well. At letterbox, for eg: “k” (Marathi) can be identified if one looks at the flow or series of iterations of representing ‘k’. Can a letter form be identified in isolation? What's the extent of improvisation? How abstract one can go and still make it palatable?
- When can one start improvising on a typeface? When the base font is registered in everyone’s mind. For eg: Can we improvise on a newly launched font set?
- Does improvisation in a typeface done only as an experiment can transform into the usage of mass communication?
- What's going on with 365 days of type and more such practices and movements? Are those improvisations?
- How easy or hard is it today to experiment and improvise on open-source fonts?
- When does the author know that the improvisation is done?
Reference Reading
- https://www.instagram.com/1sarangkulkarni/?hl=en
- https://www.instagram.com/ektype/?hl=en
- https://www.instagram.com/letterbox.india/?hl=en
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarang-kulkarni-5898857/
- https://www.behance.net/SarangKulkarni
- https://www.dandad.org/profiles/person/664731/sarang-kulkarni/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXwkZaIRLI4
- https://whitecrow.in/
- https://twitter.com/sarangkulkarni7
- https://www.typoday.in/2014/sarang.html
- http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-86975.html
- https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/being-a-mumbai-type-designer-is-about-more-than-great-work-you-gotta-get-the-lingos-and-theres-hundreds-of-them/
- https://design.google/library/anek-multiscript
- https://kyooriusdesign.awardsengine.com/?action=ows:entries.details&e=135402&project_year=2023
- https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-voices/ek-type
- https://www.adi.org.in/events/adiamd-many-worlds-of-type
- https://vimeo.com/133792269
Abhinit has been building digital products for past 15 years, he was head of Design at Gojek and scaled the design and research function from 6 designer to 200 plus including research. He is currently on a sabbatical.
Questions
- You wear multiple hats - designer, programmer and Product. Your twitter bio says, App Maker. Pixel Hinter. Leak Checker. Who do you associate the most with?
- What does scale mean in the world of tech?
- What does “designing for scale” enable us to do? Why design for scale?
- What’s the role of design & research in this?
- Is process driven culture a recipe for scaling? Doesn’t process hinder innovation and out of box thinking?
- When lean, one can move fast. When we have legacy how do we change?
- Apple being an exception, who else has designed for scale? I know you will say, Stripe. Any other brand / product?
- When you are market leaders, what can make us strive for excellence? We are already at scale. :)
- What were the biggest challenges and if you were do it all over again, what is one thing you’ll change?
- We are in a process of improving our design system, which we hope will help us scale. Who should be the key stake holder and why?
- I know you must have answered this many times, does creativity come in the way when we have design system. For eg: How do we personalise or customise for different segments while maintaining unified language?
Reference links
- https://www.instagram.com/abhinitial/
- https://twitter.com/abhinitial?lang=en
- https://audiogyan.com/2020/04/22/abhinit-tiwari/
- https://audiogyan.com/?type=wrtd-series
- https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/
- https://www.propertygurugroup.com/joinus/
Potter Stewart an associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court once said, “Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.” Censoring artists, intellectuals is not a new thing.
Today to discuss more about censorship we have Ajit Rai with us on Audiogyan. We’ll be talking about banning and censorship in films in the Indian context. This episode will be bi-lingual but mostly in Hindi. Listeners have to bare with my Hindi questions but Ajit sir will cover my shortcomings. 🙂
He wrote a best seller book " Hindujas and Bollywood'(English ) that is launched in London by actor Akshay Kumar & "Bollywood ki Buniyaad"(Hindi ) launched in 75 th Cannes Film Festival by Mr Apoorva Chandra Secretary Ministry of I & B Govt of India last year 2022. It is a global journey of about 1200 Hindi films introduced to World by Hinduja Family.
He is invited and travelled and reported from more than 50 countries in many prestigious International Film Festivals and Nobel prize ceremony as well.
His credentials are as follows
1.Presently working as Advisor and Film Critic Bharat Express National News Channel.
2.He is regularly contributing as Film Critic for Jansatta / The Indian Express group, Navbharat Times/ The Times of India group, Dainik Bhaskar, Prabhat khabar, People Samachar, Jan Sandesh Times and more than 25 digital media outlets.
3. Ajit Rai has been a member of Media Committee International Film Festival of India Goa in 2010 and Selection Jury Member (Preview Committee) in 2014, 2015 & 2017.
4. He is a guest speaker in knowledge Series of NFDC Film Bazar in IFFI Goa many times.
5 .Ajit Rai has been invited by Film & Television Institute of India as Guest of Honour in 2013 & 2015 in Student Film Festival and National Students Film Awards ceremony.
- He is a Member of Jury in Life After Oil International Film Festival Sardenia Italy.
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Cannes Film Festival - the most prestigious festival in the world- granted Ajit Rai the top priority Press Badge considering him as one of the most important film critic of the World
He is covering Cannes Film Festival & many other international film festivals and IFFI Goa since 2004. -
Ajit Rai is only film critic of India who wrote maximum articles on International Film Festival of India IFFI Goa around more than 500 from 2004 to till date.
- He has been Consultant Jagaran Film Festival in 2012, 2013 & 2014 in 16 cities of India by the largest circulated Hindi newspaper of the world- Dainik Jagran.
- He is Advisor and Member of Jury in Rajasthan International Film Festival Jaipur
- (a) He has started Raipur International Film Festival in collaboration with Govt of Chhattisgarh and Directorate of Film Festival DFF Govt of India in 2015.
(b) He has Started Haryana International Film Festival Yamunanagar in 2008 in collaboration with Govt of Haryana.
(c) He has started Azamgarh International Film Festival in 2018.
(d) He has started Faridabad International Film Festival in 2012.
(e). He has started Sardar Patel International Film Festival in Patiala Punjab - (a) He has started Indian Film Festival Moscow Russia as founder Director in 2014 (b) Indian Film Festival Uppsala Sweden in 2013 .
(c) He has started Indian Film Festival Berlin Germany in 2012.
(d) He is Consultant Bollywood Film Festival Oslo Norway since 2013 . -
He has been invited by President of Iran in 2012 as a special guest in New Horizon Film Festival Tehran .
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Ajit Rai is one of the leading Film & Theatre Critic & Cultural Journalist of India with wide and vast experience of more than 30 years in almost all leading National Newspapers, reputed Journals and Electronic media as well on Cinema, Theatre, Literature & Cultural discourses.
His about 5000 published articles are pioneer in Film & Cultural journalism. Some of his innovative reports has been debated in Indian Parliament . - He has been Editor - Rang Prasang.. an international journal of Cinema & Theatre, National School Of Drama, Ministry Of Culture, Govt. Of India.
- He is a Member of Jury Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the largest theatre festival of the 3rd world by National School Of Drama, Ministry of Culture Govt of India.
- He is a Member of Jury Meta Awards by Mahindra Company for theatre.
- Founder Editor - Drishyantar, a monthly magazine of Cinema TV Culture & Media by Doordarshan Ministry of I&B Govt of India.
- Worked as consultant Doordarshan Ministry of I & B Govt of India.
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Worked with All India Radio, Patna & New Delhi. Ministry of I&B Govt of India.
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World Record -
(a) -Ajit Rai made a world record in film journalism in Cannes Film Festival 2018. He published 75 articles in various Indian Newspapers in 15 days on Cannes Film Festival This is a world record that one journalist wrote 75 articles about one event.
(b) He made a world record in Theatre Criticism in 2010 when his 25 articles published 25 days daily without break during International Theatre Festival by National School of Drama New Delhi.
(c). He is covering Cairo International film festival, EL Gouna Film Festival in Egypt and Red Sea International Film Festival regularly and wrote 25 articles every year. - He wrote a book Hindujas and Bollywood in English and Bollywood ki buniyaad in Hindi on contribution of Hinduja Brothers to Indian Cinema.. It is a global cultural journey of about 1200 Hindi films introduced to World by Hinduja Family.
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Pioneer in personality journalism in India in 1995 in India Today magazine.
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He has been invited to deliver lecture on Cinema ,Indian culture, Theatre & society by United Nation ( UNO) New York, British Parliament, London, President House Tehran Iran, Uppsala University Sweden, Bollywood Festival Oslo, Norway, Indian Film Festival Berlin Germany & Moscow Russia. Dubai UAE ( Indian Embassy, Sardenia Italy and many more.
- Ajit Rai is one and only who has been invited in Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony Oslo Norway in 2014.
26 . He is pioneer of Cinema movement in Educational Institutions of India and abroad and started many Film Festivals & Film Appreciation Courses in DAV Girls College, Yamunanagar, Haryana, Kurukshetra University, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, Mahatma Gandhi Hindi International University Vardha, Maharashtra. DAV Centenary College Faridabad , Hariyana etc.
- Work Experience-
He worked with various newspapers and magazines from 1988 to till date- - Dainik Hindustan, Patna & New Delhi ( Hindustan Times group)
- Navbharat Times, Patna & New Delhi ( Times of India group)
- Jansatta. New Delhi ( Indian Express group)
- Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal
- Dainik Jagaran, New Delhi
- Rashtriya Sahara New Delhi
- Sahara samay New Delhi
- Swatantra Varta, Hyderabad
- News Break , Patna
- Amar Ujala New Delhi
- Prabhat khabar, Ranchi Jharkhand
- India Today. New Delhi
- Outlook, New Delhi
- Hans New Delhi
- Aaj ki Jandhara, Raipur Chhattisgarh
16 Jan Sandesh Times. Lucknow . - People s Samachar Bhopal Madhya Pradesh.
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The Sentinal. Guwahati Assam.
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Educational qualification -
(a) M. A. in Psychology ( 1989), 1st Division,
( b) M.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication, (2007). 1st Division.
Note - Ajit Rai always got 1st Division & 1st Class through out his education ie from Class 1 to 12, B.A. (Hons.) & M.A. -
Professional qualifications
(a). Diploma in Psycho Analysis, Educational- vocational Guidance & Counselling , 1st division. 1993, NCERT, New Delhi.
(b) . Diploma in Journalism.1 st division( 2006, ) Kurukshetra University.
(c). Diploma in Film Appreciation, 1st division 2003. Film & Television Institute of India FTII Pune. -
Awards
- Beat Film Critic National Award, Rajasthan International Film Festival, Jaipur . 2020.
- Best Film Journalist Award, LIFFT India Film Festival, Lonawala, Mumbai, 2020.
- Pride of India Award, Khajuraho International Film Festival, 2020.
- Jaiprakash Narayan International Award for Journalism, Delhi 2020
- Nat Samrat Best Theatre Critic Award, Delhi , 2020.
- Rang Sameeksha Samman, Ashirvad Rang Mandal, Begusarai, Bihar. 2018
- . Rang Sameeksha Samman, Abhinaya Rang Manch, Hisar, Haryana, 2016.
- . Pride of India Award. 2012
- Natya Sameeksha Samman, Manch Rangmanch, Amritsar. Punjab. 2010
10 . Kala Sameeksha Samman, Abhinav Rang Mandal Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. 2008. -
Best Auther of the book 2022 Award. Rajasthan International Film Festival Jaipur 2023.
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Published Books
- Hindujas and Bollywood
- Bollywood ki Buniyaad
- Drishyantar
- Andhere Men Chamakati Awazen
- Two Decades of Jis Lahore Nai Wekhyan .
All published by Vani Prakashan New Delhi.
Questions
- What is censorship in the context of films? Why do establishments feel the need of banning or censorship?
- When and why did it start? What’s Hays Code and what were the few important milestones in the evolution of censorship? May be just in the Indian context?
- Can you tell us if there is any official framework or guidelines for censorship in India? If yes, what are those guidelines?
- Who made these? When and why were these made? How objective are these?
- I guess, rules in censorship should be treated like Smrutis. They should change with time. Whats the challenge today?
- You strongly believe in that nothing should be censored. How do you justify it?
- Whats the difference between banning and censorship? What are your thoughts on banning?
- We as creators believe, movies are powerful, it can change narratives - so establishment will always interfere - What can be done as creators and also audience?
- Many people like Gorge Carlin challenged the establishments and boldly used “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”. We have many such examples. In my conversation with Varun Grover, even he mentioned that an artist never know the line until he/she crosses it. How can we see a society that allows these line to be crossed. Who can cross these lines? Is this a right question?
- What according to you is the future of censorship in India till we have authoritarian regimes. How do you see censorship in a realistic world? Is there a utopian world in film making?
Reference links
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Rai
- https://kalingaliteraryfestival.com/speakers/ajit-rai/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y5Qb5mdaDY
- https://twitter.com/AjitRai16022961
In late 1800s, A Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi, said, “There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature. Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners”. But where does the nature stop and where does the building begin? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”.
This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.
This year, the program is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details on thedrawingboard.in
Today, in this concluding episode of this series, we have Ar. Sherman Stave with us on Audiogyan. Sherman is a Principal and Landscape Architect at STX Landscape Architects. With more than 30 years of experience. He has practised extensively in Asia and North America. His exposure to diverse cultures from an early age has lent him broad global perspective, and a deep appreciation of how shaping our environments can change our lives in fundamental ways. These are critical lenses that continue to inform his design approach.
Questions
- Who is a landscape architect? What are the principles and strategies on which a landscape architect work?
- BV Doshi, once said, “Is the Architecture defined by theory or it’s a convention, or it is something which is rooted in the place?” How big or small overlap do you see between the landscape and the actual building or architecture? Incase of Badami, where and how would you draw the line?
- Brian O’Doherty’s famous line, “We have now reached a point where we see not the art but the space first.” What does it mean and where are you on this?
- How can landscape design contribute to the interpretation and visitor experience at any archaeological site? For instance, Badami, where the landscape itself is an integral part of the site's history?
- What considerations can be taken while designing architecture in such high sensitive historical landscape? When designing an archaeological site like Badami to ensure minimal impact?
- Since you are staying in Singapore and even I have recently moved there, I see some amazing work done by humans. The overall landscape is well thought. Can you share your learnings and experience? How can we be so close to nature yet seems to have so much command on it?
- Can you share any (2) examples of good museums or public spaces where they blend organically with nature?
Reference reading
- The Drawing Board Architecture competition for Undergradute student 2024
- Talk by Prashanth Pole | 27 Mar, 2021 | FA S21 Lecture series
- Gandhi Ashram Sabarmati
- Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures
- Badami- Learning from the Context- WCFA, Teepoi
- Mindspace Architects
- Rohan Builders
- https://www.siww.com.sg/home/attend/siww2021-online/thematic-webinars-tw/speakers-and-moderators/sherman-stave
- https://www.stxla.com/profile/
- https://www.world-architects.com/en/stx-landscape-architects-singapore/team
- https://www.mnd.gov.sg/urbansustainability/webinars/liveability/abc-water-seminar-(liveability)
- https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/publications/research-resources/plans-reports/Master%20Plan/~/media/User%20Defined/URA%20Online/publications/research-resources/plans-reports/pwip_urban_villages.ashx
- https://kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/kahn-building
- https://www.salk.edu/
- https://www.archdaily.com/61288/ad-classics-salk-institute-louis-kahn
- https://www.designcurial.com/news/louis-kahn---six-most-important-buildings-4323752/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahn
Frank Owen Gehry, a Canadian-born American architect and designer once said, “Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness”. How can we long for timelessness in architecture if the place itself keeps changing? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”.
This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.
This year, the program is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details on thedrawingboard.in
In this second episode, “An insert into the history” (which is also the theme of the competition), I have a Prof. Durganand Balsavar. I interviewed him back in episode 249 in the last year’s TDB theme of designing a “Memorial for Charles Correa”. We spoke about intangible architecture.
A quick introduction about Prof. Balsavar. He has been faculty for India Studios of Bartlett, Helsinki School of Architecture and involved in diverse cultural contexts - the Chandigarh Lab, IUAV Venice, Auckland, Indonesia, Nepal. He founded Artes-ROOTS Collaborative, which has been involved in an environment-appropriate architecture as a community participatory process.
Questions
- If we look at Indian history and culture, how can one incorporate architectural elements that reflect diverse narratives in a museum projects? What can be the key principles on which this can be thought?
- History is told by the rulers. I believe you also have a special interest in Alternate Histories - What does it mean?
- So, If alternative histories often involve revisiting and reinterpreting established narratives. How does your architectural design support the reinterpretation of history within the museum context?
- Can you share your thoughts on the role of technology, such as interactive exhibits or virtual reality, in enhancing the visitor experience and storytelling within museums dedicated to archaeology and alternate histories?
- Can you share any unique architectural features or design elements that distinguish the Badami Archaeological Museum from other museums with similar themes?
- Badami is known for its cave temples and rock-cut architecture. What elements can be incorporated in storytelling and educational experiences? How do you see that helping the narrative of the museum in the modern world?
- Since the topic is, An insert into History, and your strong opinions on sustainability, What role does sustainability play in the design of the Badami Archaeological Museum, and how do you incorporate those elements into the architecture?
- Can you share any other museums you have studied or been part of that are worth studying and referenced? Nationally or internationally?
Reference reading
- The Drawing Board
- Rohan Builders
- Mindspace Architects
- Charles Correa
- Charles Correa Foundation
- Culture Trip
- Down to Earth
- Durganand Balsavar
- Artesroots
- Duganand on Linkedin
BV. Doshi, once said, “A house is a grain, like a small sapling in the bio-diverse wild forest”. I wonder what a public space like a temple, a monument, museum, a park, an industrial zone, a 80 floor office tower or a man made landscape is? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”.
This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping the way communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.
This year, the theme is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details in the show notes and thedrawingboard.in
We begin this series with Ar. Prashant Pole. Prashant has a long and illustrious career that has spanned over three decades. His journey started with Naksha Architects in Bengaluru. He established his own firm, Genesis Architects in 1994 and has worked on single residences, apartments, offices, hotels and institutional buildings. Over these years, he has also been a visiting faculty at MCE Hassan, BIT Bangalore, SIT Tumkur, and USD Mysore. Aside from teaching, he has also been evaluating architecture design as a juror at various architecture schools in and around Bengaluru. We’ll be discussing what goes into making a museum.
Questions
- What is the museum according to you? Why do we need them?
- Are there any special characteristics when it comes to Museum’s architecture? How can we optimise space to accommodate a wide range of exhibits while maintaining a seamless visitor experience? (Considering people coming from diverse background, language, ethnicity, abilities and more)
- Accessibility, sustainability, security, are few common and must have things for any architecture, what are few other guidelines when it comes to a place like Museum?
- Which are the famous museums in India and why?
- Since this year’s theme is redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, how can we approach integrating the cultural diversity and historical significance of Badami into the design of a museum, ensuring it resonates with both local and international visitors?
- We say that “any place to be built should be built with the material found in 5KMs or it’s radius”. How true is it and why? How do you leverage local materials and craftsmanship to create a distinctive architectural identity for the museum, and what challenges might arise in this context?
- Lighting and climate control are crucial factors in preserving the artifacts. How can we go about creating and ideal environment yet ensuring it’s sustainable? We can consider Badami or any other museum (located in the such setup in India)
- What suggestions would you give those who wish to specialise in designing museums? Any extra attention in the context of Bandami museum?
Reference reading
- https://wcfa.ac.in/staff/prashant-girish-pole/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj84z3FA0tU
- https://thedrawingboard.in
- https://thinkmatter.in/2020/09/15/an-ephemeral-lab-in-a-city-of-fixity/
- https://www.bmsca.org/workshops.html
- https://www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/en/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_U9rjdsmOg
- https://dbcic.org
- The Drawing Board
- Rohan Builders
- Mindspace Architects
Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous line - “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about improvisation in dance with Avantika Bahl. Avantika is a dance practitioner and educator based in Mumbai. As an artist, she works towards creating inclusive performances that can be accessed by a larger community. Over the past few years, her choreographic choices have brought diverse voices and experiences to the mainstream. She studied at the London Contemporary Dance School and completed the Curriculum-in-Motion program offered by Jacobs Pillow. Avantika has a Masters degree in English Literature and completed her Level 3 certification in Indian Sign language.
Questions
- What according to you is improvisation? Where do we see it mostly happening? Is it seen in all creative endeavours?
- You have dabbled with silence, mundane chores, sometimes with just burst of sounds. What do you call your form of dance? Which category / genre does it belong?
- What does it mean to improvise in the context of dance? What guides improvisation for you - Body, Music, Theme, Story, Location or anything else?
- Traditionally dance (or most performing art forms) were considered to be performed effortlessly (Sahaj) and elegantly (simple). Does one need to know the rules to bend the rules? What does bending a rule mean? Improvisation?
- Your show “Say, What?” with a creative partner who is deaf. What is the extent of improvisation that a dancer can explore and still make it palatable? What the biggest challenge in experiments like these? You said, “We just have to be still and dance” - What do you mean?
- Tell us about your experience learning the Indian Sign language. How did it help?
- When and why do dancers improvise? When we fail or when we do something over and over again? Is it the boredom? Is it uncovering deeper layers as they keep performing or revisiting the movements? Is it that the medium falls short to express?
- Can improvisation be a starting point? Do smaller improvisations impulses land in changing the meta narrative? How does one come back to the main kathavastu / main narrative? May be you can explain in the context of “Look left, turn right”?
- What is the extent of improvisation when it comes to dance? Can you share any examples - names and artists who are doing and have done a lot in the past?
- What according to you is the future of dance and improvisation?
Reference reading
- https://www.avantikabahl.com
- https://www.instagram.com/avantikabahl/?hl=en
- https://prakritifoundation.com/artiseprofile/avantikabahl/
- https://vimeo.com/user5724048
- https://www.themovementartsco.com/blank-page
- https://narthaki.com/info/rev17/rev2058.html
- https://theideaslab.com/say-duet-celebrating-sounds-silence-movement/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merce_Cunningham
- https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/sep/16/dance
- https://sites.northwestern.edu/cageanddance/jcchoreo/
- https://www.abt.org/people/john-cage/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage
- https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/merce-cunningham-and-john-cage-discuss-music-and-dance
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohad_Naharin
- https://www.dansedanse.ca/en/ohad-naharin
- https://www.gagapeople.com/en/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/arts/dance/review-ohad-naharin-hora-batsheva.html
- https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-secret-history-of-the-israeli-choreographer-ohad-naharin
Satyajit Ray once said, “There is always room for improvisation”. I think this needs a lot more investigation.
Referring to Ray’s comment on the room of improvisation, today we have the honour to have Dr Trina Banerjee with us on Audiogyan. We’ll talk about improvisation in the context of Theatre, Plays, Playwriting, and performing arts at large.
Trina is an Assistant Professor in Cultural Studies at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Her research interests include Gender, Performance, Political Theatre, Theories of the Body, Postcolonial Theatre and South Asian History. She has also been a theatre and film actress, as well as a journalist and fiction writer.
Questions
- What according to you is improvisation? In how many ways do you see it manifesting? Where do we see it mostly happening? On streets? In life? or just creative endeavours?
- When do people improvise? What’s the motivation? Is it expressing themselves in different ways? Is it to communicate better with the other (State, society, individual)? Why do they do? Can you give any examples?
- What does it mean to improvise in the context of performing arts (Theatre, Dance, and more)?
- Are there categories or genres of improvisation which can be studied systematically? Did different forms of Theatre like the Theatre of Absurd or Pantomime and more emerge due to improvisation?
- When and why do people improvise on stage? When do we fail or when do we do something over and over again? Is it the boredom? Is it uncovering deeper layers as they keep performing or revisiting the text?
- When and how do improvisations become part of the main setup? As in, no longer be called improvisations? Has it happened that the playwright made changes to the original text as the years passed by?
Reference reading
- https://www.cssscal.org/faculty_trina_nileena_banerjee.php
- https://www.instagram.com/trinanileena/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtYA-zEkMjI
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti-bOIuUrwM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eArQSc9KDKo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T53FQ-m74Xg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmPiN2Tp3W0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi-owRniSBM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lX2_2cV9lY
- https://www.amazon.in/Books-Trina-Nileena-Banerjee/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3ATrina+Nileena+Banerjee
I quote John McLaughlin “I find Indian music very funky. I mean it's very soulful, with their own kind of blues. But it's the only other school on the planet that develops improvisation to the high degree that you find in jazz music. So we have a lot of common ground.”
Pushkar Lele and Kuldeep Barve joins us on Audiogyan and we will be talking about “Improvisation in music”. It’s going to be a bi-lingual conversation in English and Marathi.
Pushkar is a renowned Hindustani classical vocalist and Founder-Director of ‘Gandhara School of Music’. More about his Gurus, rich repertoire and enriching journey of learning music in the show notes.
Kuldeep is a classical guitarist. His practice is influenced by jazz and Indian classical music. He is a co-founder and a core member of the Pune Guitar Society.
Welcome Pushkar & Kuldeep! It’s an honor to have you on Audiogyan. Thanks for giving your time.
As I started of with John McLaughlin’s quote, I wanted to document some of your thoughts on “Improvisation” - when it comes to Hindustani Classical and Western Classical music with a lot of Jazz which I believe has a lot of improvisation.
Just as a small plug, you can also listen to “Jazz in India” where I interviewed Denzil Smith in episode 133.
Questions
- What according to you is improvisation in the broadest sense?
- What does it mean to improvise in a concert? When is it required? How spontaneous it is
- Do you see a similar pattern in a Western Classical performances? Or perhaps Jazz? Can we confidently say that each performance by Loius Amstrong was different even for the same set of tracks?
- Do you need to be qualified to improvise? If yes, when are you allowed to improvise in Guru Shishya Parampara?
- Do we have a lineage kind of a thing in Western music as well - which deals with improvisations? Especially in genres like Jazz, Blues or country?
- What is the difference between improvising, exploring or presenting with a different perspective?
- When do we call something is improvised? After how much deviation from originally planned is called improvisation?
- When does one improvise? When they do the same thing over and over again or when they see some room for exploration? What’s a more common pattern?
- What are the extents of improvisation? Whats at stake when an artist is improvising?
- Can improvisations land in a loop of improvisations? How do you come back to the sthayi bhava?
- Does a well trained audience appreciate improvisations?
- When and how do improvisations become part of the main setup? As in, no longer be called as improvisations?
Reference readings
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushkar_Lele
- https://www.facebook.com/lelepushkar/
- https://map.sahapedia.org/article/Pushkar-Lele/2912
- https://www.youtube.com/@lelepushkar
- https://soundcloud.com/pushkar-lele
- https://twitter.com/lelepushkar?lang=en
- https://map.sahapedia.org/article/Kuldeep-Barve/3004
- https://www.instagram.com/kuldeep.barve/?hl=en
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuldeep-barve-4394514/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://puneguitarsociety.org/core-team/
- https://twitter.com/mifya?lang=en
- https://soundcloud.com/kuldeep-barve
- https://www.academia.edu/33995371/Strings_attached_A_short_history_of_the_Western_classical_guitar_in_India_docx
“Waste not, want not.” can be explained as “if you are not wasteful with the resources you have now, then at a later date you will have those resources to use as you want and need. By not wasting, you will not be needy later.”
And today to discuss all about waste ecosystem and the sector at large, we have Rahul Nainani with us on Audiogyan. Rahul has a passion for sustainable policies that create value. With one eye on the bottom line and the other on tangible social impact, Rahul, along with his co-founder Gurashish Singh Sahni founded ReCircle in 2016, as an innovative, multifaceted solution to India’s burgeoning waste management woes. ReCircle has instituted flagship initiatives such as, ClimaOne, Plastic EPR Service, Plastic-Neutral programs and ground-level community collection drives. We’ll talking about this and more.
Questions
- How do we define waste? What all broad categories of waste do we generate?
- Can you share some stats about waste generated in India every day? Perhaps about the waste ecosystem and the sector at large?
- How does the entire setup work? Which all entities are involved in handling waste? From collection at source to finally dumped or put for recycling?
- How do we do in comparison to other developing countries like us?
- How critical has been the impact of Swatch Bharat and other initiatives to entrepreneurs like you or the entire ecosystem?
- Tell us a little bit about ReCircle — how did you come to start it and why? Tell us about your team, initiatives, programs and everything. Right from Safai Saathis to governing bodies, how do you engage with them?
- What is ClimaOne? Tell us about other flagship initiatives under ReCircle?
- How has technology changed things for everyone in this ecosystem? How and where technology is applied?
- Waste management doesn’t sound very sexy. How do you attract talent and run the company?
- What is the future of Waste? Can we expect waste in Meta-verse? Can we expect India to be as clean as Singapore?
Reference reading
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulnainani
- https://www.mwcbarcelona.com/agenda/speaker/rahul-nainani
- https://twitter.com/rahul_nainani?lang=en
- https://www.instagram.com/rahulnainani18/
- https://recircle.in
- https://www.theentrepreneursofindia.in/post/rahul-nainani-the-entrepreneurs-of-india-youngpreneur-magazine-august-2022
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/recircleindia/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.eatmy.news/2023/07/rahul-nainani-gurashish-singh-sahni-how.html
- https://medium.com/worthwhile/in-conversation-with-rahul-naini-ceo-and-cofounder-of-recircle-52c31f156f41
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurashish123/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://yourstory.com/companies/recircle
- https://www.thequint.com/explainers/explained-indias-cleanest-city-indore-is-earning-huge-bucks-from-its-garbage
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cleanest_cities_in_India
- https://theprint.in/india/these-are-the-secrets-to-indores-5-year-cleanest-city-streak-and-its-not-rocket-science/772362/
- https://indianexpress.com/article/india/indore-cleanest-city-swachh-rankings-7632466/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambikapur,_Chhattisgarh
- https://india.mongabay.com/2023/05/ambikapurs-women-led-waste-management-system-also-generates-revenue-for-the-city/#:~:text=Ambikapur bagged a bigger recognition,best self-sustained small city.
Peter Brook the legendary English theatre and film director once said, **“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.”
Lets talk about the need for such a space with Atul Kumar.
Atul Kumar is The Company Theatre’s founder member. An acclaimed actor and director with more than 30 years of performance experience, Atul has dabbled with different languages and forms of theatre & has showcased his work all over India & abroad. His basic performance training was in the traditional Indian dance and martial art forms of Kathakali and Kalerippayettu in Kerala for over three years as well as a stint with the master of visual theatre - Philippe Genty in France. More about him in the show notes. Today we’ll deep dive into The Company Theatre Workspace, Kamshet as a case study.
Questions
- What is The Company Theatre Workspace at Kamshet?
- What inspired you to make such a place? Was it the influences from Aadishakti, Nrityagram or Footsbarn theatre group?
- There is a beautiful 10 minute video on youtube where you briefly explain the backstory of this place and how it came to be. Do you want to share more details like which were the other 3 spots you shortlisted and why chose this over others? Why was your “want to” list huge? What were your pre-requisites?
- Why do you call it a laboratory for theatre and performing arts? When I see your Instagram page, artists are doing all sorts of things from Tai Chi, Yoga to just running around and doing theatre drills, packed with high intensity body movements. What do you do in the space?
- You mentioned that “we don’t always expect artists to do something specific but just be by themselves”. How does this help? Reflection, introspection anything else?
- For outcome oriented projects, people need structure to think, how does this place facilitate it?
- (Philosophical) Everyone needs time to pause and reflect. Do artist need more of it? Why? Can you tell us more about the place? How does the place accommodate for experimentation? Geography, topology, open space, residency and other things about the place?
- What’s the future? Do we need more such spaces? Do we have similar places in India? Some mentions about your wonderful and dedicated to art team?
Reference links
- https://www.instagram.com/atulkumartct/?hl=en
- https://twitter.com/atulkumartct
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1241640/
- https://www.thecompanytheatre.net/team
- https://www.youtube.com/c/AtulKumarTheCompanyTheatre/videos
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm1h1CY-X1w
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ6PfJEDOmc
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrKp30jP28o
Welcome back to Part 2. We were in conversation with Jan Schmidt Garre, film maker, producer and founder of PARS MEDIA. They make high-quality documentaries and feature films with a focus on classical music, dance, and the fine arts.
In the previous episode, we spoke about “Making a documentary” and in this, we speak about his latest Documentary on Late Ar. B.V.Doshi called the “The Promise – Architect BV Doshi”.
Questions
- You have made 2 documentaries in the East. What fascinates you about the East, about India?
- What makes you make films of Design, art, dance and such creative expressions. Why did you consider architecture to be part of art as a film maker?
- What is “The Promise – Architect BV Doshi”? How did the idea of documenting him come about?
- How did you discover Doshi’s and what drew you closer to him?
- There has been so much documentation on Doshi. What is your narrative in the film?
- In your interview with Ritupriya Basu, you said, “Doshi’s architecture must not be shown silently.” How did you manage to show the interactions between the architecture and their inhabitants?
- Whats the most enriching moment during your interaction with the legend and making of the film?
- I also happened to interview Doshi on Audiogyan. Every word he says is magical. Very difficult to cut things as they are lyrical and rhythmic. How did you go about editing this film. Seems like the toughest part of the adventure
- What was your biggest learning and takeaways from the experience? Can you share any anecdotes or experiences of chatting with him, going on a spiritual journey with so beautiful metaphors and explaining the most complex things with love.
- When are you showing the film in India? How can people watch it?
Reference links
- https://www.parsmedia.com
- https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jan_schmidtgarre
- https://www.instagram.com/janschmidtgarre/
- https://www.delage-artists.com/en/artist/jan-schmidt-garre/biography/
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0773272/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Schmidt-Garre
“In feature films, the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director.” Alfred Hitchcock.
Welcome to this 2 part series with Jan Schmidt Garre. First part is about “Making a documentary” and second part is his latest Documentary on Late Ar. B.V.Doshi called the “The Promise – Architect BV Doshi”.
Jan Schmidt-Garre founded PARS MEDIA in 1988. It’s a production company for high-quality documentaries and feature films with a focus on classical music, dance, and the fine arts. His films have been broadcasted in over thirty countries.
Questions
- How true are things if they are not documented anywhere?
- How do you define private and public? (While documenting)
- How objective is / should be documentation?
- What are the rules or framework or principles while making a documentary? How you keep the purity and innocence of the moment or the story? Avoid colouring from the past and your own judgement?
- What qualifies to be documented? How does one start?
- Is there a limit to what can be said in audio-visual format or film making?
- Can documentaries be dangerous?
- What’s more effective for story telling, making believable? when you witnessing and being part of the documentary or dramatising sections which you couldn’t be a part of?
- What are the top 3 attributes of a good documentary?
- (Personal) Since your documentaries are on Art, Music and dance, don’t you feel that you are missing out on actual moments of witnessing the event as oppose to filming it?
We’ll continue this topic in part 2 since I wish to talk about film, The Promise, B.V. Doshi
Reference links
- https://www.parsmedia.com
- https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jan_schmidtgarre
- https://www.instagram.com/janschmidtgarre/
- https://www.delage-artists.com/en/artist/jan-schmidt-garre/biography/
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0773272/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Schmidt-Garre
Maa kaa aashirwaad, OK TATA Bye Bye, Hum Do Hamare Do, Mera Bharat Mahan - Sounds familiar? I am talking about the slogans written behind the truck. But we are not going to discuss those, rather the heavy vehicles on which these are written. Yes. Trucks.
In 1911, truck designer Charles Martin built a gasoline-powered tractor to pull modified horse-drawn commercial wagons. His most significant innovation, however, was the fifth-wheel coupler. A round plate with a central hole, it attached to the top of tractor frames to connect and support trailers. Trucks are broadly divided into light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty classifications depending on their weight. And in today’s episode, we will try and introduce ourselves to how are trucks designed.
I am pleased to have Sathiya Seelan Gangaasalam with us on Audiogyan. He is currently Vice President of Design at Ashok Leyland. An industrial designer who has spent over 2 decades designing cars, trucks, busses, and three-wheelers. Sathiya is a Design thinker, mentor, and writer and also a passionate watercolor artist.
Questions
- Can you paint us a landscape of Trucks and truck market in India? Who are the key players, what gets designed, manufactured in India and what’s imported and more?
- Which sectors use Truck the most and for what purpose?
- What are some of the principles on which a trucks are designed? How do you define success of a good truck design?
- Do we have further classification of sub categories within light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty trucks? Specially for India?
- Can you tell us the brief stages involved while designing a truck or a heavy duty vehicle? From idea to hitting the market and evolution?
- Why do truck manufacturers usually design a new model about every five to seven years?
- Do we have special differences while designing heavy duty vehicles specifically for India?
- Do companies spend time designing accessories (Bells and Whistles) for a truck which is mostly meant for work?
- Tell us a little bit about the cabin - Safety features, Digital displays, Storage, Charging, Button start, sleeping, lights and more
Reference Reading
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathiyaseelan-g-4bb95048/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.dsource.in/resource/history-automotive-design-india/top-automotive-designers-india/sathiya-seelan
- https://www.instagram.com/sathiyaseelangangasalam/?hl=en
16th July is World snake day - 4 days from today when this episode is released and on this occasion, we are doing a case study of Snake-a-doo, a board game about Snakes and Snake-bites. More than a million people have died due to snakebites in India in the past 20 years. “Snake-a-doo” is an original take on the conventional snakes and ladders game, only this time without any ladders (it only has snakes). It is geared towards education on 9 snake species commonly found in India including the 4 main venomous ones.
Today we have Peeyush Sekhsaria who conceptualised the game and Khyati Pathak who designed it. Peeyush has a Masters's in Earthen Architecture from CRATerre, France, and an M.Phil in Geography from the Sorbonne, Paris. He is currently based out of Delhi working as a Consultant in the domains of Environment, Disaster Management, and Development. Khyati is a writer and a cartoonist. Passionate about policy frameworks and also the host of Puliyabaazi Podcast.
Before we begin, I also want to call out the team who have designed this game with careful messaging, attractive colors, good photographs, and in the tradition of a good board game that will be fun and learning at the same time. Shubham Sayanke, Jose Louis, Parikshit Suryavanshi, Shashi Jha, and Vivek Sharma. Snake-a-doo has been brought to you by Indiansnakes.org and WASA Amravati. 50% of the profit from your purchase goes to support WASA, Amravati’s work in education on snakes and snake bite reduction, and 50% goes to support copies of the game for local groups. So head on to https://snakeadoo.wordpress.com to buy.
Questions
- What is Snake-a-doo?
- What made you come up with this idea?
- Can you briefly share some numbers related to “people dying due to snake bites, types of snakes, density of snakes in different areas within India, snake deaths, impact on food chain etc…”
- What was the process of making it? Initial iterations, user testing (🙂) getting it verified with experts and more? How did you adapt for tribal areas and villages?
- How and why did you pick on these 4 main venomous ones? And which are the other snakes which are non-poisonous
- What modification you made to traditional snakes and ladders. What were the challenges?
- Seems like you have added few things like, points and notes along with rescue kits. Tell us some bits about it
- Why did you decide to make on cloth and not a board or any other material?
- Seems like it’s not just for kids? Who can / should play this game?
- Why did you make in 3 sizes and 3 languages? Have you used local names for snakes?
- Can it be replicated by locals and regional people?
- How has the response been so far? How close we are to the Mission Zero Snake-bite Death. Is it possible?
Reference reading
- https://snakeadoo.wordpress.com
- http://indiansnakes.org
- https://www.pashoopakshee.com/about-us
- https://www.facebook.com/peeyush.sekhsaria
- https://www.instagram.com/enthunature/
- https://twitter.com/crepescularia
- www.peeyushsekhsaria.com
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/1534385603578576
- https://www.instagram.com/snakeadoo/
As Scott Adams, an American author and cartoonist says, “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” In our today’s episode, we’ll try and understand who is making mistakes and who keeps the art. I am personally super interested in knowing how things unfold in this episode with Ujjwal Agarwal also known as Kala.
Ujjwal is a generative artist whose works explore the intersection of art and technology through the use of algorithms and code. His art is characterized by intricate patterns and shapes that emerge and evolve organically from within the digital canvas. He creates art that is both structured and spontaneous, offering a glimpse into the complex interplay between order and chaos. Drawing inspiration from nature, music, and mathematics, KALA's art invites viewers to immerse themselves in a world of beauty and complexity. Kala has a degree in Computer Engineering from NIT Jaipur and a MA in Computational Arts from Goldsmiths University, London.
We can call Ujjwal a multidisciplinary artist given his work in Design, music, and art. But in today’s conversation, we’ll deep dive into his artworks.
Questions
- Broad
- What is Generative art / design? Because these days, Generative AI is a buzz word, how different or similar it is?
- How and where do you classify your style of work? Which genre, category does it belong? You work seems to be abstract.
- Can you help us understand the landscape of this kind of work by comparing it with the west or rest of the world? Artists, markets, etc…? - Just a sneak-peak
- As per the starting quote, what principles or prompts you use to curate or self critique your work? (Apart from looking good and feeling nice - usually which any artwork is judged)
- Work
- What do you do exactly? How do you make your art? How do you know the artwork is finished?
- Your work illustrates a lot of chaos, lines and abstract forms - Do they emerge organically due to the medium and means or you have something in mind before you start? How do you bring order to the chaos?
- (Little technical) Which softwares and consoles you use? Which are the applications commonly used for this kind of work?
- How do you start an artwork?
- Philosophy
- What the story behind Kala?
- What makes you interested in Music and Design also? Do you see a common underlying thread?
- What makes you say that tomorrow is made of art?
- Why do you think, Kala is black?
- What’s the future of art? Generative art according to you? What do you think we can see as artwork in 2050 or 2100 :)
Reference Reading
- https://www.ujjwalagarwal.com/index.html
- https://www.artblocks.io/collections/presents/projects/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/414
- https://themethod.art/collections/ujjwal-agarwal-kala/time-pieces
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ujjwalagarwal/
Welcome to Audiogyan and I'm your host Kedar Nimkar. Audiogyan brings you conversations with the most influential figures in the Indian creative world - Artists, filmmakers, musicians, architects, writers, curators and designers. I had the honor of hosting remarkable guests like the late Ar. B.V Doshi, Sujata Keshavan, Varun Grover, Taufiwu Quereshi and many more…
We deep dive into their philosophies to understand their worldview. I hope these enriching conversation fuel us with inspiration and understand design and art in the larger context.
Subscribe and tune into Audiogyan on your favorite podcasting app or visit audiogyan.com for more details. Thanks for listening!
David M. Torn, an American guitarist, composer, and producer once said, “The original source of any loop is whatever your sound is, at the moment of input.” Well to unpack this and know more about looping, we have Vasuda Sharma with us on Audiogyan.
Vasuda is a Singer, Songwriter, Producer, and Performer. In fact, being a performer, I have seen her live, playing multiple instruments and live looping at Blue Frog a long time ago. She is trained in Indian classical music. After composing many songs, she later decided to study music more rigorously. Vasuda studied Contemporary Writing and Production at Berklee. More about her in the show notes. We’ll try and understand some basics of looping in the context of music.
Questions
- What is looping? (More abstract and philosophical)
- What is looping in the context of music? Is it close to tiling? Is it only to set the rhythm and to create a base texture or something more?
- Any short history about it? When and how did it start? How did you get into it?
- How do you arrive at a final song? What comes first while you create a track, the base cycle of looping or the tune or the lyrics, or anything else? I suspect these happen simultaneously due to their nature, but if we can break it to understand? 🙂
- What’s the trip/kicks-in looping? On one side doesn’t it feel restrictive since you working in the same taal / tempo? No? Can you give an example of how looping can be explorative?
- What are the different approaches for looping as an art form? Any difference between live looping and recording? Is anything that is more challenging than others?
- What is the long-term future of looping in this digital world? Any artists to follow?
Reference Reading
- https://www.vasudasharma.in/
- https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ED6kjY3EyIRkxM2HAbrCL
- https://music.apple.com/in/artist/vasuda-sharma/403246645
- https://twitter.com/vasudasharma
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHvU7UkPj1jHpHbuletJzVg
- https://www.youtube.com/user/vasudasharma
- https://soundcloud.com/vasuda
- https://www.instagram.com/vasudasharma/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasuda-sharma-86262034/
- https://mixtapelive.in/artists/vasuda-sharma/
Kamini Rao has built giant cakes, designed cozy mountain homes and boozy retro diners, created fake airplanes, and architected a house for a doll. Although her work is deeply rooted in architecture and interior design, we will be talking about space, exhibition, and set design. She is a multidisciplinary designer with a focus on collective experiences using art and architecture. She founded Studio Slip in 2018 with the aim to bring an experimental approach to interior design. At SLIP, she heads a team of architects and designers and together they design cultural spaces, museums, and exhibitions but also work in the commercial and residential realm.
Questions
- Let's start with what kind of work you exactly do.
- What are exhibition design and set design? What is the kind of brief you get? Which are the entities involved in any exhibition and while making a set; from a designer’s point of view?
- How does a space for an exhibition come to be? What are the steps involved in it? If you can explain with and example?
- How do you decide when to use a fake and when to get an original for a particular theme?
- How and from where do ideas come from since each theme will be different? From where do you seek inspiration? People involved in the exhibition, theme, objective of the project, or anything else?
- How much of overlap does architecture, interior design, industrial and furniture design have while designing an exhibition or making a set? Again if any example to explain?
- In design, we call the best design to be invisible design. How much of it holds true in spatial design?
- Can you share the most fun and exciting project you did and a few nuances of it? Maybe a little bit about the Doll Project or any of your miniature spaces?
- I have been to film sets and other productions. Usually, what's in the frame is clean while outside the frame it’s usually messy. Why? How does your designer in you make peace with it?
- What’s the future of space design, exhibitions, and real spaces where the world is moving towards a meta-verse? 🙂
Reference reading
- https://www.instagram.com/kaminira0/?hl=en
- https://studioslip.com/home
- https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/evvvz/of-dioramas-dollhouses-and-design-collaboration-interview-with-ruchika-nambiar-and-kamini-rao
- https://studioslip.com/bodiesatsea-ncbs-exhibition-design
- https://tbcy.in/what-is-spatial-design-kamini-rao-founder-and-creative-director-studio-slip/
I am not sure where do I start today’s episode since it’s about aesthetics. This concept can be seen in mathematics, arts, poetry, literature, music, sculpture, photography, cooking. In fact anything that you see, smell, taste, touch or hear. So lets leave it to our today’s guest, Saugata Bhaduri. He is an Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, India. A scholar in the field of aesthetics, which is the philosophical study of beauty and taste. As a professor at JNU, Saugata is known for his engaging and thought-provoking lectures and has made a significant impact on the education of students in the arts and humanities. Through his teaching, research, and engagement, he is making important contributions to the field of aesthetics and to the study of the arts and humanities more broadly. We’ll try and understand some basics and how to go about understanding aesthetics.
Questions
- What are aesthetics? How would you define aesthetics, and what role do you see it playing in the study of the arts and humanities?
- Since it’s about beauty and taste, is it subjective or objective? Who defines aesthetics? Are there any categories to classify or framework to understand aesthetics?
- How do you approach the study of aesthetics from an interdisciplinary perspective, and what benefits does this bring to the field?
- What role do you think aesthetics plays in shaping the society? How do you think it can be used to address social and cultural issues?
- Can you discuss any current research or initiatives in the field of aesthetics that you find particularly interesting or important, and why?
Reference Reading
- https://www.jnu.ac.in/content/bhaduris
- https://jnu.irins.org/profile/56659
- https://twitter.com/saugata_bhaduri?lang=en
- https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=H_0CYrgAAAAJ&hl=en
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/saugata-bhaduri-42743133/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.amazon.in/Books-Saugata-Bhaduri/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3ASaugata+Bhaduri
- https://www.facebook.com/saugata.bhaduri/
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saugata-Bhaduri
Rajni Bakshi joins us on Audiogyan. She is an Indian author, researcher, and activist. Her work primarily focuses on issues related to non-violence, economics, ecology, and peace. Rajni is the founder and curator of Ahimsa Conversations, an online platform for exploring the possibilities of nonviolence. More about her in the show notes. I have been to Vipassana a couple of times and found that peace is an outcome of a war. This made me curious to have a conversation with Rajni on understanding the design of Peace. A small note before we start. These are complex subjects of a lifetime. As I and Rajni spoke about this before the recording, we are all exploring the right questions for the given answers.
Questions
- What does nonviolence (Ahimsa) mean to you? Tell us a little bit about “Ahimsa Conversations”. How and where did all of it begin?
- Isn’t violence part of nature - “survival of the fittest”? Also one fights with oneself to perform better (an athlete for eg.) How do you see violence with this lens?
- How do you respond to criticism that non-violence is ineffective or idealistic in the face of oppression and violence?
- How do you see using non-violence as a means of social change? In your view, what are some of the key challenges to promoting and practicing non-violence in our communities and societies? Gandhi is the biggest example of changing the power structure through non-violence. Do you think it’s possible today?
- What is the long-term future of violence as a concept?
Reference Reading
- https://www.crackerandrush.com/case_studies/ahimsa/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajni_Bakshi
- https://www.rfp.org/leadership_member/ms-rajni-bakshi/
- https://www.awakin.org/v2/calls/308/rajni-bakshi/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHzMW9biiFM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wI2D243IsQ
- https://indianexpress.com/profile/columnist/rajni-bakshi/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajni-bakshi-29ba0a2/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.youtube.com/@AhimsaConversations/featured
In episode 220 with Hrush Bhatt, he said, a sculptor knows his / her medium, marble, mud, or stone, and an architect knows what kind of material he/she wants, similarly, a digital product designer should know how to code, design and write copy. Today we have a guest who is a perfect blend of understanding materials and implementing them in her practice. Sagarika Suri - a practicing architect and urban designer in Mumbai. She practices small and large-scale projects through Studio Tessera based in Mumbai and dabbles with materials at rockpaperscissors. It’s a material lab for the studio to experiment with ideas and concepts on a smaller scale. Sagarika is also a part of CSA which is the Collective for Spatial Alternatives and has been engaged in self-development and low-cost housing projects in Mumbai.
Questions
- What does material mean to you? Has that definition changed over time? How important it is for a designer to know his/ her medium? Why?
- What is "rockpaperscissors"? Why did you start it?
- From your research on materials, what are you trying to arrive at? Is there a goal or just exploration? Because it is said that material is just a medium. (as BV Doshi says, even RCC can be made to look beautiful).
- What are a few parameters on which you evaluate a material? Is there a framework or set of guiding principles to identify good material versus bad?
- You also engage in repurposing/reusing waste. Here plastic seems to be the most versatile material if used properly. Tell us about plastic and your engagement with waste.
- Which is the most versatile material, plywood, paper, resin, concrete, glass, and cloth that you are currently working with or anything else?
- How do you investigate the short-term and long-term implications of a particular material? If you can give any examples?
- Can you explain the process by taking an example of any material and how has the journey been so far? What have you uncovered? How about Liquid Plywood for eg?
- How does this help in your commercial projects?
- What is the future of materials? Which material do you think will dominate the market? We see a lot of sustainability brands mushrooming all over. Do you think they will scale?
Reference reading
- https://media.biltrax.com/sagarika-suri-breathing-new-life-into-construction-waste-materials/
- https://surfacesreporter.com/architect/105/ar-sagarika-suri
- https://syntalk.wordpress.com/episodes/turn-six/tcafg/
- https://open.spotify.com/episode/3psCaazWtE3Kmeck0HnRiS?si=e74c7076d3a14016
- http://studiotessera.in
- http://studiotessera.in/rock-paper-scissor/
- https://www.instagram.com/surisagarika/?hl=en
- https://www.instagram.com/rockpaperscissors_bombay/?hl=en
Today we have Dr. Keshavchaitanya Kunte with us on Audiogyan. He is a Harmonium player, composer, and musicologist. Keshavchaitanya Sir received extensive training in Hindustani Art music, for Harmonium under the able guidance of Dr. Arawind Thatte. For vocal music from Pt. Mohanrao Karve and Dr. Ashok Da. Ranade for musicology.
We’ll try to document Keshavchaitanya Sir’s thoughts on parampara (tradition) and paddhati (methodology) in the context of Hindustani Music. Just as a disclaimer, these subjects are studies of a lifetime and it’s almost impossible to pack in an hour or so… Please consider these as conversation starters.
Also before we begin, a special thanks to Dakshina Dwarka Foundation and Baithak Foundation for introducing me to Chaitanya sir. I met him at a workshop organized in Pune in 2022 on Talking with Tradition. This Audiogyan will be in Marathi and English
Questions
- What according to you is Prampara and Paddhati? I know these are 2 massive subjects but just a brief introduction will help.
- What are the main 5 categories of Indian music? (That Dr. Ashok Ranade spoke about) Do all of them have paddhati?
- Seems like all music will have paddhati but does all of them have parampara? How do you define parampara in Music?
- In classical music, you are supposed to undergo rigorous training to master what? Paddhati? When and how are you allowed to experiment?
- In the music world, we hear this often, “The Lalit that morning by Aamir Khan will be etched in the heart for life”. What is the significance of time and place in this context? Which aspect of parampara and which aspect of paddhati keep the relationship?
- What according to you is the difference between “Shastrokta sangeet” and “Shastriya sangeet”?
Reference Reading
- http://baithak.org/talking-with-tradition/
- https://unipune.academia.edu/KeshavchaitanyaKunte
- https://chaitanyakunte.weebly.com/profile.html
- https://www.instagram.com/keshavchaitanya/?hl=en
- https://chaitanyakunte.wordpress.com/about/
- https://www.facebook.com/keshavchaitanya
- https://audiogyan.com/2022/04/28/baithak-foundation/
- https://www.amazon.com/Kabir-Way-Mandar-Karanjkar/dp/938566557X
- https://twitter.com/mandarkaranjkar
- https://www.youtube.com/c/MandarKaranjkar1
If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you.
-Kabir.
Today we have such a person with us on Audiogyan who has not only heard his inner voice but also share himself as a work of art. He happens to be born n raised in Kashmir. Would his work of art be any different if he was born raised anywhere else in the world ? I am pleased to have Mohammad Muneem Nazir with us on Audiogyan. He is a poet, singer-songwriter. His artist name is Alif. He is the winner of the IRAA Award for his single “Like a Sufi” and the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the single “Lalnawath”. He conceptualizes and directs Alif’s videos. Muneem teaches Urdu poetry/songwriting at Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce in Pune and also conducts various poetry/song writing workshops.
Questions
- Who according to you is a poet? What does poetry mean to you? Can you separate poet from the poetry?
- Does a poet need to be always in pain? or seeking pain? How instinctive is “writing” for any poet? or for you?
- Does poetry find its foothold in a good society? It has been seen time and again that authorities are scared of poets. Why?
- In your DD Kasheer interview, you casually mentioned that you want to stay with a positive vibe - While your poetry seems to be dark at times. How and where is this conflict? Do you see this conflict?
- You often say, Kashmiri language has a lyrical quality to it and the words feel musical. Even your compositions seem soothing and melodies but the lyrical content has some under current. Is it conscious or comes naturally due to your surrounding?
- This is in context of your song, “Lalnawath”. There can be multiple takeaways from it. Is there any threshold of abstraction when you say what you want to say but still making it palatable to listener / reader of your poetry?
- I interviewed Varun Grover long time ago and he said that a poet is creating art within the environment he or she is living. While few artists have done amazing work in exile. How and when can one reflect or zoom out to see the larger narrative? Is there a larger narrative while poets live in the utopian world?
Reference Reading
- https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/mohammad-muneem-of-alif-on-their-unique-music/article25908501.ece
- https://rollingstoneindia.com/alif-mohammad-muneem-siyah-azizo/
- https://twitter.com/alifsmusic?lang=en
- https://www.instagram.com/everythingisalif/?hl=en
Vinu Daniel joins us on Audiogyan. He is an Architect and did his B. Arch in 2005 from The College of Engineering, Trivandrum. After that, he worked with Auroville Earth Institute for the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Post-Tsunami construction. On returning from Pondicherry in 2007 he started 'Wallmakers', an architectural practice that deals with sustainable and cost-effective architecture. Mud bricks, recycled materials, eco-friendly methods of construction, and apt utilization of natural resources shaped Vinu's design philosophy. We’ll try and document some of his thoughts on mud as a material and what is truly sustainable.
Questions
- According to BV Doshi, cement is just another material. It depends on how we use it. What’s wrong with cement?
- What’s so beautiful about mud as a material? It gives a lot of warmth. What’s the extent to which Mud as a material can be exploited? Can we build a skyscraper with mud?
- In UI design, we have an atomic theory for building design systems. In your case, is brick the foundation block? How do you build foundations?
- At Wallmakers, how do you ensure Mud is sturdy and stable? How do you ensure that waste doesn’t spoil the architecture in a long run? Tell us a little bit about Debris Wall and Shuttered Debris Wall.
- “Sustainable” is now an overused term. It loses its actual meaning over time. While you have been practicing it pretty religiously / judiciously. What does it mean to you? What is truly sustainable?
- When we are focused on a particular agenda/approach, we tend to have less focus on other dynamics. For eg: If everything is about sustainability, What about architecture that invests in creating space for conversations? (Like Correa) - How do you balance them in your work?
- What is the long-term future of housing, shelter, and security according to you? (Do you see any flip side to the name “Wallmakers”?)
Reference reading
- https://www.wallmakers.org
- https://architectuul.com/architect/vinu-daniel
- https://www.instagram.com/ar.vinudaniel/?hl=en
- https://www.gqindia.com/live-well/content/indias-most-radical-architect-vinu-daniel-is-getting-even-more-radical
- https://www.stirworld.com/think-columns-vinu-daniel-feels-at-home-with-the-brick
- https://www.beautifulhomes.com/magazine/lifestyle/features/architect-vinu-daniel-creates-sustainable-homes-that-look-good-a.html
- https://www.designpataki.com/videos/sustainable-design-practices-with-architect-vinu-daniel/
- https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/vinu-daniel-sustainable-architect-participates-in-exhibition-on-climate-change-our-time-on-earth-in-barbican/article65353319.ece
- https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/enfvm/-we-must-give-back-to-the-site-says-wallmakers-founder-vinu-daniel.html
Swami Vivekananda once said that “Get extensity with intensity, but not at its expense.” I guess our today’s guest has been trying to achieve both very elegantly in her practice, breadth, and depth at the same time. Happy to have Ruchika Nambiar with us on Audiogyan. Ruchika is an artist, designer, and writer. Her work ranges across media, from publishing books, graphic memoirs, interactive social media stories, design consulting practice for brands and businesses as well as a mentorship program for young artists and designers. We’ll be talking about what it takes to be an interdisciplinary designer. She has some really well-documented videos on her youtube channel and website.
Questions
- What is your definition of design and what’s your definition of art?
- What does it really mean to be an interdisciplinary designer or an artist? Is it an outcome to input? How do you compare it with being a T-shaped designer?
- Can one start being interdisciplinary? As Massimo Vignelli says, “if you can design one thing, you can design everything”. How would you respond to that?
- What comes first for such designers - Thought or the medium to explore?
- In your talk “10 Practical Realities of a Multi-Disciplinary Practice” on youtube - you mention, “use your best skill first” - isn’t it difficult to become best at one thing while doing another?
- I have heard multiple times (recently by Varun Grover) that if you wish to write, do all other things than writing. Then write. Basically, expose yourself to many other things which fuel your creativity. What does an interdisciplinary artist or a designer consume?
- [personal question] From whatever I gather after researching you and seeing your work, it’s quite a feat. Plus you talk about being a project manager, handling billing, building relationships, and so on… Do you feel you are spread thin? What keep you motivated on so many levels?
Reference reading
- https://www.ruchikanambiar.com
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVxy7nt3zp0
- https://www.youtube.com/@RuchikaNambiar/videos
- https://www.instagram.com/thatruchika/?hl=en
- https://adplist.org/mentors/ruchika-nambiar
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchikanambiar/
Anton Chekov’s famous lines in his book are… “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.” Well, I guess our today’s guest has an innate and instinctive quality to decide what’s in the frame and what's not. Be her earlier stint as a photojournalist or her avatar as a production designer for numerous films since 2006. I am pleased to have Meenal Agarwal with us on Audiogyan. She has been a production designer for many films like Ankhon Dekhi, Hitchki, Pari, Bulbul, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, and most recently the Netflix film Qala.
Questions
- What does a film mean to you? What are the other 2 things that matter the most to you in a film apart from the story?
- I guess, in the early days of cinema, there was not really an explicit role of a production designer (at least in India). Most of the stuff was done by the director and the cameraman. How did it come to be? Why did we feel the need for production designers? Scale? More attention to detail? Quality of the narrative?
- What is production design in the context of a film? How are they different from Art directors or set designers?
- Who are the key stakeholders of a production designer? How much of a role do they have in refining / changing the narrative? Any example from Aakhon Dekhi or rk-rkay or Dum Laga ke haisha?
- How much space is important in your work? When do you decide to make a replica or use the original? Can you briefly explain what are the steps to arrive at the final output? What’s kind of a process? Maybe take a recent example of Qala which is set in the 1940s in Calcutta.
- How do you decide what stays and what’s not required in the frame keeping the larger story in context? Since you are creating a whole world out there - How big is the team generally for small-scale production and large-scale production?
- All might seem possible in the pre-production stage but during the shoot, budgets might just shoot up. What compromises does a production designer do? Again with any example?
- What is more satisfying as a creative designer - working on relatively large budget films like Hitchki and Shakuntala Devi or bootstrap films like rk/rkay?
- What is the future of Production Design when everything is going digital? First, it was actors on green screen and now humans are replacing AI-driven characters.
- If you have the conclusion by giving some tips for those who wish to get into this space, what would be those?
Reference Reading1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1440715/ 2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/meenal-agarwal-3827555/?originalSubdomain=in 3. https://www.mid-day.com/sunday-mid-day/article/working-as-a-photojournalist-was-like-riyaaz-23260028 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnV0GNtHlyU 5. https://www.instagram.com/lifaafa_/?hl=en 6. https://scroll.in/reel/1037258/the-art-of-qala-art-nouveau-and-a-lot-of-drama-in-the-darkness
Audiogyan is proud to partner with UnBox Cultural Futures Society and What Design Can do. What Design Can Do, is an international organization that seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, fair, and just society using the power of design.
WhatDesignCanDo is launching the “Make it Circular Challenge” - a global design competition building a circular future in partnership with IKEA. This Challenge invites designers and creative entrepreneurs everywhere to submit design-driven climate innovations. The end goal? To show the world that a circular future is not only imaginable — but actionable. Winning projects will be propelled into 2023 with €10.000 in funding and a tailor-made development program. Submit your proposals online for free by 31 January 2023. Check out the design briefs and learn more about them at makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com
Pepijn Zurburg joins us on Audiogyan. He is a designer and an art director. During his studies at the Utrecht School of the Arts and Sandberg Institute, Pepijn met Richard van der Laken. Together, they founded the renowned visual design agency De Designpolitie, the graphic design collective Gorilla, and What Design Can Do. Their work has won numerous awards and features in the permanent collection of galleries such as Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and MoMa New York. Working with partners and clients from KPN to Frascati Theatre, and many more. Pepijn is responsible for leadership and strategy, branding, and visual communication for everything at “What Design Can Do”. A true allround designer with a strong hands-on approach.
Questions1. What's your definition of design? How has it changed over time? 2. What according to you is a “short term” and “long term” view on using Design, for profitability? What according to you, design can really do and what are we doing? 3. What is the “What can design do” competition about? 4. What are the fundamental aspects of circular design for this year's theme? 5. What made you start with Richard, “What Design Can Do”? Any moment, project, or milestone which you think is a trigger/starting point? 6. Can you give us a panoramic view from 2015 till today? Maybe talk a little bit about the start with the “refugee challenge” and others to this year's “make it circular” challenge 7. Design is a continuum (Naveen Bagalkot), a process where we peel layers by shipping. What framework do you use to evaluate that proposed ideas are actionable? In your research docs, you mentioned “The Five Circular Ways of Living”. Can you tell us more about it? 8. I had given a flash talk a long time ago called “Designed by Default”. In short, it was about… “things are designed by default in nature”. We as the human species, rewire stuff for some incentives which more often than not land up in a few tradeoffs. What are your thoughts on that? How do you look at the synthesis after this tradeoff? 9. Can you conclude by sharing any case study/winner or 2, which you loved the most in the last 5 years? 10. One surprise question, regarding hands-on. Does a designer need to be hands-on all his/her career? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an individual contributor all throughout?
Reference reading1. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/makeitcircularchallenge/ 2. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/our-challenges/ 3. https://makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com 4. https://www.youtube.com/@WhatDesignCanDoVideo 5. https://www.instagram.com/whatdesigncando/ 6. https://twitter.com/WhatDesignCanDo 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhzxS6nqDU 8. http://quicksand.co.in 9. http://quicksand.co.in/unbox 10. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/project/living-coffin/ 11. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/project/nyungu-afrika/ 12. https://www.instagram.com/pepijnzurburg/?hl=en 13. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pepijn-zurburg-8207247/?originalSubdomain=nl 14. https://www.designpolitie.nl 15. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/about-wdcd/our-team/
Audiogyan is proud to partner with Unbox Cultural Futures Society and What Design Can do. What Design Can Do, is an international organization that seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, fair, and just society using the power of design.
WhatDesignCanDo is launching the “Make it Circular Challenge” - a global design competition building a circular future in partnership with IKEA. This Challenge invites designers and creative entrepreneurs everywhere to submit design-driven climate innovations. The end goal? To show the world that a circular future is not only imaginable — but actionable. Winning projects will be propelled into 2023 with €10.000 in funding and a tailor-made development program. Submit your proposals online for free by 11 January 2023. Check out the design briefs and learn more about them on makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com
Today we have Ayush Chauhan with us on Audiogyan. Ayush is the Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Quicksand Design Studio. He is a strong advocate of transformative roles through design within public policy, international development, social enterprise, and innovation, for which he was also granted the prestigious Yale World Fellowship in 2012. Ayush is also an avid triathlete! Quicksand Studio also hosts the UnBox Cultural Futures Society. It’s a platform exploring new narratives and building action at the intersection of disciplines, to reimagine India’s plural futures. As part of its agenda, UnBox partners with What Design Can Do regularly and this year they bring, the ”Make it circular challenge”.
Questions1. As we say, “India has many Indias.” We also do not have a literal translation of the word “Design” in India. We have kala, Karigari, and many more. How and where do you see Design in India? 2. Our education system is mainly inspired by the west which in the initial days (before personalization) was designed for profits and thereby had a lot of standardization. We have also recently seen that valley startups don’t find a PMF in India. What are your learnings/insights so far to reimagine India’s plural futures through UnBox? 3. Historically (half a millennium ago) we as Indians were huge on up-cycling, reusing, and good design systems to make this circular thing work - Can we find learn from some insights? 4. What Design Can do has partnered with IKEA for this “make it circular challenge”. IKEA is one brand that has made genuine attempts to contextualize products and services as per markets, barring aesthetics. Can you talk a little bit about the fundamental aspects of circular design? 5. How did "UnBox" and "What Design can do" connect? A little bit of the backstory? In which capacity do you guys collaborate 6. What are other initiatives undertaken by Unbox through the years? Collaborating with British Council, NID, Gothe Institute, and more. 7. In India, according to you are a few domains that need immediate design intervention. I am assuming it will be from MP Ranjan’s list but still, since you are a practicing professional, you might see things differently. 8. Can you conclude by sharing any case study/winner or 2, which you loved the most in the last 5 years from “What Design Can do” competitions?
Reference reading1. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/makeitcircularchallenge/ 2. https://www.whatdesigncando.com/our-challenges/ 3. https://makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com 4. https://www.youtube.com/@WhatDesignCanDoVideo 5. https://www.instagram.com/whatdesigncando/ 6. https://twitter.com/WhatDesignCanDo 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhzxS6nqDU 8. http://quicksand.co.in 9. http://quicksand.co.in/unbox 10. https://cleanenergychallenge.whatdesigncando.com/jury/ayush-chauhan/ 11. Living Coffin 12. Nyungu Afrika
Today Audiogyan turns 6. Yes, It’s been amazing 6 years of documenting designers, poets, musicians, writers, thinkers, filmmakers, and more… We have reached the 259th episode. Well and to celebrate this special anniversary episode, we have Taufiq Qureshi with us, who can unarguably be called the King of rhythms. One of the most sought-after percussionists and the greatest thinkers in the world of music and world music. Apart from introducing us to Djembe and many other instruments, Taufiq sir has brought percussion instruments to center stage. Son of Ustad Alla Rakha and younger brother of Ustad Zakir Hussain, for Taufiq sir, music runs in the family. His music speaks for itself. His repertoire clearly shows his hard work, discipline, and passion for it. What we will try and document today is his philosophy about music and his thoughts on “rhythm”.
Questions1. What does the word rhythm mean to you after 50 years? What makes the “sum” so divine? 2. I heard in Ashok Ranade’s talk on ethnomusicology that, “Aristotle specifically mentioned that don’t change the rhythm of the state. It creates anarchy”. What makes rhythm so fundamental? 3. In my interview with Sudhir Mainkar, he mentioned that music emerged from nature. Is it worth asking did shruti came first or taal? 4. For a percussionist, rhythm is everywhere. Are there areas where there is no rhythm or rhythm need not be seeked? I had heard in one of P.L. Deshpande’s speeches that a real musician should be able to hear shadja even in the ceiling fan. 🙂 5. You have spent a lot of time experimenting with a rhythm which dwells in the zone of abstract music. How do you make it relatable? Does the listener have to be aware or informed for it to comprehend? You are often quoted as knowing the pulse of the audience and performing accordingly. 6. It is said that instruments travel. Can you talk a little bit about instruments like djembe, duff, and bongos, in the context of instruments travel culturally?
Reference reading1. http://www.taufiqqureshi.com/# 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taufiq_Qureshi 3. https://www.instagram.com/taufiqdjembe/?hl=en 4. https://m.facebook.com/people/Taufiq-Qureshi/100047213433179/ 5. https://thefoundationroom.in/courses.php?source=TQ 6. https://open.spotify.com/artist/5pHGolVxp4QTvcuSnLCo2X 7. https://music.apple.com/in/artist/taufiq-qureshi/80201529
“One man is equivalent to all Creation. One man is a World in miniature.” ~ Albert Pike. Even in Indian spirituality, these words are commonly used and understood that the macrocosm is the reflection of our body which is the microcosm. Today we have a guest who deals with really intricate artwork which need a lot of focus, attention and precision. We are talking about miniature art. Srijan Jha joins us on Audiogyan. Srijan is a miniature artist, traveller, writers, storyteller and also engages in heritage restoration. He is from Bhopal and we’ll be talking all about miniature art.
Questions
- What’s you definition of patience and art? How do you see them both in the kind of art you produce?
- What’s miniature art? Why was it called limning? Can you share any brief history of it’s origin and travel? Why was it done, when was it first thought of etc…? Where do you see it in India?
- Can you give us a peek into the mythology and folklore associated with this art form?
- I started of with the microcosm and macrocosm. It seems like in miniature art you try fit in the universe. What excites you about this form? What’s so special about Miniature art? Why do people predominantly draw portraits? Even your work is mostly portraits? What is the creative satisfaction in doing it?
- How mini can a miniature painting be? What are typically the subjects? How important is the subject? What surfaces are suitable for this form of art?
- With digital age and technology, what are the new challenges for miniature artists (at least in your kind of work). Can artists zoom 20x and achieve the desired output? What is the future of miniature art?
Reference reading
- https://www.instagram.com/jaadugarbysrijan/?hl=en
- https://www.facebook.com/studiojaadugar
- https://twitter.com/srijanjha8
- https://www.artofwildlife.com/miniature_art_history.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_art
- https://uncoverimages.com/2016/05/18/review-the-history-of-miniature-painting-in-my-name-is-red/
In episode # 244, Sumana Chandrashekar spoke about History of Ghatam. Immediately after the episode was released, Sangeeta Jawla connected and suggested that we could have done a pre-cursor to the Ghatam episode and document the “pot”. Well, better late then never. Today we have Sangeeta with us on Audiogyan to talk about the clay as a material and it’s history through stories and folklores.
Sangeeta is a research scholar, a practicing potter and a storyteller. She engraves the potters’ folk narratives (collected all across India) on the clay canvas. The visual depiction of the potter’s folk and real-life narratives help us understand the community’s folklore, social relations and material culture differently. Additionally, as a woman practitioner, she also focus on the question of women agency, since in most traditional potter communities women are not allowed to touch the wheel, even while they fully engage with all other aspects of pottery production, from preparing clay to decorating to selling. We’ll try and document few stories and a brief history of clay intersecting from mythology to ecology and more…
Questions
- How & why did we discover pot? Or did we invent it? What were the initial forms made of?Clay? How did the pot look long time ago?
- Can you talk a little bit about the narratives around the title of the potters. Who is/was a Prajapati or Khumbhar? How did these words come to be?
- Pot seem to have come with us a long way. It has connected many things. Could you tell few important milestones in it’s journey so far? For eg: The tools, the donkey, the gender and caste aspect? Music and songs
- Pot is used a lot in philosophy. Seems like some profound questions are either asked or answered through pot. In Vedanta, Clay and pot example is used many times. Can you talk a little bit about the process of making a pot and the analogies we have in our life? (Beating the clay, baking etc…)
- What kind of pots were / are made and what are the stories inscribed on them? Any key iconic stories which are found?
- Can you tell us about the project that you did - “Who is the pot?”
Reference Reading
-
- https://www.instagram.com/wheeled_fortunes/
- https://shura.shu.ac.uk/29521/10/Parkes-Nield-LocatingWomenInTheFolk(VoR).pdf
- https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/jan/27/what-do-this-aud-researcher-storyteller-and-ghatam-player-have-in-common-stories-about-pots-and-po-10030.html
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sangeeta-jawla-74aa93237/?originalSubdomain=in
Today’s guest has been dealing with conflicts for some time now. Pleasure to have Avni Sethi with us on Audiogyan. Avni is a interdisciplinary practitioner with her primary concern lying between culture, memory, space and the body. She conceptualized and designed the Conflictorium about which we’ll be diving deep as a case study. Her interests lies in exploring the relationship between intimate audiences and the performing body.
Questions
- What does conflict mean to you? Where do conflicts come from? Aren’t those inherent? Is there something called a s a good conflict to have?
- What according to you is the relationship between the performer and the audience or a piece of art and viewer? The artist seems to be in a conflict and somehow tries to express it through work. What’s going on here according to you?
- Where do main stream narratives come from? Do they emerge amongst us with time? Are they bottom up or top down or media propagated. How can one systematically study them or confront them?
- What is conflitorium? How did it come to be?
- How do you investigate conflict? Can you give any example(s)?
- What does it mean to be comfortable with disagreements and conflict?
- I think it’s a lot to do with building a common “vocabulary”. People think in binaries. How do you build these shades to grey - if you can explain with any example(s)? (For eg: how would say like a “memory tree” will not be perceived as a propaganda?)
- It’s said that “the world is how you see it”. People have short term memories and choose to move on with just roti, kapda and makaan. Why introduce art and culture or as you call is “shiksha” in it?
- Can you share a few community-led solutions to conflict in your practice so far? How have people reacted to very counter intuitive narratives which apparently look different.
- Peace is generally an outcome of conflict, even as per the Buddha. While Conflictorium engages in dialogue and making sensitive by “talking”. How do you see future of it? What ways peace can manifest? Is there a timeline?
Reference reading
1.
- https://www.ted.com/talks/avni_sethi_is_the_celebration_of_differences_possible
- https://azimpremjifoundation.org/content/love-sites-contested-narratives
- https://sites.libsyn.com/318962/on-building-a-museum-of-conflict-avni-sethi
- https://vimeo.com/641271034
- https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2021/10/the-vera-list-centers-jane-lombard-prize-winner-avni-sethi-debuts-show-at-aronson-galleries/
- https://abhivyaktiart.org/beta/en/artists/avni-sethi/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/avni-sethi-372b15a2/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQsVBMFDzn4
- https://khojstudios.org/person/avni-sethi/
- https://www.conflictorium.org/meet-our-team/
- https://www.instagram.com/avnisethi/?hl=en
V. Ravichandar joins us on Audiogyan. Ravi is an Honorary Director at the Bangalore International Centre. He is also the Honorary Consul for Republic of Slovenia in Bengaluru. His entrepreneurial stint was around strategy and marketing consulting through his firm Feedback Consulting. He has worked voluntarily with State and Local governments as well as civil society to improve cities. This was through the Bangalore Agenda Task Force, JN-NURM, and the City Connect platforms.
Apart from BIC, Ravi also helps run the annual Bangalore Literature Festival as part of his efforts to improve public spaces. Today we’ll be talking about his pro bono work since 2000 with the city's hard and soft infrastructure. Thank you Ravi for giving your time and it’s a real honour to have you on Audiogyan.
Questions
- Today we are focusing on redesigning cities using Bengaluru as a peg. In your experience how do we reimagine a city that is bursting at the seams and having a host of problems? As Pranay Kotasthane from Puliya Baazi says, Over population is not the problem but under governance is… Let us take the recent flooding as an example of the problems
- Why did it happen and how do we prevent future floods?
- Can we really redesign public spaces given their dynamic and organic nature? What would be the few axes on which this can be thought?
- You have engaged with multiple stakeholders involving Sarkar, Samaaj, and Bazaar in the cityscape. What are your key learnings as we reimagine the future?
Reference links
- https://audiogyan.com/2020/12/16/dhawal-ashar/
- https://audiogyan.com/2022/05/11/designing-boundaries/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_nerclv53s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5XErwvmwc
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlvw_gB9Sm8
- https://feedbackconsulting.com/about/v-ravichandar/
- https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/interviews/v-ravichandar
- https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/Npg8vLHRQvXEigztvq4JkI/I-would-set-up-decentralized-City-Connect-platforms-across.html
- https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/bic-hubba-to-celebrate-city-ngos/article65084889.ece
- https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/the-new-bangalore-international-centre-complex-is-a-free-space/article26364664.ece
- https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/sites/successfulsocieties/files/interviews/transcripts/3533/v._ravichandar.pdf
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8oSescM4GQ
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWK1Uzcp0k4
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravichandar-v-a97a65/
- https://www.samaajsarkaarbazaar.in/
Kumar Gandharva once said…कला सारखी बदलत असणार, जी जन्माला आली की मृत्यु आहे त्याला, अशाला तुम्ही सारखे बांधून ठेवता, म्हैस बांधल्यासारखे? संगीतासारखी कला सारखी बदलत असते, म्हणजे त्याचं शास्त्र बदलत नाही, त्याचं सौंदर्य बदलतं.
Today we have Srijan Deshpande with us on Audiogyan. He is a dedicated student, performer, researcher, teacher, and archivist of Hindustani Raga Sangeet. Srijan is currently pursuing a doctoral research project at the Manipal Centre for Humanities, in which he is attempting to construct a rigorous account of Pt. Kumar Gandharva's musical alterity in the context of the twentieth-century tradition of the khayal.
We’ll be talking about wide-ranging topics from manyata (acceptance) in the context of tradition to music research, keeping the Legendary Kumar Gandharva in the backdrop. Who is apparently considered a rebel in Hindustani Classical Music.
A quick shout-out to Baithak Foundation and Dakshina Dvaraka Foundation for introducing me to Srijan at a wonderful workshop “Talking with Tradition”. which happened in June 2022 in Pune. More details in the show note.
- In most Indian classical art forms, things are communicated in metaphors and one has to decode them based on context. Do you see that happening in Music? What according to you could be the reason for this? Any examples?
- In Music, we have manyata. What is this manyata or acceptance as we call it? Can it be systematically studied as a research subject? Since I suspect Kumarji never accepted the way things were.
- If we consider Hindustani classical music to be all about improvisation and very personal exploration - What could be possible ideas or interventions by curious minds to build a hypothesis? How can one pick anything as a research subject?
- What can other research projects be undertaken in the context of Hindustani music?
- Can you tell us about your journey in the quest to know Kumar Gandharva. Any insights you have discovered about the legend?
- https://srijan.stck.me
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/srijand/?originalSubdomain=in
- https://twitter.com/srijand
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOErqOsiFNW8h-c6gwPfufw
- https://www.facebook.com/srijan.deshpande
- http://baithak.org/talking-with-tradition/
- http://baithak.org
- https://www.facebook.com/dakshinadvaraka/posts/sushruti-santhanam-is-a-carnatic-musician-and-researcher-who-was-trained-in-the-/830247033676285/
- https://baithak.org/baithak-classes-initiative/carnatic-vocal-recital-by-sushruti-santhanam-at-tmcp-centre-charoli/
- https://www.thedakshinadvaraka.org
- Samvaadfoundation.org
- Satyasheel.com
- Bakhle, Janaki. 2005. Two Men and Music : Nationalism in the Making of an Indian Classical Tradition. Permanent Black
- Clayton, Martin 2008. “Introduction: Towards a Theory of Musical Meaning (in India and Elsewhere).” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 10 (1): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09681220108567307
- Deodhar, BR. 1993. Pillars of Hindustani Music. Popular Prakashan.
- Deshpande Vamanrao. 1987. Indian Musical Traditions : An Aesthetic Study of the Gharanas in Hindustani Music. Popular Prakashan.
- Gandharva, Kumar, and M. V. Bhatavdekar. 2007. Kumar Gandharva: Mukkam Vashi. 2nd ed. Mumbai: Mauj Prakashan.
- Komkali, Kalapini, and Rekha Inamdar-Sane, eds. 2014. Kaljayee Kumar Gandharva. Pune: Rajhans Prakashan Pvt. Ltd.
- Manuel, Peter. 2015. “The Intermediate Sphere in North Indian Music Culture: Between and Beyond ‘Folk’ and ‘Classical.’” Ethnomusicology 59 (1): 82–115. https://doi.org/doi:10.5406/ethnomusicology.59.1.0082.
- Neuman. Dard. 2012. “Pedagogy, Practice, and Embodied Creativity in Hindustani Music.” Ethnomusicology 56 (3): 426–49. https://doi.org/10.5406/ethnomusicology.56.3.0426.
- Pradhan, Aneesh. 2014. Hindustani Music in Colonial Bombay. Three Essays Collective.
- Ranade, Ashok Damodar. Indology and ethnomusicology: Contours of the Indo-British relationship. Promilla & Company, 1992.
I am quoting our today’s guest’s from one of his article…
“I have this presentation that starts with me asking my viewers to identify three sets of entities that are put forth visually: The first set of people is Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, the second set is Narendra Modi and Donald Trump and the third is a species of Dragonfly which is very common in India called Ground Skimmer. And most people, unless you are scientists, can identify the first two sets of entities but not the third one. And that is my main complaint because my life and the lives of my viewers revolve more around the dragonfly, rather than Priyanka Chopra, or Narendra Modi, as the dragonfly eats mosquitoes and saves us from diseases.“
Today after a year long chase finally we have Rohan Chakravarty with us on Audiogyan. He frankly needs no introduction. Rohan is a cartoonist, illustrator, wildlife buff and creator of Green Humour, a series of comic strips about nature. He tweets as @thetoonguy and posts as @green_humour on Instagram.
- People around me and including myself can identify cars but not trees or birds. How did you get into this and what keeps you so motivated to go in depths of each artwork on various levels… technically, politically, artistically and more…?
- What is the difference between a comic, a cartoon and an illustration? How do you capture and then curate the core essence of what you wish to communicate. For eg: I am not much into wildlife but became your fan when i saw your Abbas Kiarostami comic.
- Where does the humour come from? How would you define your style of work? Why do critics who think of anthropomorphism as a weakness in a storyteller’s inventory?
- How do you find balance between the artistic side of your work and the scientific side? How has it changed over time? Is the political narrative increasing as each passing day with situation around us?
- What is the toughest part of your job? What 3 things you would suggest artists, designers, problem solvers, if they want to be like you?
Reference reading
- https://indianwritinginenglish.uohyd.ac.in/on-the-conservation-trail-with-rohan-chakravarty-an-interview/
- https://twitter.com/thetoonguy?lang=en
- https://www.instagram.com/green_humour/?hl=en
- https://www.greenhumour.com
- https://eco-spotlight.com/spotlight-interview/green-cartoonist-rohan-chakravarty/
- https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/too-many-issues-too-little-time-author-rohan-chakravarty-green-humour-152608
- https://www.wildnavigator.com/2012/06/a-cartoonist-draws-wildlife-conservation-meet-rohan-chakravarty/
There are some 16 events / rituals which are performed in a life of an individual. From birth to death. If we calculate with 140Cr people, I am sure, it’s hell of a number. Well, worry not, we have Nose to Tail - Designing celebrations which are beautiful inside and out. Founded by Indraja Khare and Aishwarya Lonial. They design Green events and a strong believer and proponent of up-cycling and sustainability. What started as a College project at MIT has now become a successful venture going strong for 4 years. Today we’ll try and document case study with Indraja and Aishwarya and know about designing green events.
- How did “Nose to Tail” come to be? Whats with the name? What do you girls do exactly? Why?
- Can you share landscape of events w.r.t number of events, types of events that happen on a regular day in India. Or if you want to address your TAM. 🙂 (Or may be share some numbers to give perspective of the kind of waste we generate)
- What all types of waste that is generated in any event? What is the biggest waste that you optimise for?
- Can you share any case study or any client’s event that made you convinced with this mission you are on?
- How do you design green events? Some nuances will help. If you can walk us from ideation to finally wrap-up?
- How do you balance emotions with rituals and being practical and talking about waste when people celebrate in silos without being aware of the bigger context?
- Can you talk little bit about the materials and sources you use to make an eco-friendly event? Can people do on their own?
- Can this model be scaled? How do you envision future of events in India? Any other countries doing it and with what degree of awareness?
- How has your design education helped here w.r.t problem solving? What is your biggest learning after Nose to Tail - a message you want to give budding designers and fellow practitioners?
We have Itu Chaudhuri and Lisa Rath with us on Audiogyan. They don’t need any formal introduction to the world of design. Just for our record, Itu and Lisa a Principals at Itu Chaudhuri Design, a full-stack design agency bringing powerful design and original thinking to business problems and opportunities. They have engaged in branding, packaging, communication, and editorial design for clients all around. To name a few, Indian Express, Outlook Traveller, Nestle, Haldiram, Dr. Reddy, and more…
One of the sakhi of Kabir goes like this
"Boli hamari purab ki, hami likhai nahi koyi.
hama ko to so lakhai, dhura purab hoy."
"My language is of the east, none understands me,
he only understands me who is from the farthest east."
We’ll try and document Kabir’s language or should we say languages. Today we have Mandar Karanjkar, once again on Audiogyan. I had him in Episode, 238 with Dakshayani Athalye where we spoke about their Baithak Foundation where he is a co-founder. Mandar is a believer in power of Music as a tool for overall human development. He conducts training and workshops to apply wisdom of saint Kabir to corporate problems. He has penned a book called “The Kabir Way.”
We are definitely aware of our extent of knowledge about Kabir when you compare with Purshottam Agarwal or Linda Hess and many other research and scholars on Kabir. But this is humble attempt to document whatever we have understood about Kabir’s languages in Marathi.
This Audiogyan is in association with The Drawing Board.
The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping the way communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running Architecture competitions for undergraduate students since 2016. It was conceptualized by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.
This year, they are back in action with a live event. Architecture undergrad students can submit their project ideas on the theme of designing a “Memorial for Charles Correa”. The last date to submit your concepts is 1st October 2022. More details in show notes and thedrawingboard.in
We have one of the Jury members at TDB with us on Audiogyan. Prof Durganand Balsavar. As the founder-principal architect of Artes, Prof Balsavar has served as the Ideational Curator of the Jaipur Architecture Festival, he is on several national juries and founded the creative think-tank Confluence Ten. Besides having co-authored several books and written journals, he explores varying media in search of re-imagined landscapes of the future and alternative histories.
Today we’ll try to document some of his thoughts on the intervention of architecture for social changes, and how he looks at history from his long-standing career of 3 decades. We’ll also pick his brain about, how can architecture communicate the greatness of Charles Correa which is the theme for this year’s “The Drawing Board” competition.
This year, they are back in action with a live event. Architecture undergrad students can submit their project ideas on the theme of designing a “Memorial for Charles Correa”. The last date to submit your concepts is 1st October 2022. More details in show notes and thedrawingboard.in
We have one of the Jury members with us on Audiogyan - Architect, Sachin Agashikar. Sachin studied Architecture from J.J. and was awarded Gold Medal in 1991 for his final year design thesis. Before setting up his own practice in 1999, he worked with Ar. Charles Correa for eight years and worked as an associate at Cancer Research Centre in Lisbon, R&D Centre for Mahindra & Mahindra, and Extension to Kala Academy and IUCAA
Today we’ll try to document some of his thoughts on the “art of seeing”, and how to zoom out and zoom in to envision the macro context and details together. Can possibly help students to present ideas for designing the Charles Correa Memorial at “The Drawing Board” competition.
- Observation is one essential quality in a designer that needs to develop - Why? How does this observation help? In your article you mentioned, that self-taught Architects like Le Corbusier and Tadao Ando traveled for more than a year before they started their practice.
- How can the art of seeing or observing be developed? How do you educate what to see when people see what they want to see? Can you give an example of your work where you demonstrated what you observed and implemented?
- As BV Doshi says, “Are you seeing things as you see or are you seeing something more than what it is there?” How can one go beyond the apparent?
- One side, we have “Design is in the details”, on the other, “always design by knowing the larger context of the chair”. How can one manage it? How did Charles Correa manage to zoom in and zoom out so effortlessly?
- What tip would you give students while they work on Charles Correa Memorial? How would you judge a good proposal? Any learnings about life or architecture that you can share while working with Charles Correa?
- https://thedrawingboard.in
- https://thinkmatter.in/2015/07/15/office-laboratory-block-goa-sachin-agshikar/
- https://www.tfod.in/art-design-articles/4022/a-model-aanganwadi-in-goa-by-ar-sachin-agshikar-and-ccf-goa
- https://www.tfod.in/art-design-articles/5966/a-white-haven-by-ar-sachin-agshikar
- https://architecture.live/learning-see-architect-sachin-agshikar/
- http://www.sachinagshikar.com/main_profile.html
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064044697433
- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1941124752792183
- https://unbuiltideas.com/school-at-karla-maharashtra-by-architect-sachin-agshikar/
- https://www.myliveablecity.com/author/detail/246
This Audiogyan is in association with The Drawing Board.
The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping the way communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running an Architecture competition for undergraduate students since 2016. It was conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.
This year, they are back in action with a live event. Architecture undergrad students can submit their project ideas on the theme of designing a “Memorial for Charles Correa”. The last date to submit your concepts is 1st October 2022. More details in show notes and thedrawingboard.in
We have one of the Jury members with us on Audiogyan. The well-known, Cape Town based Architect and Urban Designer, Henri Comrie. Henri is a minimalist and reductivist architect and urban designer who enjoys working through complex problems to arrive at simple and logical solutions that hold wide appeal. He is the founding partner of URBA Architects & Urban Designers from Cape Town, South Africa. Henri has been practicing architecture for nearly 3 decades. He was the lead urban designer for the FIFA World Cup Stadium in Cape Town and several large mixed-use precincts, as well as the architect of several prominent educational and residential buildings across a range of scales. Today we’ll try to document some of his thoughts on Minimalist/reductivist architecture and a bit about, what is good architecture while he will evaluate entries at “The Drawing Board” competition.
Our today's guest has been a guest in episode # 34 in Oct 2017, where we discussed Independent cinema but he particularly mentioned the Auteur Theory which I could see in most of the films that he has written and directed. Mithya, Ankhon Dekhi, and recently released, rk/rkay where the protagonist is typically in search of truth, obsessively or at least taking the audience in the zone of question about existence. Today we have Rajat Kapoor back with us on Audiogyan. We ended our conversation by asking listeners and well-wishers to crowdfund his film and here we are 5 years later.
Yashoda Parthasarthy and Vijesh Rajan both are directors, animators, and motion designers. They are team Plexus. Plexus has worked on projects like making title sequences, music videos, trailers, and animated movies. A few names to their credit are…Gangs of Wasseypur, Angry India Goddesses, Double Barrel, Raman Raghav 2.0, Made in Heaven, Sacred Games, and more…
Sumana is a ghatam player. She has been studying the ghatam for over a decade under Vidushi Sukanya Ramgopal. She has also trained in Carnatic vocal music under Vidushi Rupa Sridhar. Sumana is an independent researcher pursuing her inquiry into the ghatam and other aspects of Carnatic music. She has also worked in the area of music education. She currently serves as Programme Lead at India Foundation for the Arts.With Sumana’s diverse body of work, I thought I will intentionally confine it to Ghatam. Today we will try and know a brief history of Ghatam – the instrument.
Jean-Luc Godard once said, "Every Edit Is A Lie". Well in today’s episode, let’s explore the different dimensions and layers of editing. Nitin Baid joins us on Audiogyan. He is a film editor and a director in making. Nitin has worked for films like Masaan, Trapped, Gully Boy, 83, Raazi, Gangs of Wasseypur, Gunjan Saxena and many more.
In this episode, we have Jayasimha Chandrashekhar on Audiogyan. Jayasimha is the founder of Atelier Prati. Atelier Prati is a growing arts collective and a community space based out of Bangalore. Along with tracing print histories and looking at infrastructural innovations in manufacturing printmaking equipment; prati, as a space also hosts residencies, conduct workshops, curate and initiate cross-disciplinary collaborations to propose new approaches to the idea of the print.
Tune into the episode as Kear and Jayasimha will discuss about the history of print making in India, types of print making and future of print making in India.
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In this episode, we have Avanti Patel on Audiogyan. Avanti Patel is a versatile artist based out of Mumbai and Bangalore. A Hindustani classical vocalist, playback singer, composer, and innovator.
Her areas of passion include Thumri and Ghazal Gayki, as well as recreating classics using a vocal dominant arrangement style.
Among her most recent projects is O Gaanewali, a show based on the lives and music of Tawaifs and Women performers in India. This show was produced by Harkat Studios with the support of The Goethe Institut Max Meuller Bhavan and premiered on their Live Virtual Interactive Stage watched all over the world in 3 successful runs online.
O Gaanewali recently premiered live at the NCPA Experimental Theatre, to a houseful audience.
Tune into the episode as Kedar and Avanti touch upon some basic aspects of Thumri and its allied forms in relation to the show O Gaanewali gig which is making news.
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In this episode, we have Poornima Seetharaman with us on Audiogyan. Poornima has been part of the gaming industry for 16+ years. She is currently a Director of Design at Zynga. She has worked on franchises like BioShock Mobile, How to Train your Dragons, Neopets, and FarmVille 2: Country Escape to name a few. She is a Women in Games Ambassador at WIGJand the founder of Women in Games India (WIGIN), multi-award winner and a Hall of Fame Inductee at the Global WIG Awards 2020, making her the first Indian game developer to receive such an honour.
Tune into the episode as Poornima shares with us the nuances of Game designing and a lot more interesting insights.
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In this episode, we have Fernando Velho on Audiogyan. He is a Goa-based architect, researcher and visiting professor of urban design at the Goa College of Architecture. He is a part of Goa Collective - A group of professionals working towards better urban spaces and public life in Goa.
Tune in to the episode as Fernando enlightens us about designing maps and the future of Maps in this digital world.
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In this episode, we have Dakshayani Athalye and Mandar Karanjkar with us on Audiogyan to discuss 'Baithak Foundation' as a case study.
Mandar is a passionate believer in the power of music. He is a communication consultant, conducts corporate training, and more! Currently, he is a student at Indian Classical Music and learned from the late Pt. Vijay Sardeshmukh.
Dakshayani is a law graduate from Pune University and later pursued her higher education at the Tata Institute Of Social Sciences in Mumbai.
Dakshayani has multiple years of experience working with not for profits and in her previous job, worked as a CSR leader for a manufacturing company.
Dakshayani is a trained Kirtankar (a traditional form of musical storytelling.)
Tune in to the episode as Kedar, Dakshayani Athalye and Mandar Karanjkar talk about the journey of the Baithak Foundation.
Follow Dakshayani on LinkedIn- https://in.linkedin.com/in/dakshayani-athalye
Follow Mandar on LinkedIn- https://in.linkedin.com/in/mandar-karanjkar
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In this episode, we have Hemmant Jha with us on Audiogyan.
Hemmant is the Principal and Founder of Honest Structures, which makes the cleanest, most responsible line of modern modular furniture and organization systems in the world. Modest yet highly functional & aesthetically pleasing products for both living & working. HS is based in Goa and Chicago. Previously, Hemmant was Chief Design Officer at Godrej and has taught at IIT Institute of Design and Kellogg School of Management in the US.
Tune in to the episode as Kedar and Hemmant talk about what makes the design honest. Further, Hemmant shares insight on building products that are “Guaranteed for Life”.
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In this episode, we have Kshitiz Anand with us on Audiogyan. He wears many hats. On the professional front, he works at Paytm as Associate Vice President-Design. He is an investor and founder of Soochak, an EdTech startup. He also co-founded Karekeba Ventures along with a few others to invest in the startup ecosystem in Bihar. He also has a cohort-based course on System thinking for product builders.
On a personal front, he is an educator and has been teaching in multiple colleges and schools.
Tune into the episode as Kedar and Kshitiz talk about the journey of Happy Horizons.
Happy Horizons engages in Design Thinking, Participatory Learning, Community-based learning and alternative education interventions to improve the quality of school education in India. Currently, the 40 people organisation works with 75 schools in Rural Bihar, outreaching approximately 35000 students.
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In this episode, we have Mohor Ray with us on Audiogyan. Mohor is the cofounder of Codesign—an independent brand identity design practice. She has served as a jury member at the D&AD Awards and is active in writing about people, culture, design and branding. Mohor is an editor of Dekho, an award-winning anthology of inspirational conversations with designers in India- one of the self-initiated projects. Other such projects by Mohor and Codesign include The Unbox Festival and Project Rising.
Tune on to the episode as Kedar and Mohar talk about building branding systems.
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In this episode, we have Dharmesh Ba with us on Audiogyan. He is a product designer turned user researcher committed to building delightful digital services for India through research and design. He is currently building a research team for Udaan and Thousand faces Club.
Tune in to the episode as Kedar and Dharmesh talk about the significance of a user researcher in an organisation and how research and insights help an organisation.
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The New York Times: The Parsis kept their promise to the Gujaratis. In the 17th century, they started settling in Bombay, when it was still just seven islands. They spearheaded the Indian industrial revolution by building the first steel mills and textile factories; they built ships and launched the country’s first airline; they used their wealth to endow hospitals, laboratories and schools. They were also the first to adopt the British game of cricket, and their extravagant musical theater productions paved the way for Bollywood.
In this episode, we have Dr. Simin Patel on Audiogyan. She is a historian by qualification, Simin runs her company Bombaywalla Historical Works which allows localities and travelers both, to discover Bombay of the bygone era. Be it her curated walks around the city’s photo studios or her passion for Mumbai’s Irani Cafes, nobody knows Bombay better than her!
Tune in to the episode as Simin talks to the host Kedar about how she chooses her subjects for 'Bombaywalla' along with some interesting stories. She also talks about the importance of documenting historic events and a lot more about Iranian cafes!
Follow Dr. Simin Patel on Twitter https://twitter.com/siminpatel
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Reference link:
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Irani Cafes of Bombay
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Bombaywalla
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Parsi New Year 2020: Did you know one of the first founders of Mumbai were the Parsis? An exclusive interview with Bombaywalla
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A Bid to Maintain One of the World’s Oldest Culinary Traditions
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The Social History of the Irani Community and the rise of the Irani Cafes in Mumbai, through snapshot and documentary photograph
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Irani café
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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In this episode, we have Sharad Chauhan with us on Audiogyan. Sharad is a partner and chief designer at GDD which is an India-based design studio founded in 2015. He is an industrial designer with over 13 years of experience. Having worked with Whirlpool, Samsung, he now has his own venture.
Tune in to the episode as Kedar discusses with Sharad the process behind designing home appliances, how engineers play an important role while designing a product and a lot more about product designing!
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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In this episode, we have S Vishwanath on Audiogyan. He is a water activist, the mind behind Bengaluru-based NGO, Rainwater Club, a visiting faculty at the School of Development at Azim Premji University. He is a Civil Engineer and Urban Regional Planner by training and has been working in the field of water and sanitation sector for over 35 years.
Tune in to the episode as S Vishwanath and Kedar talk about the wells in India and their significance. Further, they also talk about the community of Mannu Vaddars who use to design wells in earlier times.
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In this episode, we have Manjima Chatterjee with us on Audiogyan. She is a drama explorer, educator and occasional writer. She has won The Hindu
Metro Plus Playwright Award in 2013. Manjima teaches drama and has served as the head of the Arts program at the Shiv Nadar School in Noida.
Tune in this episode as Kedar and Manjima talk about the new education policy, Bengali plays and more!
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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In this episode, we have Dibyajyoti Sarma with us on Audiogyan. Dibyajyoti is a writer, poet and book reviewer, a translator. He has published 50 poetry books through Red River. Currently, he is an associate editor of Print Week Magazine.
Red River is an independent poetry publishing venture that publishes good poetry collections and encourages new poets.
Tune in to this episode as Dibyajyothi walks you through the journey of publishing a poetry book and many more interesting insights.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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In this episode, we have Himali Kothari with us on Audiogyan. She is a writer, creative editor of Readings in the shed. Tune into this episode as Kedar and Himali talk about Project 87 - which focuses on the richness of The English language plays originating from India in the last 20 years.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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In this episode, we have Nishant Choudhary with us on Audiogyan. He is a Senior Product Manager. Currently, he is heading the product for Freight Tiger, previously at BookMyShow.
Tune in to the episode as Kedar talks to Nishat about Vipassana center, Product management and more.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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In this episode, we have Siddhesh Gautam with us on Audiogyan. Also known as Bakery Prasad on Instagram. He is a multidisciplinary artist, visual designer, researcher, educator, storyteller, Ambedkarite, Surrealist and Postmodernist.
Tune in to the episode, where Kedar talks to Siddhesh about his aesthetics and the kind of colors he uses in his artworks and more!
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In this episode, we have Satish Alekar. He is a Marathi playwright, actor, and theatre director. Alekar is known for his masterpiece plays- Mahanirvan, Mahapoor, Atirekee, Pidhijat, Mickey ani Memsahib, and Begum Barve. Tune in to this episode, as Kedar is documenting Satish Alekar's understanding of theatre and art . This Audiogyan will be in Marathi.
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In this episode, we have Tanul Vikamshi with us. Tanul is an artist, sculptor and educator. He studied Modelling and Sculpture from J.J. School of Arts but unfortunately in the 3rd year, met with an accident and lost sensation of his lower body. He believed that education has to start from roots so he started Alag Angle along with his brother Lalit Vikamshi and Milli Vikamshi.
Alag Angle community art and design center induce a vibrant art and design environment in Central India by setting up open studio spaces for young makers of the region to practice and appreciate innovations in art and design.
Over the past 16 years, it has become a huge community of designers, artists, sculptors, architects, engineers, makers and musicians.
Tune in to this episode as Kedar interacts with Tanul Vikamshi extensively about the journey and future of Alag Angle.
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In this episode, we have Nikhil Katara and Himali Kothari. Nikhil is a writer and the founder and artistic director of 'Readings in the Shed' and Himali is the creative director. This week, Kedar discusses about the journey of the project 'Readings in the shed'
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Today we have Ashish Avikunthak with us on Audiogyan. Ashish has been making films for the past 25 years. His films have been showcased worldwide in film festivals, galleries and museums. He holds Ph.D. in Cultural and Social Anthropology from Stanford University and has earlier taught at Yale University. He is now an Associate Professor in Film/Media at Harrington School of Communication, University of Rhode Island. In this episode, Ashish talks about filmmakers and film artists. Kedar also throws some light on Etcetera, an artistic film by Ashish.
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In this episode, we have Ganesh Devy with us. Ganesh is a thinker, cultural activist, institution builder, linguist, literary critic and a former professor of English who undertook the project of surveying Indian languages in 2010. You will find many of his work links on gndevy.in.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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'Where are the designers?' is an Audiogyan series that features the top 12 influential Design leaders wherein they talk about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips and tricks for young designers. We are happy to introduce Abhinit Tiwari, co-host for this series. He is a designer at Gojek.
Today we have Hrush Bhatt back with us on Audiogyan. He had come in episode number 47 back in December 2017. He is one of the senior-most designers in the Indian ecosystem who is responsible for shaping the Indian digital space with his simple design through Cleartrip. He is currently working on a SAAS-based product for the US market.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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'Where are the designers?' is an Audiogyan series that features the top 12 influential Design leaders wherein they talk about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips and tricks for young designers. We are happy to introduce Abhinit Tiwari, co-host for this series. He is a designer at Gojek.
We have Aditi Kulkarni with us on Audiogyan. She is a UX manager at Shopify. Previously worked at Indeed, Referral Candy, Postman and more. Formally trained in print as a graphic designer, she switched to web design in early 2005 and has been hiring, mentoring and regularly sharing her learnings at various design events and conferences.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
'Where are the designers?' is an Audiogyan series that features the top 12 influential Design leaders wherein they talk about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips and tricks for young designers. We are happy to introduce Abhinit Tiwari, co-host for this series. He is a designer at Gojek.
In this episode, we have Shreyas Satish with us. Shreyas is the founder and CEO of Ownpath. It is dedicated to helping professionals grow in their careers through lifelong learning and professional networks. Shreyas was previously with Hasgeek and Mapunity.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
"Where are the designers?" is an Audiogyan series that features the top 12 influential Design leaders wherein they talk about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips and tricks for young designers. We are happy to introduce Abhinit Tiwari, co-host for this series. He is a designer at Gojek.
In this episode, we have Rahul Gonsalves with us on Audiogyan. Rahul "One of the faces of New India" as Forbes called him, is the co-founder of Obvious. Obvious is a full-stack design and tech studio that empower companies to build great products and solutions.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
"Where are the designers?" A series that features, top 12 influential Design leaders, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips and tricks for young designers. We are happy to introduce Abhinit Tiwari, co-host for this series. He is a designer at Gojek.
In this episode, we have Shaheena Attarwala with us. She is an Experience Design Manager at Microsoft and previously head of design at Zoomcar and Wigzo. Shaheena has over 10 years of experience and likes to call herself a Businessman with a Designers' heart focused on user data, simple designs, usable and functional interfaces.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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Welcome to Audiogyan - Where are the designers? It is a 12 part series featuring few of the top influential Design leaders in India, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives.
Today we have Navneet Nair with us on Audiogyan. He currently heads design at PhonePe. For the last two decades, he has been a hands-on practitioner of design and user focussed creative arts. Navneet has worked in both individual contributor roles and in leadership positions at startups and established companies like Yahoo & Google.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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Welcome to a brand new series of Audiogyan - Where are the designers? It is a 12 part series featuring few of the top influential Design leaders in India, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives.
Today we have Vandana Abraham with us on the show. She is currently Head of Design at Atlassian. Previously she worked at 247.ai, Cisco and Unimobile. We are excited to have a designer who has more than 20 years of experience in this space. She comes from a more organised setup than the hustling and chaotic world of startups, so lot to learn and discover. Vandana studied design at NID.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
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Welcome to Audiogyan - This is a part of series, "Where are the designers?" A series which features, top 12 influential Design leaders, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent, and some tips and tricks for young designers. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives.
Today we have Srinath Rangamani with us on Audiogyan. He has been a guest on Audiogyan back in Jan 2019, where we spoke about Swiggy's design philosophy. Srinath heads Design at Swiggy and previously at Myntra, store mate, and Adobe. He is a digital designer with over 15+ years of experience in creative, interaction, and product design for mobile apps & web. Welcome back Srinath to Audiogyan.
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Welcome to the 12 part series of Audiogyan - "Where are the designers?", featuring a few of the top influential Design leaders, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining the talents, and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives. In today's episode our hosts talks to Vasudha Chandak, who is a well-known name in the design community for helping people find the design talent. Vasudha is a designer turned design recruiter helping designers and startups to find the right match. On average, 1 out of the 5 designers, she sends to any company gets hired and her clients include Filpkart, Ola, Swiggy, Housing, Cleartax and many more.
Follow Vasudha Chandak on Twitter - https://twitter.com/ideawebme?s=21
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/androidor iOS: https://ivm.today/iosYou can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
Welcome to the brand new series of Audiogyan - "Where are the designers?" It is a 12 part series featuring a few of the top influential Design leaders, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining the talents, and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives.
In today's episode, Kedar and Abhinit talks to Harish Sivaramakrishnan, head of the design team at CRED. Previously an employee at Freecharge, Google, Myntra, and Adobe. He is also the lead vocalist and founder of a Carnatic rock band called "Agam" and has been touring all along for the last 13 years. Listen to the episode to know more.
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/androidor iOS: https://ivm.today/iosYou can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
Welcome to the brand new series of Audiogyan - "Where are the designers?" It is a 12 part series featuring a few of the top influential Design leaders, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining the talents, and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives. In this Episode, our hosts talks to Fatema Raja, who is a Group Design Head at Gojek handling Food and entertainment. Always filling pages, obsessive talker, the epitome of OCD is how she describes herself. Listen to the Episode to find out more.
Follow Fathema Raja on Twitter - https://twitter.com/fatemajraja
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Follow Gojek Design on Twitter- https://twitter.com/gojekdesign?s=21Follow The Jupiter App on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheJupiterApp
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/androidor iOS: https://ivm.today/iosYou can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
Welcome to the brand new series of Audiogyan - "Where are the designers?" It is a 12 part series featuring few of the top influential Design leaders, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining the talents and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply. We are delighted and proud to introduce our hosts, Kedar Nimkar and Abhinit Tiwari, who will be sharing their 360-degree design perspectives. We begin the series with Jay Dutta, Design Head at Make My Trip, and Go Ibibo also the founder of DesignUp, one of the most sought-after design conferences in South East Asia.Follow Kedar Nimkar on Twitter https://twitter.com/nimkarkedar?s=21
Follow Abhinit Tiwari on Twitter- https://twitter.com/abhinitial?s=21
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Follow Gojek Design on Twitter- https://twitter.com/gojekdesign?s=21
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/androidor iOS: https://ivm.today/iosYou can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
This week Audiogyan turns 4. On this anniversary episode, I would like to thank all listeners for tuning in and all the guests who have spent their valuable time & effort for this show.
This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Get a whole month free! - at mubi.com/audiogyan. Well, we have 3 films on MUBI made by today's guest. Right here, right now. The continuum and The insignificant man which is exclusive on MUBI.
Yes!!!!!!! We are celebrating this 208th episode with Anand Gandhi. I am super thrilled and excited, and at the same time a bit nervous to have Anand on the show. I am just introducing him for the record in case if this audio is found 100 years later. Actually it's always a challenge to introduce great minds like him - I would simply call him, a philosopher, film maker, explorer, game designer and one of the most important thinkers of our time.
Question
What is cognitive gym that you talk about?
So thats it from Audiogyan this year.
Thanks for listening till the end and have a great new year ahead.
https://www.facebook.com/MemesysLab/
This is episode # 207, second last of this crazy year, 2020.
Today on Audiogyan we have one of the most well known, influential and senior Graphic designers of our time. Sujata Keshavan. She is the founder of Ray and Keshavan and Varnaworld. Sujata graduated from the National Institute of Design in 1984. She did her Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from the School of Art, Yale University 1987. At Yale, Sujata studied under designers Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson and Armin Hofmann. And today we are here to know her design philosophy and my personal curiosity that can design be tangibly measured?
Questions
- In one of your articles, you mentioned, The Legendary Paul Rand taught you, "form divorced from content has no value.” Can you please explain this philosophy in detail?
- How true is "form follows function" in graphic design and if yes, how can it be achieved? How then would we perceive works of people like David Carson and designers.
- For the very first time you took the subject of Design into India’s corporate boardrooms and worked only at the board level with your clients. How did this happen? Can you share any insights from there? Which will also help me understand that how design inputs get measured.
- Given the major shift in your career after Ray+Keshavan from graphic design to textiles and fashion with Varana, could you speak about the multi-disciplinary nature of design and what the challenges could be in making such shifts
- You been serving on the governing councils of both NID Ahmedabad and Srishti, can we conclude by you telling us state of design education in India… where is it and what is needed going ahead?
Dhawal Ashar is a Manager in the Urban Transport and Road Safety team at the World Resources Institute India. His work integrates transport engineering and urban design to improve safety and sustainability in cities. Dhawal manages road safety projects in Mumbai, Bandung, Bangkok, to name a few. Today we are here to discuss design of last 2 decades of transport in Mumbai and some brilliant insights from Dhawal
Questions
- We can't start from the wheel but can you give us a brief history of transportation in Mumbai? Also how are these transportation departments categorized? Local perception of commuters and as per government taxonomy?
- What is a general practice for building and designing a road? What is challenging about Mumbai being a cluster of islands?
- What was the situation of Mumbai roads despite having local railway 50 years ago and how is it today?
- On which parameters are road safety and easy of transport measured? How are these conducted and how does Mumbai perform on those metrics?
- What is the long term future of transport of Mumbai?
Crafts is an integral part of experiential creativity and the conduit for imagination of forms.
Today I have Devika Krishnan with us on Audiogyan; She is a founder of Studio sattva and Arthouse. Devika graduate in ceramics from NID and did MBA from ISB —- and since then has been working relentlessly in varied areas of design and empowerment. She continues to work for Dastkar Ranthambhore where she trains new groups of artisans. One of the topics which we will be discussing in this episode is her path-breaking project called Commitment to Kashmir that is enabling young and eager Kashmiris to set up their crafts businesses – with suitable market linkages – to sustain themselves and those they employ.
Questions
- Real India is 60%+ villages. Can you give us a sense of the broad landscape of arts and craft in our country?
- After working for more than 2 decades in this space, especially at Ranthambore, what are the insights you can share w.r.t crafts?
- Why is Kashmir so fertile when it comes to Crafts?
- What is commitment to Kashmir? How does it work? On which criteria these artisan are handpicked?
- What are the top 3 or 5 challenges which Kashmiri Artisians are facing?
- What all changes happened due to 370 in Kashmir?
- It is so juxtaposition that, Mumbai is financial capital of India and also house to biggest slum in Asia. Similarly, Kashmir being area of dispute and terror for nearly 7 decades and yet most beautiful when it comes to design and art. How do you reconcile this thought?
- Can you tell us which are the really unique indigenous products produced from Kashmir and why?
Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya - Architect, academician, and thinker, Neelkanth Chhaya has researched and worked extensively in the domain of appropriate architecture for India. He has documented places of historic significance and authored numerous critical papers. He retired in 2013 as the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, at CEPT, Ahmedabad after a 24-year teaching sojourn at the School.
Before we begin, a quick shout out to Ruturaj Parikh from Matter in Goa for introducing me to these brilliant minds from the world of architecture and education. I also wanna say hi to Ayaz Basrai whom i interviewed in episode number 104 and he recommended documenting Prof. Neelkanth.
Questions
- What according to you is standardization? Where all do you see it happening? Do you see it happening in Architecture? Do you see it happening in design at large?
- It is said, standardization and process bring scale - How true it is in design? How important is scale for a developing country like us? Are we trapped in a cycle now?
- Does standardization kills diversity, ingenuity? What according to you is the biggest tradeoff of bringing standardization in design as a discipline?
- You have been an educator for more than 40 years. Education system is designed to meet demands of the market. Market demands profit. Profit can be achieved only through scale. Can one scale without standardization?
- Do you envision further standardization 50 years from now?
http://www.ceptarchives.org/Peoples/neelkanth-chhaya
https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-123851
https://www.acedge.in/courses/in-conversation-b-v-doshi-and-neelkanth-chhaya
https://www.architecturetalk.org/home/87chhaya
https://thinkmatter.in/tag/neelkanth-chhaya/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaSl_rFYsUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFE0nVG2gKs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_p-C4k7Ip0
Today I have, a Writer, traveller, and photographer; Shivaji Das with us on Audiogyan. He has authored few books like, ‘Off the Beaten Track: Collecting Stories of Unheard Lives,’ ‘Journeys with the caterpillar: Travelling through the islands of Flores and Sumba, Indonesia,’ and most recently, "The other Shangri-la".
Shivaji’s writings and work with migrants have been published in journals such as TIME, The Economist, BBC and more... He was born and brought up in the north-eastern province of Assam and now stays in Singapore. Today we are here to discuss about travel writing as a practice or as a profession. Lets find out.
Questions
- What is different about travel writing? The way we have articles, opinions, factual documentation etc...What sort of sub sections do you have in travel writing? Are there any broad rules for them. For eg: Fiction can not have factual information etc...?
- I have heard this phrase called ego travel. What does it mean to you? In one of your articles you mentioned, you know when to be honest about the various fears and phobias you are attempting to overcome. Can you please elaborate on that with any example?
- Do you write about people or places? What is your definition of a place / destination? Is it the people or the geographical location or the cultural found within? Tell us more about "The other Shangri-la". Do you have any favorite experiences/destinations that was most gratifying?
- The advancement in modes of travel has made it easier to travel to the unreachable places. What have we gained and what have we lost in this transition?
- With new media coming, how and where does writing fit in this visual world of Youtube and IGTV? What's next with you? and what would be your 2 cents for those who wish to get into travel writing?
Reference
- https://www.amazon.in/OTHER-SHANGRI-Journeys-Sino-Tibetan-frontier/dp/8194201861/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H709Q2BFCNXC&dchild=1&keywords=the+other+shangri-la&qid=1606239689&sprefix=the+other+she%2Caps%2C271&sr=8-1
- https://www.shivajidas.com
- https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Seeking-magic-in-China-s-other-Shangri-La
- https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3107642/chinas-lost-queendom-beauty-contests-and-love-triangles-endure
- https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/47039/offbeat-cruise-singapore-to-hong-kong
- https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/indian-chinese-couple-went-on-a-road-trip-to-chengdu/487420/
- https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/weekend-interview/shivaji-das
- https://twitter.com/shivajiauthor?lang=en
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivaji-das-073611/?originalSubdomain=sg
- https://www.amazon.com/Shivaji-Das/e/B00EMT7GYS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Daniel Kahneman in his book, "Thinking fast and slow", mentions that people are innately irrational when it comes to making decisions. Same goes with how they consume everyday products. In the book "Design of everyday things" Don Norman speaks about how people blame themselves if they are not able to pull the drawer rather than blaming the designer. Well, there definitely seems to be a pattern. Lets explore few of them and more importantly a designers role in this setup.
Being a Digital product designer myself, I have few insights. But to know more, today I have Navneet Nair with us on Audiogyan. Navneet is Head of Design at PhonPe. For the last two decades, he has been a hands-on practitioner of design and user focussed creative arts. Navneet has worked in both individual contributor roles and in leadership positions at startups and established companies like Yahoo & Google.
Questions
- How big or small role does design play in today's Indian startup ecosystem?
- You have spoken about the irrational user. Tell us more about it. How have you translated those learnings in your projects, at Google, yahoo or even now in PhonePe?
- You speak about value centered design. Can you tell us in detail what do you mean? Are there any best practices which you have implemented at Phonepe? How effective it has been?
- If you had to teach designers, either economics or being a full stack designer - what would you choose and why?
- Know the rules to bend the rules - What has been your experience while dealing with budding designers who come from user centered school of thought? How can they develop value centered design approach?
Reference Links
- http://www.navneetnair.com
- https://thehardcopy.co/navneet-nair-director-of-product-design-phone-pe-makes-a-recommendation/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb_rOlMi4Po&feature=emb_title
- https://navneetdesigns.medium.com
Dr. A. Srivathsan is an architectural scholar with more than twenty-five years of experience in teaching, architectural and developmental research, and professional practice. Before joining his role as the Executive Director of CAU, Srivathsan served as the Academic Director of CEPT University for five years. He holds a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology along with a Master’s degree in Urban Design, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Today we are here to document how are contemporary sacred spaces designed, mainly the Hindu temples.
I also want to thank Ruturaj Parikh from Matter for making this episode happen.
- What is different about designing a sacred space? Are sacred places of worship built or they grow organically? Should such spaces be designed? Are sacred spaces like public spaces, or are they different?
- What is the relation between sacredness and architecture? Does specific kind of architectural forms and style have sacred quality? What is the role of Vast Sastra in this? If you can also tell, which tools they used to build these old architecture of temples?
- What role does an architect play in building temples? If the stapatis or sompuras are the traditional architects and experts in designing temples, do you need modern architects?
- Most of the temples have an ornamental look. Why so? Do ornamentation and decor continue in recent temples?
- What role do architects play in the modern context when they are designing temples? Do you have any insights to share about the architecture of the new Ram Mandir?
- How do you envision the design of sacred places of the future?
This is the 200th episode of Audiogyan. Today I have Sudhir Patwardhan with us on Audiogyan. I celebrated 100th episode with India's design Hero, B.V. Doshi, and I am equally thrilled and excited to celebrate this 200th episode with another legend - Sudhir Patwardhan - one of India’s finest painters. Thank you Sudhir sir for giving your time and it's a real honor to have you on Audiogyan.
Questions
- Most legendary musicians talk about having emptied the mind to reach a higher state of consciousness while performing (Bismillah Khan or Kumar Gandharva). Is this the same process while painting? A painter seems to be filled with thoughts, contradictions, and conflicts in the world.
- Your early works (70's) were just the subject. Later on, you started bringing in context along with the subject. Why? What made you make this shift? Eventually, your paintings become busier. Why?
- You've said, “It is about what is possible to communicate and what is not. The artist starts by saying something, then he wipes and starts anew.” - Is this the reason why Mumbai has always inspired you? Even Mumbai gets washed with every wave hitting the island and starts fresh? Why Mumbai?
- This maximum city is transmuting rapidly all the time. How did you pick subjects to paint? Be it "corporate towers threatening to take over the long-defunct mills" or be it "riots". How did/do you handle the anxiety of expressing these equally burning issues and yet making it an iconic piece of art? (Is that how your multiple scenes within the same canvas emerge?)
- In my understanding, be it Vijay Tendulkar, or Satyajit Ray or you (For eg: "Paying the bill" painting - people next door, a common man, are subjects of your interest. What do you think makes your work so relatable? How come the common man (most of the time) is non-cognizant about it? R.K. Laxman could be an exception, maybe :)
- Human forms in your painting are doing mundane activities. Yet they are imbued with a sense of innate dignity as they go about performing their chores. What is transpiring in your expression?
- Your work ‘Citing the city’ at Sakshi Gallery in 2007 created a dialogue with society - How do you see these dialogues reaching the masses when the galleries are visited by the elite?
- You have been drawing Mumbai tirelessly. Crowded and chaotic scenes seem to be clearly depicted in your work. If you have to start all over again, which city would you pick?
This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe.
Every day, MUBI premieres a new film. Whether it's a timeless classic, a cult favorite, or an acclaimed masterpiece — a movie you’ve been dying to see or one you’ve never heard of before — there is always something new to discover.
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The concept of brand was once very simple. The word “brand” came from an Ancient Norse word “Brandr” meaning ”to burn”. In 950 A.D., brand meant a burning piece of wood. And in 1300’s, it meant a “torch” which was still meaning a burning piece of a wood used as a tool. In 1500’s, it meant a marked burned on cattle when farmers used to distinguish their cattle from cattle from other ranches.
In early 1800s, mass production, products like wine started to flourish and sellers started to use the word brand to imply leaving a mark into the crates. Products with better quality and high value naturally became known as a high-end products. In 1870, it finally became possible to register a trademark, and Coca Cola facilitated this to advertise their slogan “Coca Cola Revives and Sustains”.
Why am I talking about brands? Today I have Karno Guhathakurta with us on Audiogyan. He is a Creative director as Please-See agency which has designed numerous brands. They have done brand building for Foodhall, LazyPay, Mami and many more.
We'll try and get some insights behind brand building and discuss MAMI logo in the later half of the episode..
Thanks Korno for giving your time and it'e a real pleasure to have you on Audiogyan. Welcome.
Questions
- What according to you is branding (brand building) and what is a brand? What do these things comprise of, theoretically and practically in real life?
- What is easy to brand, a product or a service? How long does it take to brand a product or a service?
- Is Logo a brand? Can brands be made without advertising? (Can take examples to explain) Can a well-designed logo with a great product become a brand without marketing or Advertising? Any examples if you can share?
- If every branding, marketing, and advertising person must have seen Simon Sinek's golden circle, why do they still continue the opposite way?
- You and your team have done brand building for Foodhall, LazyPay, Mami, and many more. I am particularly interested in MAMI. Can you tell us the process in detail? from graphic to type selection to organic evolution of the logo?
- How and why did you arrive at what is in the public domain today? What were few options and how did it got finalized?
- Did Jio come a disrupt the form? (non-metaphorically. :) ) Do you think of sub-brands and taking over of bigger brands while designing logos?
- With a world where long tail are becoming brands themselves, what is your reading of how brands will evolve in the next 5 to 10 years?
Hope you enjoyed the show. MUBI India announced it's arrival at MAMI last year. Now to tell you a bit more about MUBI - it’s a film streaming service, showcasing the best of Indian cinema on their MUBI INDIA channel and classic international hits on MUBI WORLD with a new film every day on each channel.
This week I recommend watching Abhay Kumar's Placebo, Kamal K.M's I.D., Ashim Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely
You can watch this and more great cinema free for a whole month at MUBI.com/audiogyan
Today I have Tarun Deep Girdher on Audiogyan. Tarun is a Activity chairperson at NID. He is passionate about and also teaches Type Design, Typography, Printing Technology, Illustration, Visual Narratives, and Environmental Perception. Tarun's professional projects include socially relevant communication projects, he has deep concerns about inclusive design, disability, gender sensitization, etc. He has designed more than two dozen publications. Apart from such a huge body of work, Tarun has also designed over thirty logos including Right to Information, and None of The Above (NOTA) for the Government of India - and that is the topic of our discussion today. Designing for the government.
- What is a logo? How has your definition of a logo changed over time and after designing more than 30 logos for the government? Any milestone logos which changed your perception of what a logo is?
- I saw the RTI logo and its guideline document. Can you tell us the process of arriving at the final logo? From brief to final approval? Using Bell Gothic, other language script renditions, the Pantone Blue which you recommended, usage, and overall brand guidelines.
- Similarly, can you briefly tell us about the NOTA logo
- What is the biggest reason you kept both the logos super simple - Easy to recall, easy to reproduce or thinking of the person lowest in the educational pyramid?
- A logo is the simplest way to associate with a brand. Traditionally speaking, it is always simple. What is special while designing for the government? What new dimensions get added?
- How sensitive is the government about design? From function to aesthetics? Not just the current government but over all?
- I am heavily influenced by the western school of thought - Do your user research, try out MVPs etc... But the actual act of designing most of the time happens solo and then we need teams to execute it. Generally, speaking, design by a community is not recommended. Do you agree and what were the 2 big challenges that you faced while designing for the world's biggest democracy - where everybody had an opinion?
- How can students and professionals contribute their skills to government institutions and projects to improve standards of design?
- What is one tip/suggestion you would like to give all students and designers who critic on new identities, logo or designs, without understanding the context or constraints?
Recently in Puliyabaazi podcast from IVM, I heard a nice answer to a classic question, "what is the difference between language an dialect?" The answer was, "A language is a dialect with a gun in hand". All though the conversation had political and historical bend, i was super fascinated it. To discuss what is translation and how is it done and other smaller nuances of language, I have none other than Jayashree Hari Joshi with us on Audiogyan.
Jayashree studied German at the JNU in New Delhi and also taught German after receiving her MA. She has been working at the Goethe Institute since 1996, was a program officer for twenty years, and since 2016 has been the Head of the institute's library in Mumbai. In addition to the Indian languages Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit, she is fluent in English and German. She has translated German poems and plays into Hindi, Marathi and English. She also writes poetry in Marathi, which is regularly published. She has translated plays, poems, short stories novels and children's and youth literature from English and German into Hindi and Marathi. With such a huge body of work, I am just try and ask her few questions with my limited capacity and leave it to her to enlighten us.
Questions
- What does translation mean to you? How has it changed over time? Is translation a skill or an art?
- The legendary Hindi critic Namwar Singh has commented on Hindi language and it's a journey in the 20th century. Is there an equivalent theory about the grammar and aesthetics of Marathi poetry?
- Ashok Shahane said all languages were born out of verses and songs. This is not the case with Marathi. What is your response to that?
- Is there any recognizable pattern w.r.t language that you have observed in the last 20 years when it comes to literature? Who and what defines "Praman Bhasha"?
- How do you retain the original author's sense and spirit, the spirit that resides in the original author's creative reasons for using a precise word or a phrase? What is your definition of ambiguity and how do you resolve that?
- Who are the translator you admire and why?
- Jayashree Joshi's Profile - https://www.goethe.de/ins/in/en/kul/sup/soc/sst/u10.html
- Ganesh Vispute - https://www.akshardhara.com/en/2539__ganesh-vispute
- Mugdha Karnik - https://www.amazon.in/Books-Mugdha-Karnik/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AMugdha+Karnik
- Prafull Shiledar - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prafull_Shiledar
- Ranjit Hoskote - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranjit_Hoskote
- Vishnu Khare - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu_Khare
- Shanta Gokhale - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanta_Gokhale
- Kavya ghruha - https://www.facebook.com/KavyaGrih/
Martin Scorsese once said, "Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out." I guess, MUBI also has a similar viewpoint. They are particular of which movie is on the platform and which is out.
Svetlana Naudiyal joins us Audiogyan. She is a Director of content at MUBI India. Svetlana has a rich background in cinema, content, and curation. She has worked previously in different capacities for NFDC, MAMI, Drishyam Films to name a few.
We will try and understand how curation happens at MUBI and few aspects about curation of cinema.
- I will start with the most meta-question - What is curation according to you in the cinema context?
- Who are these people, who watch the cinema showcased on MUBI? Can you share any personas/demographics of this audience? How do you map films for them?
- At MUBI, how does curation work? If it has to be parametrized, what are possible tangible parameters, and what are intangible? How do you guess the bigger unknown of the audience finding the connection with the film?
- What is your definition of experimental cinema? How abstract can it go and still be called as cinema? From Kamal Swaroop's Om Dar Ba Dar to Amit Dutta's The museum of imagination to Andy Warhol's eating the burger.
- After working for MAMI, NFDC, and many such places, how has your definition of cinema evolved? Today, how do you look at censorship and outer limits of freedom of expression in the context of cinema?
- I have been a consumer of both formats of content. Slow films like "Uttoron" on MUBI and "Departed" on other OTT platforms. MUBI being classic seems a bit slow at times. How do you convince yourself that there are people out there who are likely and will definitely watch slow films by Godard & Mani Kaul?
- What is the long term future of independent and parallel cinema?
- A classic cliche question, which movie one should watch this weekend and get a flavor of MUBI's content curation?
Audiogyan listeners get a full month free of amazing films through mubi.com/audiogyan
Trust, privacy, security, and many such words have got a different meaning in the coming decades as we moved from chawls to high-rises. Well, to discuss more about chawls and urban culture and their design, Today I have Rupali Gupte with us on Audiogyan. Rupali is an architect and a co-founder of Bard Studio in Mumbai. Her works include research on Indian urbanism with focus on architecture, urban culture, urban economy, property, housing, urban form, entrepreneurial and tactical practices. Rupali is one of the founding members of the urban research network, CRIT (crit.in) and the School of Environment and Architecture (sea.edu.in).
Questions
- There seems to be 2 fascinating speculations about how did "Chawl" word originated. Can we start by that?
- How would you explain Porosity of rooms in chawls?
- Is chawl a public space or a private space? What is the reason behind it? Did it evolve because of the architecture or space evolved because of people? Or should i put it "Is chawl a concept or is it an architectural setup?"
- Does Mumbai’s chawl system lend any character to the city? I have this personal strong judgement about why Mumbai has been so tolerant and patient. Either people are oblivious to what’s happening around or then they have built patience by standing in front of common chawl toilets. What is your take?
- Can elites stay in chawl or it is designed for middle class?
- Can you share your insights about what does "privacy and security" mean in chawl context?
- If we envision Mumbai in 2050, what do you think; how chawls will be perceived if they remain in our memories...
As a tradition that began over 2500 years ago, India remains one of the world's largest exporters of handmade carpets. In fact, I recently read somewhere about why Mahatma Gandhi decided to use Charkha as a symbol of independence. Because the Britishers invaded India for our textile capabilities, quality and over all output. Gandhiji wanted to symbolize the freedom movement through one of the attributes of textiles - Charkha - But thats a story for some other time.
For ages, until 1978, exports have often been exploited by middlemen and - artisans were undervalued, most weavers stayed at the bottom of the pyramid with very meager income levels.
Nand Kishore Chaudhary recognized this inequality in the weaving market and created the company, Jaipur Rugs which offered employment opportunities in remote areas of India. Starting with only two looms, he was able to connect people and now has built a network of over 40,000 artisans spread over five Indian states, 80 percent of whom are women.
His daughter, Kavita Chaudhary steers the design and brand philosophy at Jaipur Rugs. Before joining the family business, she refined her aptitude for design by working with design houses in Chicago and New York.
Today we are here to understand the broad landscape of textile design in India at the backdrop of Jaipur Rugs, real design sensibilities of India, and a short but beautiful case study called Manchaha.
Questions
- NK: You say, "Business is next to love. It is the creator and preserver of civilization." Can you please start by telling us, how and where do you find the relation between business and love. Both, spiritually and practically?
- NK: Innocence, resilience & empathy is the foundation of your journey. How do you reconcile the hard capitalist mentality of business and empowering rural India and Indian women especially?
- KC: Can you share a macro picture of textiles in India w.r.t world standards?
- KC: How has your definition of design evolved when you look at India and outside world?
- NK: How would you define the creativity of artisans in India? What does Art mean to you? How has your definition of creativity changed over time?
- NK: Given the inequality, can you share briefly the process of how you architected this bottom of the pyramid?
- KC: Indian's are famous for their intricate work, which, because of the colonial rule and industrialization was lost. How come it still exists? You said it takes about 4 to 6 months for one weaver to make a hand made rug. Can you tell me more about this?
- KC: Can you talk a little about "aas-pass"? This is where they derive inspiration from.
- KC: Can you tell us the story behind Manchaha project? How and why did it emerge? What is the biggest learning from Manchaha project w.r.t ego battles of designers?
- NK: What is the long term future of Jaipur Rugs and overall artisans in India? Not just with Atmanirbhar Bharat but as a whole.
https://www.jaipurrugs.com
https://www.nkchaudhary.com
https://aif.org/manchaha-part-1-what-is-artisan-originals/
https://www.forbesindia.com/article/special/jaipur-rugs-weaves-new-market-with-first-mumbai-store/52723/1
https://www.dezeen.com/awards/2019/shortlists/aas-pass/
Geetanjali Kulkarni is an actor, who has been performing for theatre, films, and the web. She has been always ahead of her time. Her quest to do something unconventional always paved a different way for her and the people around her. Geetanjali's dedication is contagious and has given certain meaning to the most uncertain profession called Acting... Today we are here to discuss one of my favorite topics, education, but through theatre and acting or should I say performing arts. This Audiogyan will be in Marathi.
Questions
- You have worked in different types of plays and with different types of directors, Paresh Mokashi to Mohit Takalkar, Sunil Shanbag to Atul Kumar. How do you adapt to different styles of theatre?
- Performances at NSD to Performances at Prithvi to Performances in England. How did you prepare of these? What according to you is so special about Theatre even today after doing Netflix series, films, and more?
- You have studied at NSD, you have mentored at DSM plus there is the brilliant work in Jawahar. What does theatre education mean in this day and age?
- In your newer projects, Goshtarang and Quest, based on your experience, which method of learning do you propose, Abhyas of fun?
- If you were made Minister of Theatre - what are the three things you will implement in education and training for theatre
If you enjoyed listening to this one, please do check out episode # 13 with Geetanjali's husband, Atul Kulkarni. Excuse for my naive questions then and also the production quality. I was too new to podcasting plus interviewing such a legend was full of pressure. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes. - https://audiogyan.com/2017/04/19/atul-kulkarni/
Today I have Pinaki De with us on Audiogyan. He is a well-known and multiple award-winning graphic illustrator-designer who regularly works for leading publishing companies like Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and more... He has designed book covers for over 500 books to date. A Charles Wallace Trust fellow has Ph.D. in comics theory. Pinaki juggles his creative work with academics, as he has a day job as an Associate Professor of English in Kolkatta. You can find more about his work and bio on the links given in the show notes.
- Can you give start by telling us a brief history of book cover design? Did the first-ever book had cover? Was the first cover made for identification or protection?
- What all are functions of book cover today?
- Do you need to read the book to design the cover?
- How do the writer and the book cover designer collaborate in arriving at the cover design? Can you give an example of any famous book cover you designed to explain the process?
- What is the long term future of book cover design? With thumbnails for famous movie posters created by artificial intelligence in Netflix, how would you envision, iBooks, Kindle changing the trajectory of book cover design?
- How true is, "never judge a book by its cover". especially when you have designed more than 500 book covers.
Debjyoti Saha joins us on Audiogyan. For those who follow him on Instagram knows his style of work and the recently gone viral series, Korona. But I am not going to introduce him by that. Debjyoti is an animator, illustrator and draws comics. His work is heavily influenced by his interactions with cities he has lived in, and it’s clear that his observations of such detail, reflects in his animated and illustrated stories. What got me interested in knowing his thoughts and work (which he himself calls) which is not very heavy on production, but has a deep-rooted thought.
Questions
- What is your definition of storytelling? How has to change over time? From still images to moving images? Can you share your learnings, pros, and cons with both these ways of expression?
- Your work seems to be quite diverse in terms of styling. Is it a conscious choice/effort or you are still exploring?
- Do you think abstract animations and storytelling can be relatable? How? Why make such things?
- Can you please explain your process a bit more in detail - How do you pick a topic, build a story, and then how does it manifest into a short film/movie?
- "Animated" as a keyword can be loosely translated as "Exaggerated". Do you think, you building a counter-narrative to the mainstream media can backfire?
- Do you think there are leftists bhakts? I mean do you think uneducated leftist bhakts simply praise your work or do you have any other insights?
https://www.instagram.com/debjyoti.saha/?hl=en
https://www.joinpaperplanes.com/design-and-living/eye-candy-fishmongers-with-debjyoti-saha/
https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/korona-debjyoti-saha-paints-a-different-picture-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-in-india/story-r8a0XVMk3V9bhxz7SWX4pO.html
Ashley Lobo joins us on Audiogyan to share his philosophical thoughts and connect the dots of the western world to India's spirituality through dance. Mark Twain once said, “Work like you don't need the money. Dance like no one is watching. And love like you've never been hurt.” Seems like Mark Twain knew one of the secrets of Bhagwad Gita. Do things without any expectations. To explore these philosophical thoughts and connect the dots of the western world to India's spirituality through dance, I have Ashley Lobo with us Audiogyan. He needs no introduction for people in the field of performing arts. But for those who don't know, Ashley is considered to be a spearhead of international dance in India. His career in performing arts comprises of over 35 years of performing, choreographing, and teaching - in India and overseas.
Questions
- Is dance creation, invention, or discovery? Why dance is considered so divine art form? Did Dance start as a solo activity or a group?
- You engage with Jazz, Classical Ballet, Contemporary, Urban, and Funk. What is your overall process of reconciling age-old traditions of yoga with contemporary dance movements? Can you also talk about the Prana Paint technique?
- "Prana Paint" for me is an indicator of a person going deep enough to understand spirituality and philosophy. Can you talk about Dance as a means of self-help? All throughout since this art form existed to the current times of social fragmentation, stress, and most important, anxiety.
- In one of your articles published in 2017 during your Agni production through Navdhara India Dance Theatre (NIDT), you mentioned "Passion can create or destroy. In creating we destroy. And in destroying we create." - Can you elaborate on that, please? I am interested in knowing what got destroyed as we kept evolving dance as an art form / as a practice.
- What is the long term future of dance form? From the world view of Online, Social distancing norms to group dances, couples dancing to know each other or a solo performer the only person in Auditorium. What are your thoughts and views?
This episode is brought to you by MUBI (https://mubi.com/india) , a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Get a whole month free! - at MUBI (https://mubi.com/audiogyan) . MUBI (https://mubi.com/india) showcases a wide range of iconic Satyajit Ray films! Ray, is also our topic of discussion today, but not as a filmmaker but as a Graphic Designer.
I have Pinaki De back with us on Audiogyan. I have given a detailed intro about him and his huge body of work in the previous episode - so here is a quick one. Pinaki is an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator, book cover designer, comic artist, and teaches English literature in Kolkatta.
Thank you Pinaki for giving your time and welcome back to Audiogyan.
In the previous episode we spoke about Book Cover design, this episode is about your passion to explore Satyajit Ray's work of a graphic designer. The director’s revolutionary films often overshadow his work as an illustrator and graphic designer, his graphical sensibilities as rich and diverse as his filmography. Let's jump right in right away...
A brief intro about Ray's breadth and depth of work w.r.t Graphic Design. How he designed type from cassette to film hoardings.
Satyajit Da's contribution to the Indian landscape of graphic design. Which patterns/styles became famous after he did it?
Can you talk about "Agantuk" or also called as "The stranger" poster (which is also available o MUBI). I guess it was inspired by straight lines of the Bauhaus movement.
Tell us a bit about, where was Ray's inspiration from? Kolkatta is social and has been chaotic for a long time, where and how did minimalism seep in, that, it started reflecting in his work?
Can you tell me, which were the top 3 characteristics of his work? For eg: usage of white space, usage of lines and grids, color palette, attention to detail, etc...
Did his usage of graphics/illustrations change after the wave of cheap printing techniques and papers started flowing the market?
Satyajit had made 3 fonts also as a type designer. A bit more about that?
What would you tell students of Graphic Design or illustration to learn from Satyajit Ray? What aspect should be ignored from his work?
Now to tell you a bit more about MUBI - it’s a film streaming service, showcasing the best of Indian cinema on their MUBI INDIA channel and classic international hits on MUBI WORLD with a new film every day on each channel. You can catch some of Satyajit Ray's insightful work on MUBI including iconic films like AGANTUK, GANASHATRU, and GHARE BAIRE. Get access to the best of hand-picked films absolutely free for 30 days at http://mubi.com/Audiogyan
AGANTUK - Satyajit Ray’s last film, Agantuk is a philosophical work that ponders about the evolution of civilization, human nature, and how in the present world value of material wealth far exceeds that of humanity, trust, and love. One of Utpal Dutt's finest performances
GANASHATRU - A scathing commentary on the social system and religious orthodoxies, this film highlights the ever-persistent conflict between rationality and religion, which is fueled by the greed of the powerful and naivete of blind faith.
GHARE BAIRE – Deftly juxtaposes and explores the early 20th-century nationalist movement and the emancipation of women—a recurrent theme of Satyajit Ray’s work.
Questions
What is your definition of education? How has it changed over the last 30-40 years?
Referring back to the introduction, I spoke about edifice. Do you see any relation between the etymology of the words, Education and Architecture?
What is the link between being civil and being educated?
In the current pedagogical system, what is your argument? How much theory versus how much practical?
What is the long term future of education in India?
I recently had a small revelation, that why have I interviewed so many architects despite being a UI designer. I could also connect a few dots about why am I so interested in architecture and education. "Architect" comes from the Latin word architectus which comes from the Greek word, architéktōn. Architéktōn is composed of two parts: archi: to be the first, and tecton, the builder. That is, the first who builds. I always found the "builder" word to be very fascinating.
On the other hand, Edifice means a building, but it doesn't mean just any building. To merit being called an edifice, a building must be important. A mini temple can be an edifice or an educational building that can transform you can be called Edifice.
Basically, zen, spirituality, education, architecture, place of worship are all interconnected somewhere in my mind at least, and that's why I have none other than Prem Chandavarkar with us on Audiogyan today.
Prem is the managing partner of CnT Architects: an award-winning and widely published architectural practice based in Bangalore, India. He needs no introduction to the people in the world of architecture & education. With the experience of over 40 years, he is an academic advisor and guest faculty at several colleges of architecture. He has been documenting a lot of his thoughts and ideas online through blogs and videos. I met Prem at Frame Conclave last year and was in awe with his lecture on "Human within the architect". I am going to post as many links as I can find in the show notes. This has already being a very long intro so without further ado, I welcome Prem. Thanks, Prem for giving your time, and frankly I am really short of words to thank you for being on the show.
I also thank Ruturaj Parikh from Matter for connecting me and collaborating with Audiogyan.
https://medium.com/@premckar
https://premckar.wordpress.com (https://premckar.wordpress.com/)
http://www.cnt.co.in/web_20150413/home_index.html
https://www.stirworld.com/author-Prem-Chandavarkar
https://bengal.institute/team/prem-chandavarkar/
http://www.builtconstructions.in/OnlineMagazine/BuiltConstructions/Pages/Prem-Chandavarkar-0416.aspx
https://www.architecturetalk.org/home/73-jyaga-sa9ls-6wtny-6wgg5-4mgza-kdpel-3rn64-nrbkb-2lpnb
https://architecturelive.in/the-central-vista-redevelopment-prem-chandavarkar-bimal-patel/
https://architecturelive.in/essay-what-is-heritage-prem-chandavarkar/
This episode is brought to you by MUBI. Get the best of Indian and International cinema free for 30 days! Watch now. (https://mubi.com/audiogyan)
A curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film., from timeless classics to cult favorites to acclaimed masterpieces. Every film is handpicked just like, how our today’s guest handpicks great posters. But before we jump to our today’s conversation, Audiogyan has got something for our listeners. Normally, MUBI has a 7-day free trial but for you, listeners, you get a 30-day free trial. All you need to do is, go to http://mubi.com/audiogyan, and sign up for a whole month of great cinema for free.
Today I have Jahan Singh Bakshi with us on Audiogyan. Jahan has worked on digital and creative marketing strategies for films including Masaan, Lipstick Under My Burkha, and Newton. He currently divides his time between script development, film subtitling, collecting, curating, and writing about movie posters. Did I say Movie posters? Yes! Today we are here to discuss Posterphilia as an Audiogyan case study with Jahan.
Questions
What is Posterphilia? Why did you start it?
Can you share in detail the process of curation? What are your criteria? I found few articles like, Kishore Kumar in posters, raining posters - What are your plans w.r.t categorizing these? Any thoughts there?
Have you spotted any micro and macro trend in these Indian film posters? Illustrations versus photos? Be it digital or hand-painted.
Have you formed any opinions and judgments based on the posters you found - For eg: Movies before the 1970s had better-looking posters than today's - aesthetically or any such parameters? Anything like that?
Speaking about posters, one can never go without talking about Ray. The posters which I see on your Instagram, a lot of them are well-designed posters that can compete with Ray's graphical sensibilities. What do you think?
You have written a nice article about what makes a great poster. You have also collected a lot of Holywood posters. What can we learn from them and what can they learn from Bollywood art?
Can you give names of really great poster designers across the globe?
I would like to also ask you about your more recent exploration of Bollywood posters in Japan and other parts of the world. Can you share that bit? Any idea how did they travel that far? Any insights on what made those people redo the entire graphic than just translation of titles in their scripts and contexts.
I understand that the next question itself is an Audiogyan, but if you can briefly tell about plagiarism in posters - How evident is this trend. Today and maybe in the 1960s to 80s where we also copied a lot of music.
I don't have the latest data but, in 2018, India made about 1813 films, China 1082, Japan 613, US 576, France a few hundred, and the least was the UK. 202. Overall we are talking about around 6K films. This is just one year. Cinema has been going for 120 years now. What is the overall plan with this Posterphilia?
Further reading
https://www.instagram.com/posterphilia/
https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/movie-poster-of-the-week-jahan-singh-bakshi-s-top-ten-favorite-bollywood-posters
https://www.filmcompanion.in/posterphilia/
http://www.tasveergharindia.net/essay/amitabh-bachchan-posters.html
https://www.filmonpaper.com (https://www.filmonpaper.com/)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/252727/leading-film-markets-worldwide-by-number-of-films-produced/
https://theposterboys.tumblr.com (https://theposterboys.tumblr.com/)
One billion people. 15% of the world's population. World's largest minority. They are under-served. We were disheartened. We had to do something because no one deserves to be alone. This is what is written on the about us section of inclov.in (http://inclov.in/)
Today I have Kalyani Khona with us on Audiogyan. Kalyani works at the intersection of behavior x design x technology to build products. Currently, she is helping with product strategy for an early age startup in the fintech space. But we are here to discuss a case study of her own startup. Inclov. Kalyani is the co-founder of Inclov, the world's first matchmaking app for people with disability and health disorders to find love. The app matches people on the basis of cure availability, medical condition, level of independence, and lifestyle choices. I was curious to know any aspects of this project including UI and here she is with us here today. There are also a few talks on Tedx and Ink, which I am adding in the show notes below.
Product
The basic question to set the context - What is Inclov and why? Also if you can share any number of users, stats of disabled people in India, and more...
In Audiogyan's 130th episode, I met Upasana Makati. She is the founder of White Print, India’s First English Lifestyle Magazine in Braille for the visually impaired. In our conversation, we spoke about why Lifestyle. To which she said, "why can't these people have fun while reading. Their reading texts are generally always education. Why can't they read a joke or a poem." Similarly, I want to ask you, why matchmaking and not support in any other way?
We see a lot of people saying, differently-abled shouldn't be labeled like that. They are an integral part of our society as any person. So did you face challenges (internal & external) while making a special app of special people?
What is your definition of equality?
Can you share a few incidents which were enriching to know about these sets of people? What steps you took in the app to bring impact or provide solutions to them.
Any most gratifying story which needs to be shared. Especially one where a non-disabled found love in who is disabled.
Design
How do these people discover such an app? What steps did you take to achieve that?
Were there any conscious decisions of making it accessible while designing it?
The app matches people on the basis of cure availability, medical condition, level of independence, and lifestyle choices. In your talk, you mentioned about manually tagging. Tell us more about it?
Who helped you in designing & developing it? A quick shout out maybe. 🙂
Can you also talk about Social spaces?
https://www.inclov.com/index.htmlhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kalyanikhona/?originalSubdomain=in
https://tedxgateway.com/portfolio/kalyani-khona/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgd99dumxEY
https://yourstory.com/2015/12/kalyani-khona
https://audiogyan.com/2019/07/03/upasana-makati/
Isha Pimpalkhare is a mixed media designer/artist, who situates her practice at the convergence of art and design, with a focus on creating emotive and engaging tactile environments. She did her Masters in Textiles from the Royal College of Art(RCA), London, and Bachelors in Textile Design at the National Institute of Design(NID), Ahmedabad.
Questions
Who is a mixed media creative? What qualifies as a mixed media output? What is the output of such types of designers? Any famous people who made it accessible/famous?
If one is following you on Instagram, (I am), what are you exploring with these flowers and different shapes with textures of various materials?
What is devore technique of printing? Can you tell us more about it?
Where is the demand for your type of work in India? Where all can it be applied?
Personal question: What makes you cross these boundaries? Move from one medium to other to express?
https://www.instagram.com/ishapimpalkhare/?hl=en
https://ishapimpalkhare.com (https://ishapimpalkhare.com/)
https://ishapimpalkhare.com/textile-art-pieces
I love this book called "What is art and 100 other very important questions." by Ernst Billgren. One of the questions his book is, "Who decides whether art is good or not?" and then he has a nice format for the answer. "Short Answer: Glenn D. Lowry. " And then a long answer. "Quality is a moniker for what the people you respect, appreciate. Even if you do not agree with them, there are those who you perceive as authorities in the field on account of their expertise, their position, or the respect they enjoy among their peers. Subsequently, what is considered geniality changes as those people are substituted? The Pre-Rafaelites were considered the best things that had happened in the art world, but well into the twentieth century nobody defended them any longer and their work was automatically devalued as passé. The paintings themselves did not change over time. Quality is a relative term in a similar way as Time (which feels absolute in the present moment)."
Why am I talking about who decides whether art is good or not? - Today I have Ram Rahman with us on Audiogyan who needs no introduction. But just for formality, Ram is a photographer, curator, designer, activist, and a noted contemporary artist based in Delhi.
With such a large body of work, it is impossible to document even a fraction of his thoughts, ideologies, and philosophies. However, I have decided to have a conversation around what is curation.
Welcome Ram to Audiogyan it's a real honor to have you on the show.
What is curation? with Ram Rahman.
How old is a concept of curation? What made us do that?
Why do we have galleries? What qualifies to be in a gallery? What qualifies to be worth the collection? On what metrics does a curator work?
History is told by the rulers. How do you differentiate truth versus mythic truth? Especially in India where there are so many Ramayanas? Also, it is so difficult to exclude any part of history, especially with India’s pluralistic and diverse culture. What are your thoughts on this?
What is your definition of unique or being iconic to a particular time? How has that definition of, one-of-a-kind changed in the last 30-40 years? How stable is this concept of uniqueness in this changing world?
Recently, there has been a growing interest in the time period when your father’s practice was at its peak. You have spoken, written, and exhibited extensively on the works of architects, designers, and cultural producers of this time. Why this time important to understand?
Do you think we as humans are worried we will forget? What is the long term future of museums, galleries, or for that matter, the paintings you've done and photos you have taken? Overall art in India?
Before we sign off, I want to thank Ruturaj Parikh from Matter. This Audiogyan episode is in association with Matter. Matter is an independent publishing house, a group of practicing architects who also deeply care about archiving content in the architecture space. Matter in based on Goa. Link and more details are in the show notes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Rahman
https://www.saffronart.com/artists/ram-rahman
https://www.sac.ac.in/faculty/ram-rahman/
https://post.at.moma.org/content_items/1083-post-presents-the-artist-as-activist?_ga=2.259783114.1551250128.1594120121-133378558.1594120121
Today I have Pratap Chalke with us on Audiogyan. He is a Mumbai-based painter and an illustrator and well-known artist of the current time. His work is available on Floatingcanvas, artandfound, and kultureshop. With a degree in Applied Art from the B. S. Bandekar College of Fine Art, Sawantwadi, he considers drawing as his core skill around which he brings his illustrations to life. He loves to try out different styles and techniques and explore the possibilities therein. Today we are here to understand the value of drawing if you wish to become an illustrator. This audiogyan will be entirely in Marathi.
Can a good painter/artist be a good illustrator?
What is common and what is different between illustration and painting?
With mixed media, tools, and advance filters, what makes illustration great?
You have played a lot with acrylic and opaque mediums. How different is an illustration and is it achievable in digital illustrations?
What does a curved stroke mean to you? One of my favorite works is Dhaatu Series. Can you share the experience of learning while making it?
St+art India is the brainchild of 5 co-founders all belonging to diverse backgrounds. Founded in 2014 by Arjun Bahl, Hanif Kureshi, Giulia Ambrogi, Akshat Nauriyal, and Thanish Thomas.
St+art India is a not-for-profit foundation with the intent of making art more democratic. St+art explores the synergy between art and its ability to transcend socio-cultural barriers and lead to the exchange of ideas through unique and collectively shared experiences in public space. St+art has made over, 500 artworks in 10 Indian cities with more than 100 artists from over 25 countries. You can check out Episode # 78 where I spoke to Giulia Ambrogi about St+art project and insights into murals.
Today I have Hanif Kureshi with us on Audogyan. Hanif is a Designer, Typographer, and the Artistic Director and Co-founder of St+art India Foundation. He is one of the most sought after artists in India. Today we are here to discuss painting on streets.
Thanks, Hanif for giving your time and it's a real pleasure to have you on Audiogyan.
Topic
St+Art movement with Hanif Kureshi.
Questions
I am quoting you from one of your articles online, "While graffiti was once considered a nuisance, it is now a wonderful showcase of alternative art, a sub-culture that sometimes surpasses the mainstream in its fanbase." - I have 2 questions. 1, Why was it considered a nuisance? 2. How & why did it change?
Is street art an Indian thing? Where do you see it’s rooted in India?
What role does space play while making artworks of such huge sizes? Can you share any particular example/case study?
Borrowing from the Startindia website, "Indian streets are very unique. They are a microcosm of the millions of diverse voices that co-exist in this vast and wonderful nation of ours." - How do you pick subject/theme of what to draw? Both in temporary and permanent structures.
The cut-out type work is very dominant in the south of India. What can be learned from it and push the envelop further?
Can you share a few positives and few negatives while making this street art movement? From establishments, from art creators/lovers and general audience?
How does street art influence the aesthetics of the overall society/area/community?
You guys are also involved with the ‘Smart Cities’ program and the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’. Can you talk more about it?
What is the long term future of St+art movement?
https://st-artindia.org (https://st-artindia.org/)
https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/see/story/27477/street-art-in-delhi-i
https://www.instagram.com/startindia/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEHZpPCZN2yeNTXlH41Cyw
https://www.facebook.com/startindiafoundation
जैसे भैरव.. यह सुबह का राग़ हैं। पवित्र स्थानों पर सुबह की पवित्रता अगर आपके मन को सुकून पहुचा सकी तो भैरव क्या कहना चाहता है शायद ही आप समझ पाओगे। सारंग राग गाने से पहले दोपहर करीब २ बजे कीं तपती धूॅंप में किसी गांव ख़ेडे में गोबर से सिंची हुई आंगन में कभी बैठे हो? अगर हाॅं.. तो ही शायद सारंग की रूह तक पहुचना संभव हैं। भीमपलास का अर्थ हैं पलाश वृक्ष के विशाल पत्ते। बसंत की दोपहर के साडेतीन- चार के दर्मियान कभी इस वृक्ष के सायें में खडे रहे हो? तब ही यह विशाल वृक्ष और उसी तरह विशाल भीमपलास क्या कह रहा है समझ पाओगे। and many more such reference are given by the legendary Pt. Kumar Gandharva. The reason why i am saying this is becuase, our today's guest has made an app which serves specific music tracks base don their prahar; timining. BTW, the above piece was originally in Marathi and translated by Rashmi Patwardhan in Hindi. Well, what does this mean in a nutshell is, every Raag has a specific time and you need more than just a clock to experience the emotion and mood that Raag evokes. Today I have Aditya Dipankar with us on Audiogyan. He is a Designer and also trained in Hindustani classical music. Aditya has a huge body of work in design from infographics for rural Indians to creating designs for successful brands like Nutanix and Freecharge. Today we are here to discuss a case study of his project, Ragya.com (http://ragya.com/) . Ragya is a streaming service focusing just on Indian classical music: specifically ‘ragas’ designed to be played at specific times of the day. And that's why I started with Kumar Gandharva's quote. What is Ragya? Why & how did Ragya happen? What was the MVP like, to test it this is worth the effort? Since this a niche subject especially in the online context. Can you share insights about the algorithm? How does it work? What went behind the scenes? Enabling the discovery of music through time of the day and serving the relevant Raag is one axis. Do you have any more axis to handle personalization? How can an artist come onboard? Is there any curation process? How do you keep feeding content? How do you handle copyright and licenses? How have you been dealing with artists? What point in time and how did you realize that this has a commercial angle to it? Do you think, subscription model is sustainable in this case? Can you share any numbers/observations / VOC w.r.t your subscribers What is the long term future of this project/app/tool/website?
Naveen, design is not a mere means to an end, but a means of inquiry and exploration of the nuances of human behaviour and experience. Naveen holds a Ph.D. in Interaction Design from IT-University of Copenhagen, Denmark, an M.Des in Industrial Design from IIT-Bombay, and a B.Arch from Vishveshwarya Technological University, India. Currently Naveen teaches at Shrishti School of Arts in Bangalore. His research is within the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and User Experience Design.. Today we will try and understand his views on design and designing, in particular. You frimly beleive that design is an ongoing process. What is your definition of design? How has it changed over the course? Any milestones which made you realise that design is an ongoing process? What sort of process is "designing"? A linear? Cyclical? Forming a tree, either top down or bottom up approach? When do you stop designing? How do you set goals and milestones when you are considering it to be an ongoing process? The economist and political writer Thomas Sowell once wrote, There are no solutions, only trade-offs. How do you define trade-off? What are few parameters based on which you are willing to live with those few trade-offs in your solutions? Is this idea of "designing" scalable in this consumeristic market or should i say commoditised world? What are your thoughts about education in design? Is design a profession or is it a practice? What are few areas of research and development required in design in the Indian context? How can one go about exploring it? Designing with, not for (http://designbeku.in/) Ooloi Labs (http://ooloilabs.in/) Vikalpdesign (https://www.vikalpdesign.com/) Lakshmi Murthy, Industrial Design Centre , IIT Bombay (http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/students/phd/Lakshmi_murthy.html) D'Source (http://www.dsource.in/)
Today I have Rajesh Kejriwal with us on Audiogyan. Rajesh is the Founder CEO of Kyoorius Group and a global director at Saffron, a brand consultancy founded by Wally Olins and Jacob Benbunan. Rajesh is a regular speaker at industry forums, panels and jury sessions at various festivals and awards. He started a platform to fuel a design movement in India, Kyoorius Designyatra, hosted and curated by him. It is now India’s largest design conference and has been rated as the best curated annual conference in the world since 2013. Today we are here to document Design Yatra as a case study and what has gone behind the scenes in the last 12+ years. I am sure you must have answered this thousand times, but just to set context for Audiogyan listeners, how was DesignYatra conceived and what made you conceive it? How did the name "DesignYatra" come about? What according to you is the importance of these design events and gatherings apart from empowering creatives to showcase their work and making attendees feel inspired? How do you decide on each year's theme? From "Design Empowers Businesses." in 2007 to "On the contrary" in 2019. and what the these for this year? What is the over all process of curating the speakers? What are few metrics on which a particular speaker is selected? I attended my first DesignYatra last year and it was really wonderful. Full of inspiration to do great work. However 70% of the speakers were non-Indian which made the work less relatable and more utopian for Indian developing country. What is going on when you wish to showcase this kind of work Design is a such a broad discipline. From Interior to textile to illustrations to industrial products. What sort of brief is given to speakers to make their work relatable to such wide ranging audience? Can you share few big challenges to organise this sort of an event when design has not reached that tangible projected outcomes which is possible in may be few other domains? You also don't have concurrent talks going around. Which is very unlike regular conferences. This seems to be a conscious call? Can you share your thought behind it? I was personally in awe when you spoke about how DesignYatra is handling the carbon footprint of such a massive 2 day long event. Can you tell us it in detail? What is the process and how do you reconcile it? Have you got any plans of making Designyatra more accessible to the design community? A wonderful talk last year by Ayaaz has less than 1K views, which is sad according to me. Lastly i would like to conclude by asking what's the story with changing venues and then finally in Goa? :) What are your future plans with DesignYatra and whom can we expect this year?
Today I have Ashwin Ramchandran with us on Audiogyan. Ashwin is a chef and runs a small kitchen in south Mumbai called Milliways. He specialises in Asian food. He has over 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has worked in ITC Hotels for moe than 5 years. He is based out of Mumbai. What makes a perfect recipe? Ingredients, timing or love? Out of the four elements earth, water, fire and air, according to few studies, Aristotle added the ether, the fifth element. There are numerous articles which says, “If Aristotle had cooked, he would have more to say to the world.” Food, cooking and eating has been discussed a lot in the philosophy. What according to you could be the reason for it? How important is training to become a chef? It’s debatable whether cooking as an art form is older than art itself. Both are means of survival and evolution. In art, we have fine arts, commercial arts and many such disciplines. Can you draw a parallel in the chef world? Chef for a fine dine where everything is measured versus a home cook (maharaj), versus a cook who makes food for langar? How do these dynamics work? How do these individual look at ingredients? At an abstract level, what is the co-relation between pairing ingredients or dishes or types of food. Appetisers, main course and Chasers. How/why do cultures select what to eat? And what is happening with globalisation?
Welcome back to Audiogyan. I am chatting with Ashish Acharya and Abhay Singh who are co-founders of March Tee. March Tee produces truly simple and high-quality t-shirts for men and women. In the first part we spoke about their design philosophy. In this second part, we will be discussing making of March tee products and how did they build such a well rounded experience which establishes a great brand. What is the story behind March - The word? Why, when and how did it happen? Why T-Shirt and not some other product? What is so Indian about it? What was the thought behind keeping such a limited and sharp catalogue? Is it venturing new domain of limited knowledge or testing with users or something to do with keeping focus? What are your thoughts about standardisation? With limited catalogue, you will venture into the uniqlo model of standardisation. While India is diverse and multi-colour? How do you look at these 2 dimensions. How do you decide to improve product or bring in new line of products? Is it user research and feedback or you individually spotting trends? What is the percentage of showing difference in evolution of product. Do people really care about attention to detail or brands like you bring that culture? What has been your practice in doing so? Any example? We all designers are inspired by Steve Jobs at some point in time. He made sure even the chargers and USB ports are well designed. In your case, I see similar traits; Can you tell us the story which went behind your packaging and the pencil which says “Do good Work”? To me and I am very sure for all the following you have, March Tee is not just a T-Shirt but a complete experience. From buying and getting a confirmation mail to getting the product delivered to wearing it and wearing it again after washing. If you have to summarise in 3 or 4 points, what would you say? Where is this all heading?
Louis Kahn once said, "A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured." And what great opportunity to understand architecture in the area of education where i believe these thoughts converge. Today I have Bijoy Ramachandran with us on Audiogyan. Bijoy Ramachandran & Sunitha Kondur are co-fouders of Hundredhands. It is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Bangalore. Their work draws on a keen sense of the urban context by probing questions of scale, character, spatial and visual impact, and remaking of the public domain. Hundredhands has designed a lot of public and educational institutions. Nalanda University in Bihar, Bangalore International center, Neev Acadamemy, St. Andrews School & CMR University in Bangalore.. to name a few. We will try and understand thoughts while designing or architecting educational institutions with Bijoy today. Which out of the 5 sense is the most critical while designing an education institute? Why? What according to you should be the key characteristics of an educational institute? In India and most parts of the Indian subcontinent we always had a Guru Shishya Parampara type teaching. So limited students under a tree may be? Was there any particular architecture which became a milestone for this institutionalised education system? What is the thought behind making the teacher or a professor stand on platform? Is it just about visibility or something more at work psychologically? When you design institutional projects, what are the critical issues / elements you have to consider / prioritise? What are the 'PRINCIPLES'? In one of your talks you speak about change or time as an important aspect of constructing an architecture. Can you point any nuanced patterns seen in educational institutions which handle batches and batches of students every year; essentially architecture ageing with time but giving brith to new people in the society What can be a big difference while designing a school versus designing a college. Looking at age of children and teenagers? How do you consider the diverse user-groups when you design an institution? - From the youngest to the oldest and from learning to play? Do people especially students or small children use the space differently than you envision? How much of the environment affects learning? How do you create that one? Can we take Neev acadamey for example? Apart from architecture, which other expertise do you need in order to design a good institutional building? How do you visualise educational institutes 20 years from now?
Today we have a multilingual Kannada rapper SIRI with us on Audiogyan. She is re-enforcing the beauty of being part of a country, that is home to vareity of, different dailects and tunes. SIRI's music has already earned her a significant fan following down south of India. Having impressive flow in rap with English and Kannada, she has also experimented with Hindi and Telugu. SIRI writes, directs, produces and edits her music videos. She is from Bangalore. Today we are here to try and understand anatomy of "rap" as an artform and some insights into the world of Indian Rap community. Thank you SIRI for giving your time and it's a real pleasure to have you on Audiogyan. Before we being, i wish to tell the 2 things to my listeners. This episode is on the backdrop of SIRI and Sez On The Beat’s new track "My Jam" with Artist Originals, JioSaavn’s independent label for South Asian artists. Second, excuse me for my limited knowdlege on Rap and any naive questions in the flow. My exposure to Rap has been Baba Sehgal, Apache Indian and most recetntly Gully Boy. So bare with it. Can you start by telling us about contruction of a rap song? Meter, Lyrics, tune, 4 beat, 6 or 8 beat cycle? theme, series, individual track etc...? How are these written, composed and produced? What is Proto rap? are there any other sub genre and more forms within rap? Can you share any insights about why there is so much influecne of hiphop on rap. What could be the reasons? Hiphop is about beats and rythm. Was poetry missing in the same vibe which lead to origin of Rap? How long or short, can be a rap song? What is this format linked to? For eg: Jazz was the song of the oppressed and etc... Is this form of music / poetry / lyrics seems to be impromptu? How does it qualify to be a form of literature if it's so volatile and made on-the-spot? Do you have any mukhda kind of a thing in original rap? Something which keeps repeating in intervals? What is the reason for it? If you can share some examples. For a lay man like me, "My Jam" is the maximum exposure. :) Whats the scene of Rap in South India? Any patterns / observations? With growing supression in India and rest of the world do you think Rap is on it's rising cycle?
When you're not happy with something, fix it. Sounds familiar? Well that’s the line which is written on their website. Today I have Ashish Acharya and Abhay Singh with us on Audiogyan. They are the 2 out of the 4 co-founders of March Tee. Yes March Tee; which is now one of my favourites brand. In fact all I have is March Tee in my wardrobe and mind you this is not a promotion. March Tee produces truly simple and high-quality t-shirts for men and women. They are based in Pune. Design Philosophy of March Tee with Ashish Acharya & Abhay Singh Can you start by telling everyone about your background from March Studio days? March tee is simple. What’s your definition of simple? As a group of 4 and as you 2 individuals. How important is story telling for March tee? How critical do you think story telling is from a brand / marketing perspective and also from a product building standpoint? Studio March have always been making good digital products. How has your definition about good, better and great changed over time? How have you been reflecting about it? On what parameters these definitions kept changing? In poetry is it said that “bad poetry is recognised instantly while good can take years or even centuries”. What is your definition of a good product? I am not hinting anywhere to Dieter Rams. 🙂 (In fact it would be interesting to ask you a more philosophical question; what does timeless mean to you?) What according to you is the relation between scale and quality? Is it possible that well-crafted products which need attention to detail can be scaled? If yes, how and if no, why?
Raja Ravi Varma born on 29 April 1848 and passed away on 2 October 1906. He was a celebrated Indian painter and an artist. Ravi Varma is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art for a number of aesthetic and broader social reasons. We will try and document a mini biography of him more as a persona and not about his work in particular. For that I am honoured to have Manu Pillai with us on Audiogyan. Manu is an Indian author and historian who has 3 award winning books in his name. The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore. Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji, and most recently The Courtesan, the Mahatma & the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History. Who were Raja Ravi Varma's Gurus / Mentors / Teachers? Can you also tell us about his family, upbringing, siblings, wife, parents? Who were his contemporaries in the art world? Indian and around the world? Every art emerges out of pain, sorrow, grief or rebel. Were there any triggers in his life to make such path breaking work? What made him different or stand out from the rest? Was it the art, subjects or pure marketing? What made him explore portraits as oppose to other forms for art like abstract, landscape and others? How did the Dutch portraitist Theodor Jenson connection happened? How did he become famous and known as a national figure without social media? Which was the main painting or time of his life which made him famous? Can you share a brief background about his oleographs? His connection with various printing press in India? Was Printing press part of the strategy to be famous and distribute his work to rest of the world? What is the one thing which one should imbibe and one should reject looking at Raja Ravi Varma as a human, since his artistic side is always inspiring. This is mainly for today’s artists and painters.
Abhinit Tiwari is a designer and a programmer who has been building digital products for past 14 years. He is currently Heading the design team at Gojek. He founded Leftshift technologies where in he built products for BookMyShow, Airtel, Citrus, NH7 and many more. Leftshift was then acquired in 2016 by GO-JEK Indonesia. For those are not aware of Gojek is, it is Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand, multi-service tech platform providing access to a wide range of services including transport, payments, food delivery, logistics, and many more. Abhinit is here with us today to share his insights and learnings while building Asphalt; Gojek’s design system; What is a design system? How is it different from a brand guidelines or Sticker sheet or pattern library or Front end framework? How did the name Asphalt come about? What is the story behind “Salam satu aspal”? Is asphalt based on Brad Frost atomic theory? Are there any other such theories? Did you hunt for more such theories? Why did you feel the need of building a design system? What were the challenges before that triggered it? What are building blocks of Asphalt? How long did it take to build it and what was the strategy before taking it on? It is generally said that design system is a breathing document so when do you take out the ventilator? There have also been articles strongly recommending that it is not a side gig but a full time investment & commitment. How would you respond to that? One important myth associated with Design Systems is that it kills creatively. We have to work in a lot of constraints - How do you look at it? How big is the team that handles Asphalt and how deeply front end is involved in this ongoing vertical? How big or small this team should be for a fast growing startup? Can you tell us the importance of making all organisms and molecules to be living things with code and not just static sketch or figma files? Can you briefly tell us how did you build it? What were the key milestones and checks which gave the confidence of you going in the right direction? What was the process of validating your components to be modular and scalable? Can you share details of any medium size project which got shipped effortlessly at Gojek because of Asphalt? How critical is a buy-in from the top management and how did you go about doing it? You can follow Abhinit on Twitter @abhinitial and me on @nimkarkedar and Audiogyan on @audiogyan Oh, BTW, Gojek is hiring. Visit Gojek.io to know more.
Today I have Harikrishna Katragadda with us on Audiogyan. Hari is a Mumbai based photographer whose work explores communities, environment and personal memories. He uses long-term documentary approach (which is very new to me). he works with alternative photographic methods to incorporate found materials in images. He graduated with a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin and started his career as a photojournalist in New Delhi. Today we are here to know more about his work practice, his philosophy and most importantly how has he recourse his work for social change. How do you define your work of painting? What style is it? Any early life influencers? Any other legends who have played with cyanotype and your style of abstract paintings? We will start with a more relatable question and then we will go abstract further. In one of your interviews, you have mentioned "Art is an inner exploration as well as a way to address social concerns” - Can you start by telling us what do u mean by that? Any particular artwork series like “Effluence” which enabled you to address social concerns? What according to you is important while creating an artwork. Be it taking a photo or painting on a canvas? Style, medium, content, context, artists journey? Why? In your case, you are both a photographer and a painter. What’s your definition of patience? From whatever your artworks which i have seen, you expression is abstract in nature. Do you find it difficult to express that in photography?
Mohini is a self-taught designer and illustrator from Mumbai and now based in Bangalore. She runs Indian Gig Poster Archive - a repository of posters created to promote independent music in India. She has been an exclusive artist with Kultureshop. Her work is affectionately dismissive of pop culture and its common visual tropes and motifs. Today we are here to document a case study of her project, “Indian Gig Poster Archive” What is Indian Gig Poster Archive? How did this idea come about? Why did you start it? How do you source these posters? Where are you getting these from? How far do these collections go? What makes these artist share their artwork? What happens to these posters when the gig is over? Can you share any worth noting incident / case study which revived the band because it was rediscovered through your project? Any story / anecdote Do you follow any archiving practice of documenting based on year, genre, artist geography etc…? Are there any other domains apart from Indie Music which you have discovered while logging these? What do these posters tell you? Have you found any pattern of how the graphic scene has been evolving in the last few decades? How has this side project helped you as a designer and as a music lover? What is the long term future of Indian Gig Poster Archive? Till when do you plan to keep discovering and journaling them? What is the feeling when you find a pile of old or new posters all at once? You can follow her on Instagram @mohinimukherjee and the project @indiangigposterarchive. In my case, @nimkarkedar and @audiogyan on Twitter
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar Born on 6 January 1928 and passed away on 19 May 2008. Tendulkar Sahab was or should I call is an unarguably a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator. He is best known for his plays Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (1967), Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972). Welcome to Audiogyan Biographies. Today we will be documenting Vijay Tendulkar with a bit of help from Ramu Ramanathan. Ramu is an Indian playwright-director with acclaimed plays to his credit. Ramu has previously been a guest on Episode Number 29 of Season 1. He spoke about Stagelife Characters. Ramu is my go to person to understand tidbits about Indian Theatre.
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar Born on 6 January 1928 and passed away on 19 May 2008. Tendulkar Sahab was or should I call is an unarguably a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator. He is best known for his plays Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (1967), Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972). Welcome to Audiogyan Biographies. Today we will be documenting Vijay Tendulkar with a bit of help from Ramu Ramanathan. Ramu is an Indian playwright-director with acclaimed plays to his credit. Ramu has previously been a guest on Episode Number 29 of Season 1. He spoke about Stagelife Characters. Ramu is my go to person to understand tidbits about Indian Theatre. I am very curious to know, who were Tendulakar Sahab’s influencers? I am asking this because I was reading, Manus Navache Bait (Man is An Island), one of his first plays, was remarkable. People had never heard such dialogues before. Theatre at that time used very stylised acting and long sentences with very flowery language; it was distanced from reality. Something similar to which you spoke in the Episode 29 about Samuel Beckett and other playwrights trying to bring court room dramas to dining rooms. So do you have any insights what made him start this way? What was happening in from 1960 to 1990s that Tendulkar wanted to express his thoughts through violence; because according to my limited knowledge, he said, that he lived in a simple middle class family which was doing fine. What do you think; what made Vijay Tendulkar show violence to create awareness about violence, rather than showing something morally good or ethically sound? What is this style of showing real? Where does this form stem from? What was his trajectory of him expressing violence throughout his plays? Did it increase due to ongoing unrest or it decreased? From Gidhade to Kamala? Some of his plays were censored. What made him write so boldly in his new plays, despite being censored? What is the one thing which young generation playwrights should learn from Tendulkar and what is that one should avoid considering the current times? https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/report-vijay-tendulkar-is-a-scathing-interpreter-of-maladies-4810 https://web.archive.org/web/20081201033510/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19991020/ile20071.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTqj3GVs6bM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bF3GLjn1iI (Part 1 to 6) https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/19801231-vijay-tendulkar-indian-theatre-only-complete-philosopher-773665-2013-12-02
तुका म्हणे बरवे जाण । व्हावे लहानाहून लहान . This is an important line by Tukaram, since it illustrates something universal. I am from design background and swear by a line which says, "Less is more”. Having some bent towards listening or understanding poetry, I also loosely interpret this couplet as “realise that, the shorter the better”. In the 100th episode os Audiogyan with Balkrsihna Doshi, I asked him why do all architecture look the same. To which he replied because architects are no longer poets. In my 33rd Episode with Gangadharan Menon, even he said, "The moment we rediscover our poetry, that will be our renaissance.” On that backdrop, today I have 3 guests on Audiogyan. Rochelle Potkar, Pooja Bhatia and Sanket Mhatre; all, stewards of an upcoming generations of great poets. Importance of short form poetry? Rochelle: What are the short form poetries that you have explore? What is a Hiaku? Sanket: In Marathi we have Charoli? Are there any other forms? What are those? Pooja: Can you tell what’s the difference between a Gazhal, Sher and Nazm? How have they evolved over time and why is sher so well known versus other forms for layman? What are the constructs and why? Have they being broken in it’s journey? Art has always been transient. How have these short forms evolved? Why is haiku only 6 syllables? Why don’t we have Paacholi? Is it the meter or some other constraint? Is there conscious effort by poets to keep every Sher integrated in the bigger narrative and yet independent in nature? Who are the big names who have redefined trajectories? Like Kumar Gandharava in Music. Who are the Haiku makers who have propagated this form? Is Tanka as famous as haiku? Chandrakant Gokhale is all time favourite of the youth. Who all have made such impact on different sections of the society through short form poetry? Sher has been glamourised by Bollywood and also abused? Where is the real substance and how Bollywood got influenced? Any insight there? How did the word Irshad come about? Topics of Short form poems In haiku, what are the topics which are explored and yet to be explored? In Charoli? In Sher? Is it always about love or passion? Have there been writers writing shre about social awareness like Rahat Indori? Future You all have been to various parts of the country talking about poetry and reciting your poetry, what has been your observations? How is Poetry perceived by a middle class layman? Where do you see poetry 100 years out in India and other parts of the world?
Rajdeepgiri is a Graphic Designer from Bangalore with over 11 years of experience. He has worked in the various fields of design, like type design, branding, packaging and advertising. Today we are here to discuss a case study with him called Tenpoints braille which is his passion project and he has been working on it for past 5 years. What is Ten Points Braille? How did it come about? What made you think about it? You also have other type design projects like Baboo, RupeeRaj, Singlanguage A. Can you tell us about these briefly? If one has to use this for typing the required text, why do we have you use on 10pt size font and line height 30? How did you arrive at these numbers? There is a beautiful video of how can one use it. But can you walk us through it orally as well? Can you share your journey from the first cut of the font, experiments and iterations till you now have arrived at it? How did you keep on validating? Why Tenpoints braille? How do you think it will help the visually impaired and others? With just 34% Internet penetration in India, one side we have invisible UI, speech to text, image recognition technology developing, What made you think of this idea? In your research, what were the learnings, especially with visually impaired and hearing impaired people? How do they perceive fonts? Are they aware of serif and san-serif typefaces? What are your thoughts on bringing in revolution; can braille also have serif ans san-serif? What was the process of making it 13 scripts? What next? How do you plan to make it accessible? How can people collaborate with you to make it bigger?
Today I have Appupen with us on Audiogyan (loosely translated from Malayalam as grandfather). Appu is a noted graphic novelist and artist from Bangalore. He is the creator of graphic novels ‘The Snake and the Lotus’, ‘Moonward’, ‘Legends of Halahala’, ‘Aspyrus’ and the super hero satire series ‘Rashtraman’. His work is almost wordless narratives with sarcasm and irony. He is the founder/editor of Brainded India. Today we are here to know his thoughts and ideas about art, comics and more... What does art mean to you. Especially comics as an art form? Can you briefly share the kind of books you've written and the reasons for it? You work which I have seen or could comprehend, want to strongly communicate a message. If I can say, your work has a lot of despair - if yes, why? I mean I am saying this as layman, be it titles like Dystopian times, Halahala (which is poison), Aspyrus, brainded and so on… Also the kind of colour palate seems to be dark and grungy. Not just that, you characters like Rastraman, Propogandhi also has subtext to it. Whats going on in here? How would you respond to that? You don’t seem to like the idea of a superhero, or of gods or god-men either. Ironically you yourself are trying to create a superhero Ratrashman. Whats your response to that? Who is Rashtraman? I would also like to know what is BraindedIndia? Do comic as an art form gives you hope? How?
Ranjit Dahiya is an artist, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and an arts & design professor all rolled into one. Founder artist of BAP, Ranjit Dahiya is originally from a small town named Sonipat in Haryana. He did his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art from College of Art, Chandigarh and further went on to do his Post Graduate in Graphic Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Today we are here to discuss his love for Bollywood, murals and documenting a case study of BAP, Bollywood Art project. Can you start by telling us what is BAP and some background story behind it? Can share some brief historical background about murals as an art form in India? Which all other Indian cities do have murals or graffiti going on? What according to you is role of mural in society? India has 2 religions. Cricket and Bollywood. You picked Bollywood. The first ever mural made is a poster from a 1953 film Anarkali. What makes you draw stuff which is pre-2000’s? Do you consider drawing anything apart from Bollywood if not commissioned? How different it is to detail out the nuances of the subject being painted when you draw on big walls? You have rough strokes or also show the smaller details? How do you decide the level of detailing you wish to achieve? Can you quickly walk us through the process? What sort of colours are used to keep the painting fresh for some time? With the heat and rains in Mumbai - Have you experimented with colour mixtures to keep those murals long lasting? Mixing acrylic, with emulsion paint or simply oil paints? When you travel across India, especially in highways and country side, You see lot of walls painted with either Tele-com providers or tractors… in a way actual advertising, which seems to be a paid job. From where do you think your motivation comes for painting old Bollywood stuff? Can you take a particular example and tell how do you respond to the surface and how does surface responds to your artwork. For eg: If you are painting a Bollywood heroin, can her eyes be 2 windows which are nicely designed? Do you expect the building owners and keep their windows open or closed all the time based on your artwork? I saw few of your videos online where you draw a rough sketch and then probably a complete artwork on canvas to envision, why can’t or don’t you just draw on huge canvases and hang them? What is the difference in drawing on huge canvas versus actual walls? With Flex and other mediums emerging to promote films and TV series, what is your one hope and one disappointment when you look at these?
Arthur G. Doughty a dominion activist once said, "Of all our national assets, Archives are the most precious; they are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilisation.” Today I have Ruturaj Parikh with us on Audiogyan. Ruturaj is an Architect & Partner at Matter. an architecture, design and content firm based in Goa. He has been involved in architecture, urban design, planning, curatorial and social projects. Ruturaj regularly writes about contemporary works and ideas on architecture relevant to India and its subcontinent. I stumbled upon him when i visited an architecture conference called Frame Conclave this year. Ruturaj designs and writes from Goa. What is Matter. ? Why do you think Archiving thought / documentation is important & required? Especially post Independence thought? With so much noise, how do you decipher signal? How do you decide what to archive? What qualifies to be worth archiving? What are your thoughts on “reflecting on your own work”? As per my experience, very few professionals are reflective about their work; while academicians, authors & researchers have a more broader vision. Is it true and if yes, why? Classic work always has a pull and need not be pushed. But it can take really long for people to understand the value. What keeps you going and doing this?
"I feel the real bliss lies only in blankness. And it is only through blankness that the reality can be experienced. The moment we shed our prejudices, we have direct access to the reality. Above all, what matters, is the joyful moments that an artist experiences through portraying the reality on his canvas” - Says are today’s guest, Parag Borse. Parag is an artist whose paintings have been exhibited across the world. He is an award winning artists who studied at JJ School of applied arts. He lives in Karjat a small town between Mumbai and Pune. You can find more on parag borse.com. Today we are here to discuss and understand his philosophical outlook towards paintings. This Audiogyan will be in Marathi. What do you mean by expression? on canvas and off canvas What’s your definition of reality? on canvas and off canvas Can you tell us your thought process from seeing something to putting that on canvas after a very long time? What according to you is important while creating a painting? Style, medium, content, context, artists journey? Why? And same question from a viewer's standpoint? What he or she should look for? What are your thoughts on your finished paintings and artwork? How do you see them in retrospective?
Ambi Parameswaran brings with him over 35 years of experience in a marketing, sales and advertising. He is an alumnus of IIT Madras and an honour roll graduate of IIM Calcutta. He has a PhD from Mumbai University and has also done the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School. He is the author of seven books and more than 100 articles. Ambi has been involved in the building of brands such as Tata Indica, Santoor, TCS and more… actually I would tell the listeners to check his website given in the show notes below. It’s quite comprehensive which documents some of his work. How dependent is brand building; is it based on a good product / service or good marketing strategy or media buying? Is it possible to make great brands if the product or service is substandard? What is difficult to brand? Service or a product? Why? In one of Steve Jobs interview, he said, marketeers will have more say in companies which seldom change their product line. For eg: Coke or Pepsi. While marketing may not be really required for tech based companies where the product it self is solving user needs. How would you respond to that? Do you think Tech companies need marketing? With growing chaos of brands, especially in India, what are the few challenges which brand experts are facing? Brand like “Khaitan-Sabse Tej" or "Asian Paints-Her ghar such keheta hai” are memorable because of the media buying or profound copywriting and design of the campaign? What is your response to especially e-com brands hurting them and user by incessantly harping on discounts
Eli Giannini is an architect and director of an award-winning Melbourne based firm, MGS architects. Over the past twenty-five years Eli has been responsible for the design direction at MGS and winning numerous industry awards for her practice. We will try and get insights on, how she brings tenacity and passion for the craft of design with a special interest in developing architectural typologies into project specific responses. She is based out of Australia. What according to you is the core requirement when it’s going to be public use or public facing architecture? How do you identify / define body and soul of a space or a building which is meant for people? What role does “context” play in every project? How critical is it and why? With your project, "McIntyre Drive apartments” you did in 2012, which has won many awards, it’s mainly designed to give people a sense of village. So if you can tell us briefly that how did you manage to weave in inclusiveness for this particular project. I am more curious since this project for people living on air. I am asking this question since I believe, it’s a crying need for India and other developing countries. You speak about bringing “craft of design” in your architecture work. What message would you like to give to young architects around the world; In terms of priority, 1, 2 and 3; which skills need to be built or harnessed to start designing space which are inclusive and benefitting people or society at large.
Today I have Ruchita Madhok with us on Audiogyan. She is the Founder and principle designer of Kahani Design Works; a design studio based in Mumbai. Trained in exhibition design and scenography, Ruchita has worked extensively with corporate organisations and arts institutions in India, the UK and Middle East. She brings influences from visual arts, culture and heritage into Kahani’s creative approach, setting the studio apart as a global Indian design practice. What practice does Kahani Design works exactly do? What role does research play in your practice? Commissioned or pro-active / pro bono? Your focus has been narrating a story through visuals in story cities. Be it maps or illustrations. What are the grounds of picking a story and how has that evolved over time? What goes into making a visual guide / local map? Walks, research, architecting on paper? How long can this process be? How do you decide when to stop? What qualifies to be in the map and what doesn’t? We as culture are proud of our past but make very less effort to archive / document it. Whats your response to that w.r.t geographical / physical location perspective? What according to you can be a good start for individuals and groups to start investing time and effort to start telling stories of India visually?
Prashant Is a Creative Head, Founder, Ideas@work. Graduate from J. J. Institute of and Member of Bombay Art Society, worked for several advertising agencies, major brands in India and abroad like Bajaj, Raymonds, Park Avenue, Shoppers Stop, Airtel, NECC, Marico, Tata Group, Taj Hotels, Killer Jeans, Colgate, UPS, The Times of India, Citibank, Philips, Tetley, Thomson, Zee TV, Big Rock, Infosys, Reid and Tailor, Big rock Rustomjee, LinkedIn, Pepsico, Addidas shoes, etc. He started his career as an art director and with the iconic ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaign and has been the driving force behind some of the most talked-about campaigns in the industry over the years. With a career spanning about 30 years, Prashant has worked with almost every top agency in India and has seen his work win over 250 metals at award shows like Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, the New York Festival, Asia-Pac Awards, and others. Today, aside from being one of the founder-NCDs of creative boutique ideas@work, he works on photography projects for reputed brands and gives guest lectures at various art schools and photography schools across India. What does a frame mean to you? Almost anything can be frame? How do you perceive time philosophically? It is said, write drunk, edit sober. Although it’s controversial, can you tell us, after years of clicking, I am sure the craft is perfected, how has curation evolved? Is curation difficult or clicking? Why curate? Importance of curation? In one of your interviews, you said, “you click in your head first” - Seems like Anahad-nada. Can you please explain it? What is the function of great street photograph? Timing? Traveling? How has your advertising skills help you being a photographer and the other way round?
Shweta Malhotra is a Graphic Designer based in Bombay. After graduating in Applied Arts from Sophia Polytechnic (Bombay) in 2004, she started out as an Art Director with advertising agencies like McCann Erickson, Contract Advertising and Ogilvy. In Feb 2008, after a short stint at Fabrica, she decided to pursue a career in Graphic Design and has since worked with firms like Grandmother India and Rediffusion Y&R Design. On a project basis, she's also worked with Itu Chaudhuri Design and Illum Design. We will start with this one line which I found in most of your articles and interviews online. "My overall design aesthetic is minimal, bold and graphic, a response to the maximalist visual language prevalent in India.” - Can you tell in detail what do u mean by that? What have been your observations when you say, the maximalist visual language prevalent in India? Why do you define your work to be minimal? Your initial work was fashion-focussed, while fashion doesn’t seem not very minimal in a philosophical sense? What have been your observations w.r.t the contemporary art scene in India? Is contemporary word getting synonymous with minimalism due to our global exposure? What is your process of approaching an artwork? Minimalism is all about eliminating while you are creating something new out from your observations and what you consume? Does a blank canvas intimidate you especially when u approach with a minimalistic mindset? Do you think minimalism restrict the color palette or choose of images or fonts? What would be one take away who wish to explore this form in their work?
Sulekha is an independent graphic designer, type designer, and lettering artist. She has over 10-12 years of experience in designing for brands from Aviation, Personal Care, F&B, Healthcare, Banking & Financial Services to the Hospitality industry. She has a very insightful and worth listening talk recorded in 2015 at Typoday on youtube. Reference Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds4FVRyRX4c What is the difference between lettering and calligraphy? If there is any? For a layman, I believe lettering artist is generally referred to as who does typesetting for signages. Your work focusses on Multilingual brand design. How has lettering helped you in improving that skill? What is the most challenging part of multilingual branding - is it the client’s education or availability of well designed regional fonts or lack of awareness in designers? What impact (conscious or subconscious) does a well designed English brand in Marathi or Hindi create of laypeople? How do you measure that impact? For eg: What changed tangibly when you did redesign Paradise Biryani Logo? What do you mean when you say, brands must adapt to a multilingual approach?
R.K. Joshi was born in Kolhapur in 1936 and passed away on 5 February 2008, leaving behind a rich tradition of advertising, love of alphabets, poetry, teaching, calligraphy, type design and many more. One of his important contributions is designing the core Indian fonts used in Microsoft Windows. Who is this immortal R.K. Joshi for our new age designers? His tryst/passion with types and passion for letterforms? His top 5 contributions to the world of arts & top 5 to the world of Type design in India His contribution in the field of design education? Who were his main influences like Arrighi and more, in India and outside? Any personal ah-ha moments with him during your association/stories? What was his vision for Indian type or calligraphy industry? His thoughts on multilingual types considering his outlook towards India? Any story behind designing the Adi Shankaracharya stamp?
Tanya is an Indian Typographer and Type Designer. She did her MA in Typeface design from the University of Reading. She works in the are of Graphic Communication and Identity design. She teaches typography as a visiting faculty at ISDI and Pearl Academy. Along with this she also conducts TypeWalks in Mumbai.
I have Anjali Menon with us on Audiogyan. She is a co-founder of Gudgudee. Anjali with Aditi Agarwal (who works from BLR) started Gudgudee in 2014. It’s a design studio that specialises in creating innovative play spaces for children of all abilities. They aspire to transform public spaces and improve the quality of life for children and society at large. We will try and document a broad landscape of playing areas for children in India and how Gudgudee is trying not to make a dent, but smoothen the slides and swings so kids can play.
Today I have Chirodeep Chaudhuri with us on Audiogyan. In the last 2 decades he has worn multiple hats, from being an author, a journalist to being a photographer. Chirodeep’s work largely documents the urban landscape and he has often been referred to as the “chronicler of Bombay”. During his career he has produced diverse documents of his home city in a range of projects documenting its architectural and social landscape. I stumbled upon him and his work first at Join Paperplanes session In Mumbai. We will try and document Chirodeep’s philosophy and importance of having story behind every photograph.
dina Amin is an Industrial designer and stop motion animator. She likes to work at the intersection of various disciplines. After discovering her love for stop motion, dina founded “Tinker Studio”, where she produces stop motion videos for diverse clients and companies around the world. Questions What constitutes garbage is highly subjective, with some individuals or societies tending to discard things that others find useful or restorable. How do you define trash? Do you consider your work as an act of Upcycling? How and why; either ways What made you connect Stop motion and disassembling things to be an interesting exploration? What is the process like and what do you do exactly? Is there any conscious effort of showing environmentally correct use of objects which people then tend to discard; there by showcasing it value? Or is it still a fun exercise? Or do you try and illustrate a story by deconstructing & humanising objects and narrating the object's point of view? How did it all land up in getting real work? If you can share any interesting case study or collaborations? Fun question: You have problem with capital D. How do you deal with autocorrect and grammar fixes done by technology?
We are recording this backstage of Kyoorius Designyatra 2019 Today I have Anthony Burrill with us on Audiogyan. He is a Graphic artist, print-maker and designer known for his persuasive, up-beat style of communication. Anthony is perhaps best known for his typographic, text-based compositions, including the now-famous “Work Hard and Be Nice to People” poster, which has become a mantra for the design community and beyond. He has a beautiful website which showcases his work, bio and process of him creating really iconic posters and more. He now lives and works in Kent. There are plenty of his interviews, videos and talks about his process of creating artwork and his experimentation online. What I would try and do today is ask few questions about the thought behind his messages and not the medium. Although medium is the message, but let's find out. Thank you Anthony for giving your time and it’s a real honour to have you on Audiogyan. Topic Messages from with Anthony Burrill. Questions Can you start by telling us, who is a print-maker? What does he or she do? A brief history / background about it? You have produced some iconic lines through your work. How do you arrive on these lines? If you can illustrate with any one example? “I like it. What is it?” Or may be "Tomorrow” - Just one word poster? What does it mean? Why do you think your work is appreciated so much? Is it the medium, means or the message? How do you see all these aspects? Your work, at least what I have seen online happens to be at the cusp of “art for art's sake” and “didactic artwork” - How would you respond to that? What is it's nature? I understand analog creations has warmth in it. But do you ever feel that it restricts creativity or pushing the boundaries since a lot has been experimented before digital came in. Or is it a conscious effort to create space in this noisy world, for you work?
Episode 5 of 5 featuring Aditya Mehta. Aditya is the Founder of Art&Found – a curated platform for invite-only artists to sell their work. This is a 5 part series with Bharat Flooring and tiles and Audiogyan. In the coming weeks we will be talking with various artists, heritage conservationist, brand creators, illustrators and architects associated with Bharat Flooring & Tiles. Those who don’t know what is Bharat Flooring & Tiles, (btw, we will be calling it BFT throughout the series). It’s a company formed in 1922 which is leader in quality cement flooring and has been primarily making customised, handmade cement tiles. The timeless elegance and durability of these tiles make them works of art and an invaluable part of the country’s architectural heritage. It started as part of the Swadeshi movement and with over 90 years of reputation, BFT is now the most preferred choice of interior designers and architects across India, You can find relevant links in the show notes about BFT. Aditya Mehta is the Founder of Art&Found – a curated platform for invite-only artists to sell their work. He comes from advertising background but found his passion in curating and selling artwork made by Indian artists. Today we are going to speak about ‘Virtuoso’ collection with artists like Aniruddh Mehta, Shweta Malhotra, Suzanne Dias and Pratap Chalke which emerged out of collaboration between Art&Found and Bharat Flooring tiles. We will also speak about how different types of digital artworks exploring different materials and medium. https://www.bharatfloorings.com/ Questions AM: What does Art&Found do? FV: What are different collections you have and how did Art&Found help in shaping them? What new things are born out of this collaboration? AM: What are the constraints while designing since the final output is a tile? FV: How have your artists responded to this? What is their feedback and learning from it? AM & FV: Can you share the over all process from brief to actual deliverable tiles for a client? Would like to know the actual flow of how a vector or a .AI files is given to BFT artisans etc… AM: The overall engagement seems like a win-win situation. Can you tell us who all are empowered through this and at what levels? BFT, Client & the Artist. How Art&Found enables this? FV: What have been you learnings w.r.t market for this and what is next?
Episode 4 of 5 featuring Alisha Sadikot. She is the founder of Inheritage Project This is a 5 part series with Bharat Flooring and tiles and Audiogyan. In the coming weeks we will be talking with various artists, heritage conservationist, brand creators, illustrators and architects associated with Bharat Flooring & Tiles. Those who don’t know what is Bharat Flooring & Tiles, (btw, we will be calling it BFT throughout the series). It’s a company formed in 1922 which is leader in quality cement flooring and has been primarily making customised, handmade cement tiles. The timeless elegance and durability of these tiles make them works of art and an invaluable part of the country’s architectural heritage. It started as part of the Swadeshi movement and with over 90 years of reputation, BFT is now the most preferred choice of interior designers and architects across India, You can find relevant links in the show notes about BFT. Alisha Sadikot is an independent museums and heritage learning professional instigating critical and creative public engagement with urban histories, art, museum collections and heritage spaces in Mumbai. Her practice, through the Inheritage Project (founded 2011), focuses on educational, family, specialist and other groups from the city. https://www.bharatfloorings.com/ Questions AS: How do you define urban history? What are the various parameters constitute “Urban”? AS: How and why is History important? How does it help to reflect back on what are we doing? AS: Do you have any subtext while doing these walks? Do you feel it’s need? What are your thoughts about it? FV: What has been BFT contribution in creating heritage structures. In one of you article online, I read that it was also a preferred choice for Maharajas. Can you share some insight into that? AS: In one of your articles online you mentioned - “No two walks are the same, even though the route could be.” Can you please elaborate? AS & FV: In your walks, you must be having a lot of buildings and spaces from South Mumbai. Can you tell us any peculiar things about the floorings? - Since we are doing this with BFT, i have this genuine plug to know, what is the contribution of BFT in these century old buildings of Mumbai? AS: Is there any template or pattern which has emerged out of your practice which can be used by others to start these kind of tours in their cities and villages. I am sure Kochi, Varanasi and many other cities will have great history and mythology? Does Mumbai have any mythology?
Episode 3 of 5 featuring Sanghamitra Chatterjee. Sanghamitra is the co-founder of Past Perfect Heritage Management, which is an archiving and research agency based out of Mumbai and specialises in institutional and family archiving. This is a 5 part series with Bharat Flooring and tiles and Audiogyan. In the coming weeks we will be talking with various artists, heritage conservationist, brand creators, illustrators and architects associated with Bharat Flooring & Tiles. Those who don’t know what is Bharat Flooring & Tiles, (btw, we will be calling it BFT throughout the series). It’s a company formed in 1922 which is leader in quality cement flooring and has been primarily making customised, handmade cement tiles. The timeless elegance and durability of these tiles make them works of art and an invaluable part of the country’s architectural heritage. It started as part of the Swadeshi movement and with over 90 years of reputation, BFT is now the most preferred choice of interior designers and architects across India, You can find relevant links in the show notes about BFT. https://www.bharatfloorings.com/ Questions SC: What is archiving? Why is it important? How does it help corporate and families? Does archiving help us to reflect back? SC: What are the different types of archiving? Especially where the world is moving more towards Cloud. FV: What made you think that BFT’s work need to be archived? SC: Can you share, what was the process like, what were the challenges and how did you manage to document and archive BFT’s heritage? What all got archived? FV: How far and deep you had to dig to document? SC: What have been your top 3 learnings in your overall journey of archiving BFT or other clients. SC: Can you share any interesting anecdote while digging archives? SC: Is there selective bias while archiving? If yes how do you deal with it? FV: Can you share your perspective now after you have documented and hopefully reflected back and re-lived some great work done by BFT. From Pivoting to manufacturing riding wheels during the Second World war till date…? SC: What next with respect to BFT and your over all archiving journey?
Episode 2 of 5 featuring Saurav Roy. He is the design director for Idea Spice Design This is a 5 part series with Bharat Flooring and tiles and Audiogyan. In the coming weeks we will be talking with various artists, heritage conservationist, brand creators, illustrators and architects associated with Bharat Flooring & Tiles. Those who don’t know what is Bharat Flooring & Tiles, (btw, we will be calling it BFT throughout the series). It’s a company formed in 1922 which is leader in quality cement flooring and has been primarily making customised, handmade cement tiles. The timeless elegance and durability of these tiles make them works of art and an invaluable part of the country’s architectural heritage. It started as part of the Swadeshi movement and with over 90 years of reputation, BFT is now the most preferred choice of interior designers and architects across India, You can find relevant links in the show notes about BFT. Today I have Saurav Roy with us on Audiogyan. Roy graduate of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He is the design director for Idea Spice Design - an international design consultancy based out of Dubai and Mumbai. Ideaspice is primarily focused on business design and placemaking, Roy has been working with entrepreneurs and retail center developers for the past 17 years. He is also the co-founder of knotandtuft - a design platform that brings designers together to create handmade carpets. He is also the co-founder of halffry - a monthly platform that brings creators from various fields to talk about their process and their passion. Today we are here to discuss how brands are made but more importantly how did IdeaSpice Design Studio re-created this 100+ year old brand Bharat Flooring & Tiles. https://www.bharatfloorings.com/ Questions SR: After 17 years of brand building, how do you define an intangible thing called “brand”? What all parameters do you engage while dealing or building a brand with any client? Market share vs Loyalty? After sales vs Honesty and more…? We can start by tell us this and setting some context to the over all conversation. SR: How do you differentiate between branding and giving just a face lift? SR: I am sure it must have been relatively easy to make a brand 20 yeas back. What has changed in the last 15-20 years w.r.t brand building? How do you make your client’s brand heard in this noisy world of today? FV: What made you engage with Ideaspice? How did it all began? What was your brief like given to Saurav? SR: Can you share what was the process of brand building for BFT, a company which has been established in 1922. How did it all come about? SR: The new brand looks vintage yet very contemporary. What do you think - What characteristics make it look like that? FV: What made you lock on this variation? I am sure there must have been multiple iterations. SR: What was the process of sharing the brand guidelines? BFT has multiple sub brands like, Heritage, Terrazzo and more... SR: What all departments / verticals you plunged into to find the nuances of this old company / factory. And then what were the steps so that the new brand seeps into the entire ecosystem and each employee feels a part of the new brand? FV & SR: What learning would you like to share since we hardly get a chance to hear, client and agency talk face to face. How much brands should indulge in the creative freedom of agency and how much agency should keep upping about the over all progress to maintain excitement yet pacifying with trust. FV: Can you live with the new brand for next 100 years? 🙂 SR: What would you change if given a second chance? 🙂
Episode 1 of 5 featuring Firdaus Variava. This is a 5 part series with Bharat Flooring and tiles and Audiogyan. In the coming weeks we will be talking with various artists, heritage conservationist, brand creators, illustrators and architects associated with Bharat Flooring & Tiles. Those who don’t know what is Bharat Flooring & Tiles, (btw, we will be calling it BFT throughout the series). It’s a company formed in 1922 which is leader in quality cement flooring and has been primarily making customised, handmade cement tiles. The timeless elegance and durability of these tiles make them works of art and an invaluable part of the country’s architectural heritage. It started as part of the Swadeshi movement and with over 90 years of reputation, BFT is now the most preferred choice of interior designers and architects across India, You can find relevant links in the show notes about BFT. https://www.bharatfloorings.com/ Today I have Firdaus Variava, Vice Chairman of BFT with us on Audiogyan. He has worked in diverse fields such as telecom, trading, and market research prior to joining Bharat Floorings. Firdaus is responsible for the sales team and for all activities related to marketing. In addition, he is responsible for creation of new products to cater to specific market segments and needs and for strategic planning. You can expect him to be partly host and partly guest in upcoming episode of this series. But today he is our main guest. We will be discussing history of BFT and importance of hand made tiles. Questions Can you start by sharing the brief history of BFT? How did it start and what were the ups and down during second world war? I was reading about how Pherozeshah Sidhwa and his nephew Rustom Sidhwa was approached by Jamshed Nusserwanji Mehta, to start an enterprise to boost India’s economic freedom that time? It seems Pherozesha was very particular about quality that he dumped the first batch of White and black tiles worth 50,000 (in 1922) into the ocean because he didn’t like the output. Can you share his vision and how he and his team saw it through. Some other notable names in building the brand? Handmade cement tiles are unique and are expected to have slight imperfections which gives them their inherent depth and character. Can you set the context by telling us, what is so unique and valuable about handmade tiles generally? I believe it also lend it’s nature to Wabi Sabi form. Can you tell us more about it? How are tiles made at Bharat Flooring? Back when you guys started, you had 10 colours. Today BFT has more than 28 colours. Why and what was the journey like? What is the process of introducing colours? How do you decide which colour will work for your expected TG? You have been working with few contemporary artists to bring variety in your catalogue. What is the thought behind that? Which characteristic of BFT transpires across which makes it cater to such a wide range of clientele? Age old buildings like, The Bombay Central Station, Reserve Bank of India, Mantralaya, Breach Candy hospital, Santa Cruz Airport, Express Towers, Air India and LIC buildings, as well as the Bombay Gymkhana Club to new age places like, Smoke House Deli, Socials and more…? What are few design or branding guidelines which you are adhering to, to keep it Indian yet contemporary?
Today I have Tej Chauhan with us Audiogyan. Tej is known for emotive industrial design. He believes that every object has the potential to elicit joy through form, colour and texture, regardless of brand position or production budget. He combines his unique visual approach with production efficiency to create products that resonate with broad audiences and deliver true value and differentiation for brands. He is based in London. We will try and document his thoughts on form, material and technology. Questions Why do you think an unconscious objects need emotive form? Which is the most versatile material you have dealt with so far? Why? Can material itself be emotive? If you can share any examples? Does it mean that if form, colour and texture are dealt well, it’s a great industrial product? Are there any more parameters which you have learnt over time or thought about it? With new age tech, are there any new dimensions being added? Today, how do you perceive technology that enables you to make these beautiful expressive objects? Because just at the beginning of Industrial revolution, objects were flat with straight lines and simple shapes due to it’s constraints. What has changed now that has helped you making product which bring joy to consumers and what do you think the future is going to be like? In one of your interviews you mentioned, one of your inspirations is Stanley Kubrick. Why? Does any aspect of him reflect in your work? If yea, how? :) We are recording this backstage of Kyoorius Designyatra 2019
Anupama Hoskere with us on Audiogyan. She is the founder of Dhaatu, a non-profit organization that seeks to introduce our children our traditional wisdom and tales through puppetry. She did her Engineering from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore with a Master’s degree from California State Univ, Long Beach. She is also a performing Bharathanatyam artist and currently a member of the Karnataka Sangeeta Nrutya Academy. Anupama scripts, creates the puppets and directs her puppet shows. And today we are here to know more about it. Topic Puppetry’s landscape in Bangalore with Anupama Hoskere Questions Dhaatu has been organising puppet festivals since 2009. Bangalore had not witnessed a puppet festival for 21 years before that. Can you start by painting us a panoramic landscape of Puppetry as an art form in Bangalore? How was is it even before you started Panchalikas till how is it today? On the similar lines - You have taught and presented your puppetry work in France, Belgium, China and also in many parts of India - What are your observations in various places. What is the state of it? Is there any pattern which you discovered w.r.t type of puppets (string, rod etc…), government support for this art form, type of stories being told, innovation due to technology or any other insights? I know we can’t and we shouldn’t compare art forms. But just for understanding, what are the advantage of Puppetry in comparison with Human theatre? I did one episode with Dadi Padumjee and he said, “puppets make the messenger opaque; there by purely focussing on the message without any prejudices about the actor” - On the same lines, what has been your observations. If I am not wrong, your effort is more towards educating children this wonderful art form. What are the efforts Dhaatu has taken to make it relevant to younger generation w.r.t Story, Music, Styles of puppets, dialogues and more…? Every art form which has begun in India or has originated in India starts off with mythological stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. From Dadasaheb Phalke’s Kaliya Mardan to Girish Karnad’s Yayati. Even you have performed stories of physically challenged child and a single mother in Ashtavakra and many more. Why Puppetry being such a ancient and old art form of India telling the same stories of values and morals in this day and age? With Puppetry, what worries you every night when you go to bed and what gives you hope to face the new day with enthusiasm?
Introduction Today I have Saptarshi Prakash with us on Audiogyan. He is a Designer | Traveller | Speaker | Teacher | Engineer | Manager. Questions Can we start by just listing few cool, subtle yet noticeable occurrences of motion design used in interfaces? Also if you can list some analog world instances which have inspired online world? This could be either your work or generic like the Breathe app of Apple Watch. This will help set the context. What is the importance of Physics in making motion for interface. To my knowledge, angry birds is one such game which illustrates importance of physics. Similarly is there any app or digital product which uses Motion effectively? What all elements have been used for motion? For eg: accelerometer sensor and what all is not used so far or can be used effectively. Motion has been long used in Games. In fact game’s progress and genre is defined by it’s speed and movement. Is motion used in interface design fundamentally different? Can you share any insights about what is so different about motion used in games as opposed to UI. Also if you can give us some examples of how different speed settings evoke different actions and so on… I am afraid you have to use well known examples due to the audio medium :) What all things are achieved through motion - for eg: Delight, Feedback etc... Why is motion becoming so critical in today’s time? If you can share any particular case study from Swiggy which has improved business or user experience? I have done a lot of interviews with animators and the insight which I got it, movement is sign of life. What are your thoughts around it?
Audiogyan is DesignUp’s podcast partner. It’s one of a kind Design-in-Tech conference happening on 15th and 16th Nov 2019 in Bangalore. Visit https://designup.io/blr2019/ for more details. Today I have Sidharth Rao with us on Audiogyan. Other than being an agency CEO, he's an angel investor and serial entrepreneur. You can find a lot about how to be an entrepreneur and what mistakes big CEOs made and more in his recently launched a book called “How I almost blew it”. We will be speaking about that in the later part of the episode but more importantly we will also try and explore where do award winning ideas come from and how critical it is for the founder to be creatively minded than just a business man? Questions You have been creating award winning campaigns ideas since 2003 with Chidiya Udi which you did for MakeMyTrip. What according to you is an “idea"? How has that definition evolved in last 20 years? Is it just a kick to do something out of the box or genuinely looking for a gap and mitigate with not-so-traditional fixes? It is said that ideas are cheap. We also find that lot of entrepreneurs say, idea is 1%, execution is 99%. What is your take on that? Winning Abbys, afaqs and other Indian advertising awards is one and winning Cannes is something else. What new got added or updated in your creative thinking to make it to the international level advertising awards? How have your ideas and ways to communicate changed due to digital penetration in India? From making Viral videos for MMT and Rediff to Swiggy's, Voice of Hunger? What is transpiring across through this evolution? When Webchutney was young and rebellious, I remember you carried a tag line “did it!” Where you openly declared that we just did it. What will this Sid say now? I am pointing to the young but relatively mature Webchutney? Is it always necessary to be young in the advertising world? Only young people get ideas? How critical is for a founder / CEO / entrepreneur to be creative than just being a business man and spotting growth opportunities? Is it an inherent quality or one has to keep him or herself re-inventing for growth? This stems from your chapter with Kunal Shah. Sometimes it’s best to get a CEO than force fitting the founder to be the CEO. You also often said that I am more of a founder than CEO. Has that opinion changed? Can you share any examples which you stumbled upon while doing research for your book, where the company stood out differently than just doing pure business or service, since the founders were creative and had more to offer? Of course in the Indian context What made you publish this book? I am sure it’s not sharing experience. There is something more to it like answering back few unanswered or stupid questions which were thrown at you or may be more… What say?
Each frame, each moment, we record the world around us through our senses. We experience the warmth of light through a window, the dashing of elevator doors in our hallway, the texture of a handrail, the aroma of something cooking in the kitchen. In P.L.Deshpande’s words, When we hear the word Thalipeeth, we not only just remember a peculiar maharashtrian dish made by Grandmom but we also remember her bangles clinging while Doughing the flour, freshly made white butter, the kitchen where we sat and ate it and countless other memories. These senses create the full experience of the spaces we inhabit. Rohan Shivkumar has been trying to capture these moments, cacophonies, their contradictions, paradoxes and more through his architectural films. Today I have Rohan Shivkumar with us on Audiogyan. Rohan is an architect, urban designer and filmmaker practicing in Mumbai. He is the Dean of Research and Academic Development at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies. His work ranges from architecture, urban research and consultancy projects to works in film and visual art. He is interested in issues concerning housing, public space and in exploring the many ways of reading and representing the city. Today, we will try and document, what does it take to create space or a moments in time on a film You have made 2 films so far, “Nostalgia of the Future” & “Lovely Villa”. I recently watched both of them at Frame Conclave in Goa. Very nice indeed. In both of your films you are trying to show connections and also dissociation between the matter (which is architecture) and soul (which are memories and intangible feelings associated). Can you start by briefly telling us what are these films and what made you do these films? Something within you (as an architect) is not able to manifest in the form of architecture. Probably that could be the reason you made these films? Is there a common or individual subtext you are trying to communicate through these 2 films? What is that subtext? Filmmaking is a much younger art form than architecture. We daily walk pass the same building but hardly pay attention to the details or art deco of it. But when a film captures that and presents it, it feels great. Is it failure of the architect to show us those beauty spots or victory of film making as an art form? Is invisible architecture great architecture? What is the biggest challenge to encapsulate the micro and and macro of architecture on the film? This is in context of Correa’s vision for "a mirror of the nation, in miniature” - If you at all tried to portray that in you film, what was the process like? Both of your films have long takes with steady shots. Without much camera panning and moving. Is this standard for more or less architecture films? You have intentionally taken this route? What are your thoughts and learning? Lastly, I would like to conclude by asking, what is Project Cinema City? Can you tell us more about it? What we do as regular citizens?
Today I have Sarover Zaidi with us on Audiogyan. She is a philosopher and social anthropologist. Sarovar has worked extensively on the religious architecture of the Jews, Muslims and Christians in the port cities of Bombay and Kochi. She has previously worked in rural public health, across India, Has huge body of work in collecting Islamic & Hindu iconography across South East Asia. She currently teaches at School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and Jindal School of Art & Architecture, Sonipat. And today we are here to explore the world of colours and what do they mean in individual contexts. Thank you Sarovar for giving your time and it’s a real honour to have you on Audiogyan. Welcome to the show. How do colours become part of our culture? Can you share some examples from your study? How do communities establish their colour? How is it carried forward by generations? What is possibly Mumbai’s colour? How did you arrive at it? If you can share any case study? Why is Lal Qila, Lal? Is it just using local resources while it was built or has some reasons for it being Lal? How deep is the connection between modern take on "psychology of colours" with actual traditions in India?
I am so honoured and privilege to listen to great master without any microphones in his house in Panvel, Mumbai. I am keeping his introduction short for those who don’t know him. He is a Rudra Veena Player. A sangeet natak academy award winner in 2012 and a 20th generation of Dagar lineage, referring to Swami Haridas Dagaur of the 13th century I would like to start by asking the most fundamental question which you answered in one of your interview online - "A beenkar must never be in a hurry" - Can you please explain this thought. Is it possible in today’s time to play traditional Dhrupad and still make it appealing to attract more listeners? How do you ensure that the purity is maintained and yet it engages new age audience? In one of your interview you mentioned, "there are no elders left to criticise the nonsense we play” - How do you ensure the quality is maintained? In today’s noisy day and age, people really don’t have reference point to understand what is good and what is great. How do you maintain integrity? I would like to mention one quote from you interview published in Darbar.org - “Learning is not just the technique. It has to be a way of life” - Can you tell us what do you mean by this? In one more reference to you interviews online, you said, “We cannot compromise with the instrument’s rituals even if we die of hunger” - Where does this passion come from?
Today I have Meetu Akali with us on Audiogyan. She is the founder of Studio Momo, an environmentally conscious Architecture & Interior design firm, specialising in luxury villas and the restoration of Indo-Portuguese homes of Goa. Studio Momo is based in Goa. Meetu is an architects who lived and studied in Oxford before moving to Goa. Can you tell a bit about your experience at Oxford and how did your education helped in navigating you profession? What are the unique characteristics of Goan architecture and interior? Which all things have shaped it’s look, form and feel apart from Indo-Portuguese influence? What was the character to it’s architectural landscape before the colonial period? Studio Momo is inspired by Wabi Sabi Philosophy. Is it because Goa is a sea destination where time wears out things quickly? Was Wabi Sabi a conscious effort because you like it or was it a discovery as the destination demands it? You have few eco-products. Can you tell us more about it? Why these products and how do you use it in your sites? Your thoughts on going eco friendly especially in Goa. Can you share any particular case study and your learnings from any of your site. For eg: Villa Chorao. A simple but powerful learning which has changed your perspective towards interior design or architecture Studio Momo does both architecture and interior design (I understand, not necessarily for all the sites all the time). But if I can put is crudely as Apple - where you do both hardware and software. Apple certainly has advantage. What are your advantage areas of doing both?
Mohi Baha'ud-din Dagar is a Rudra Veena Player. A sangeet natak academy award winner in 2012 and a 20th generation of Dagar lineage, referring to Swami Haridas Dagur of the 13th century. Just to set context, there are almost 11 types of Veena. It is said that Rudra Veena is king of Instruments and all string instruments are shaped from it. Can you share any of it’s mythological and historical aspect? I was going through your website which mentions, stage and mic requirements for a small baithak to a large concert. Can you tell demands of this instrument and why? Asad Ali Khan once said, "Kalakar isse nahi bajata, ye kalakar se bajwata hai” - Can you tell us what is so rahasyamay about this Rudra Veena? Can you tell us challenges of making and playing a Veena. It takes 6 to 7 months to make a Veena. It has challenges since it’s made as per the size of there person. Also it’s tuning before playing is a big task in itself. In fact in one of your interviews, you have said, Veena is a like and elephant. What is so intense about it? What is that silence playing even after plucking of the strings have stopped? It is very peculiar to string instruments as oppose to percussion or wind instruments. Rudra Veena has been with us since Rigveda and Samaveda, or lets call it Satya-yuga. What is the long term future of Veena (Rudra) in Kali-yuga ?
Ravi Poovaiah, Professor, at IDC, IIT Mumbai. His current pedagogy as well as research and design interests are in fields related to Interaction Design, New Media Design, Visual Design and Product Design. Most of the things about him are documented on IIT IDC website. Ravi sir is one of the most loved professor at IDC and I got a chance to interact with him during a 3 day workshop at IIT. Product Expo. Many years ago. Although he has a huge body of work in almost all aspects of Visual and communication design, I was very impressed with one of his projects called Trinetra; a collection of Indian glyphs and icons. I call it a Indian Noun project. So this Audiogyan tries and document some aspects about Communication design but more importantly and a personal curiosity of how are signages designed? Especially in India. What is a signage system? What is the importance of a well designed Signage system? What is the state of Signages in India? Where do we stand if we compare with other countries? What are the challenges while designing a Signage system for India? Language, material, Population, position w.r.t space etc... What are peculiar things to be understood while designing signage system for India? Can you tell us what is Trinetra project / tool about? What your thoughts on the future of Signage system in India? How can corporates or independent designers contribute to Signages in India?
Kimya is a type designer from Mumbai with a passionate interest in Indic type design. Kimya interned with Linotype GmbH, Germany, in their font design department in 2010. Over the next several years she worked as a freelance designer for numerous type foundries catering to their multi-script requirements. Since 2015 she’s been a partner at Mota Italic focusing on Indic and Latin designs for retail and custom corporate projects. How has new technology and new software along with OpenType features, changing the face of Type design for Indian scripts? What has now become possible due to advancing technology? You engage yourself in educating about type design. What are your observations about it? You have been promoting and teaching importance of Indian typefaces, why? What value you see in it? How do you see things changing if type Design or taught in school and other primary educations institutes? We all know about the famous Oscar blunder due to bad typography. It’s not end of the world when it comes to Oscar, but its life and death when it comes to medicine and other important areas. Do you think better fonts can make a difference or it’s just better typography? What are your thoughts and long term vision w.r.t spreading awareness about Indian Typefaces? How you and Mota are working towards it? You have been working on 3D type faces recently. Can you tell us more about it?
Today I have Denzil Smith us on Audiogyan. Denzil is an Indian film and stage actor, producer and is known for his stage and screen roles as a character actor. He has a long-standing association with both Motley Productions and PrimeTime Theatre. He has a huge body of work from working in Bollywood films, to theatre, from television to being a voice artist and more. Today we are here to discover his a relatively less know side which is love for music, especially Jazz. He has been host for jazz festivals, concerts at NCPA, Bluefrog and more… I am a Hindustani classical listener and I see a lot of similarities between Jazz and Hindustani Classical - which has to do with concepts of solo expression and the links between composition and improvisation. So I want to ask how would you define Jazz? What all components constitute Jazz? What according to you could be the reason why Jazz was so quickly adapted by Indians? Did it have anything to do with social position of Indian in 1920’s or just because talented people like Leon Abbey, Chic Chocolate and others who influenced other people at that time? Can you tell us something about Bombay Jazz Club? Who are few of the all-time-top Jazz Indian artists whose music is available online to buy or stream? The era from the 1930s to the 1950s is often called as the golden age of jazz in India. Did Jazz play any role in freedom struggle of India? What is the future of Jazz in India?
Sameep Padora is a practicing architect and principal of the design studio sP+a in Mumbai. Sameep is in a pursuit and encouragement of sustainable, contextual and innovative practices that arise ‘from a site itself’. He received his diploma in architecture from Academy of Architecture went on to study at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, and received his Masters from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in 2005. He is a member of the Academic Councils of a number of schools and is a member of the National Technical Committee of Habitat for Humanity, India. And today we are here to discuss his approach towards context in the world of architecture Can you start by telling us your broad areas of work? How does your practise work in case of commissioned projects? Can you share any particular case study of yours where you dealt with latent local resources and built things? What are your observation w.r.t Human Resources / labour in urban India & then rural India? How do you practise "good amount of" research time for a particular site / project in this competitive world? What would be your top 3 suggestions to the upcoming world of designers and architects (Of India) to keep in mind the world of 2050 and then design?
Sameep Padora is a practicing architect and principal of the design studio sP+a in Mumbai. Sameep is in a pursuit and encouragement of sustainable, contextual and innovative practices that arise ‘from a site itself’. He received his diploma in architecture from Academy of Architecture went on to study at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, and received his Masters from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in 2005. He is a member of the Academic Councils of a number of schools and is a member of the National Technical Committee of Habitat for Humanity, India. And today we are here to discuss his approach towards context in the world of architecture
Today I have Upasana Makati with us on Audiogyan. She is the founder of White Print, India’s First English Lifestyle Magazine in Braille for the visually impaired. Upasana was awarded the First Lady Award by the President of India and the Woman and Child Ministry, 40 Under 40 list of Fortune India, 30 under 30 list by Forbes India in 2016. Through the lifestyle magazine she intends to make available well-researched and informative articles along with leisure reads to everyone who can’t see.
Today I have Priyanka Karyekar with us on Audiogyan. She is a full-time Graphic Designer & illustrator and has been doing an editorial, book, merchandising, branding and packaging design for various clients. Her illustration style is simple, a mix of type and drawings and playing around with few textures. She is currently based out of Pune. Although she has a huge body of work in illustration, this Audiogyan tries and documents her love towards illustrating human figures which her own distinct style. What is the most fascinating thing about illustrating human figures? What are your learnings so far in the discovery phase? Your more recent work is towards depicting women in your illustrations. What is the story behind it? What are your thoughts on making illustrations of real-life figures which are not really like Raja Ravi Verma’s paintings of god and goddesses? You have tried to revive a few national heroes by giving them a contemporary look through your illustrations. Can you tell us the thought behind it? What according to you is the biggest challenge while illustrating human characters? What is the artistic block one can get and then how to overcome it?
Today I have Quasar Thakore Padamsee & Toral Shah with us on Audiogyan. These guys needs no introduction for people who belong to the world of theatre and arts. Quasar, apart from being an accomplished actor, writer, director and a producer, Q is also founder of Thespo Theatre festival which completed 20 years last December 2018. Toral is all things backstage. Toral started working full-time with QTP productions since June 2001. She worked in the capacity of administrator, in-house graphics designer, lights/sound operator, production manager and stage manager. She was the festival director of ‘Thespo’ in 2002 and from 1999 onwards has been the festival’s coordinator and art director. You travel across India for Thespo, big and small centres. What is transpiring across? Where do you think the real action lies when it comes to telling stories? Me and My team performed at Thespo almost 15 years back, how do you remember most of us and the name of the play also? What is the secret behind it? What are the significant changes you have seen in the Youth Mumbai theatre world in the last 20 years. This is w.r.t to performances, story telling, productions, acting, and more from creators stand point. You have published 4 plays in 2018. Can you tell us more about it? What and why?
Today I have Quasar Thakore Padamsee & Toral Shah with us on Audiogyan. These guys needs no introduction for people who belong to the world of theatre and arts. Quasar, apart from being an accomplished actor, writer, director and a producer, Q is also founder of Thespo Theatre festival which completed 20 years last December 2018. Toral is all things backstage. Toral started working full-time with QTP productions since June 2001. She worked in the capacity of administrator, in-house graphics designer, lights/sound operator, production manager and stage manager. She was the festival director of ‘Thespo’ in 2002 and from 1999 onwards has been the festival’s coordinator and art director. What have been your 3 biggest challenges to keep it running for last 20 years? What are the 3 biggest learnings you had from young theatre enthusiast? It’s a cliche question but, Can you name any 5 plays which are must watch, originated from Thespo? What is your long term vision about Thespo? How do you see it shaping up in the future?
Today I have Sarah Sham with us on Audiogyan. Sarah is the fourth generation entrepreneur to take forward the heritage of Essajees with her interior design boutique firm Essajees Atelier founded in 2014. Essajees Atelier was awarded the Best Interior Design award at WadE Asia, a woman powered design awards ceremony that celebrates women designers. And today we are here to discuss the before and after of an interior/architecture project. Topic Before and after of an interior project with Sarah Sham Questions How do you see, before and after philosophically? How do you pick what to retain in the new and what to let go from the old? What ensures that the essence of the site/house/place is maintained even after the new? How do you pitch the client what you envision? Is it good for the client to keep looking at WIP since he or she will not be wowed by the new?
Today I have Ashwini Deshpande with us on Audiogyan. Co-founder and director of Elephant Design studio in Pune and Singapore. She is a 1989 graduate of NID, Ahmedabad. She is a designer, mentor, jury and active founding member of ADI. You can find more about her and her huge body of work and lots of interviews that are documented online. And today we are going to know more about her design philosophy. Topic New and Old school design with Ashwini Deshpande Questions Can you start by telling us, on what parameters your definition of design has been changing? A brief walkthrough of how you’ve been discovering design Can you tell us few milestones in the Indian Design landscape which disrupted things in the last 3 decades? You speak at various events and conferences, what has been your observations if you look at PDF versus say DesignUp? New media design versus classic traditional design. What are a few pros an cons of either side? Which domain according to you needs maximum design help? Few things about Elephant What were the early challenges for Elephant design in the 1990s? Can you tell a few key social impact projects which Elephant has done? Elephant turned 30. How does it feel? What is the future of Elephant Design?
Today I have Ashok Panwalkar with us Audiogyan. He is one of the Senior Product Designer on the Indian product Design industry. Currently he is the Creative Director of 3F Design Company based in Pune. Previously he was working with Philips in Various capacities as a designer for nearly 3 decades. Today we are here to discuss with him some insights into the world of Product Design in India.
1. What kind of Industrial products were designed and made in India during 1980’s and 90’s? How and what changed in the last 30-40 years?
2. What were the dominant materials that were used in Designing industrial products in the 80’s? What has changed since then?
3. As per my reading, Philips came to India from Netherlands in 1935. How has it’s contribution changed the product design landscape of India?
4. Did people get sensitive to good design and bad design due to advent of such companies? How? Can you share any specific product or range of products which changed the Indian electrical market?
5. Personal
1. What made you get into this corporate world, that too with Industrial / product design background at that time?
2. What are your top 3 learnings while working in the industrial design space?
3. What kind of talent is required in India to make well designed industrial products?
1. Can you paint us a picture of “Design” education in India? How well know it is in comparison to medicine or engineering?
2. In one of your articles online, you mentioned, Design education makes students become responsible citizens. Can you tell us how?
3. Can design be learnt from youtube? Or any online service?
4. What have been your observations w.r.t self taught designer versus a academically trained designer?
5. What are the key attributes to be found in oneself to get into the world of design as a career?
6. What is your long term vision about Design education in India? How do you see it 50 years in future?
Prof Dhimant Panchal graduated from NID Ahmedabad in 1980. With career spanning around 4 decades, Dhimant Sir has worked in all possible fields of design. From Industrial design, Product design, Exhibition design to education. Prof Dhimant Panchal is a key driving force at Maharashtra Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design, Pune. And today we are here to know what it takes to bring Design to living room conversations.
Manish graduated with distinction from the Institute of Environmental Design, Gujarat in 1991. Thereafter, he worked at The Osho Commune International in Pune, for two years, contributing immensely to the Commune’s varied ongoing projects. Here, he imbibed a new spiritual approach to spatial design, as a means of connecting man with himself and his environment. Having identified the true meaning and purpose of Architecture, he established TAO Architecture Pvt. Ltd. in 1994. Passionate and enterprising, Manish has a dynamic creative energy and an innate love for nature.
1. What does shelter mean to you?
2. What according to you is the one underlying thread which connects humans and architecture in which they dwell?
3. What is the important of directions when it comes to building architecture. For eg: East versus South facing etc...? Any connection you can draw with Vastu Sharshtra?
4. What are your views on spaces that have started looking that same in the metros of the world? Why is it happening? What is your effort in avoiding it?
5. What according to you should be the focus area of architects in the coming decades to make a sustainable living?
Today I have Amit Doshi and Kavita Rajwade with us on Audiogyan. Amit graduated in 1996 from the Pearson School of Communication at the University of Delaware and moved back to Mumbai after that. After moving back he worked on movies, ads and in television before starting Webodrome Information Technologies in 1999 to create ecommerce websites.
Kavita Rajwade is a new media ninja. With stints in print, radio, television, events, sports and with music labels she has always been ahead of the curve. Podcasting is the latest industry she is looking to revolutionize.
Today they are the founders of India’s largest podcasting network IVM, Indus Vox Media. And today we are here to discuss some background about podcasting and how is it getting into the Indian market.
1. Can you tell us a brief history of Podcast in India and other parts of the world?
2. How critical is host’s persona?
3. What are your observations w.r.t people on the podcast versus content of the podcast?
4. What makes podcaster go niche and narrower in the subject they choose? How true is this notion - podcast is for geeks and for a niche set of audience?
5. What are the challenges of podcast as a medium w.r.t technology? What is the long term future of podcast in India? May be 10 or 20 years in future?
Today I have Lokesh Karekar with us on Audiogyan. He is One of India's leading visual and communications design artist. An alumnus of Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Arts and founder of LOCOPOPO and has Co-Founded the 100% Zine. He loves exploring varied mediums. His illustrations capture the essence of people, places and objects. Lokesh explores fun, colourful compositions through abstract forms and freeflowing lines. He was featured in Forbes – 30 under 30 list with leading young entrepreneurs in India. And today we are here to discuss “What does it take to become a illustrator?”
Questions.
1. What qualifies to be an illustration and what doesn’t. Technically and philosophically?
2. What goes in your mind when you do illustrations with just line work of single color as oppose to filled color illustrations. How do you perceive these 2 styles?
3. What is your process of picking a color palette for a particular project?
4. With the growing trend of abstract art and minimalism, do you think one needs to be trained in illustrations and art in general?
5. What is Locopopo? Why this name and what do you do there? How do you marry artistic expression versus client brief?
Dadi Pudumjee is a leading puppeteer in India and he is the founder of The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992. An alumnus of NID, Ahmedabad, Dadi has been relentlessly working in the field of puppet theatre for more than three decades. Though he formed Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust 30 years ago, his association with puppet theatre dates back to 1967. The Padma Shri awardee who is credited with giving a modern twist to puppetry by incorporating life-size puppets, music in his shows, feels that puppetry is no more bound to children and it is time to institutionalize the craft.
1. Can you start by telling us a brief history of Puppetry as an art form in India? Why Asia has a strong puppet history?
2. Historically, has it always been for children and entertainment? Where all puppetry was used?
3. In one of your articles online, you mentioned “Puppetry is gradually becoming a potent tool to address social issues. It is not just kids’ entertainment any more. Can you tell us few instances of how have you used puppetry outside it’s traditional and confined ways?
4. What all different type of puppets have been explored? String based, hand puppets, semi-sculptural…?
5. Traditionally, how long does a puppetry show lasts? Which type of people are involved in any performance? Director, Writer etc...
6. Who is a puppeteer? What does he do?
7. At Pune Design Festival, I saw a small performance of yours in which you brought life to shoes? What all can be used in puppetry?
8. What is the most important ingredient required to bring realism in a puppet show?
9. At least from my experience, Puppet "look" have a distinct aesthetic style. If yes, why? How have people experimented with different looking puppets? Can there be a almost real human looking puppet?
10. What is future of puppetry w.r.t stories, techniques, form factor and more...? How can people get into puppetry?
Today I have Siddharth Sirohi with us on Audiogyan. Co-founder of a furniture design company called Baro, in Mumbai. From film production design, Bombay-based Siddharth followed his heart into making furniture that told a story. Siddharth’s aesthetics are highly influenced by the simplicity and classic lines of mid-century modernism. And today we are here to discuss with him the origin of Baro and it's philosophy and more gyan on design.
Questions
1. On your website you’ve said, ‘old school patience’ is the key to good design. Can you start by telling us what do you mean by that?
2. You are also attracted towards Wabi Sabi form. Can you tell our listeners more about it and Which part of that philosophy attracts you and how have you translated that in your product?
3. I personally keep swinging between ethnic, vintage style of art versus modern, contemporary minimalistic style of art. What would be your suggestion to marry both the worlds? Or do I polarise one?
4. Your furniture is made from Reclaimed Teak wood. Can you tell us more about it? What is reclaimed and why?
5. Miles Davis once said, "sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself” - How did you discover your school of aesthetics and then translate that into your furniture / products?
Today I have Umesh Gopinath with us on Audiogyan. Umesh is designer, blogger and Amateur photographer. He is constantly thinking, observing, learning and trying to find simple solutions for everyday problems. Currently he is heading the design team at Newton Mail which got acquired by Essential this year. Newton mail is a wonderful pretty looking email client which is built in India. Today we will be speaking with Umesh what went behind the scenes and get some insights into his interesting design philosophies.
Questions
1. What is Newton mail and whats so cool about this mail client?
2. Why another mail client?
3. What were the key goals set to make this product?
4. What was the process & challenges of coming up with a design language that is OS agnostic?
5. What according to you is the coolest feature about Newton that was driven by a design team and is almost invisible
6. What is the process of taking product and design decision of what to build and what tot junk at Newton. For eg: You killed the sent folder.
7. What is the future of Newton? What is the future of email since a lot of stuff is happening on WhatsApp, Slack and Short messaging format?
8. Last 2 questions are personal.
1. On your website, you say that you are inspired by Dieter Rams, Jason Fried, AR Rahman, BLJ, Vandana, Vikas & JP. What is the common thing you see in these people that you get inspired?
2. I guess you believe in "Less, but better" design philosophy. Can you tell us how and why this philosophy resonates with you?
Please download the email client. It is just $49.99 per year which is about ₹4,500; Approx, 358 per month. https://newtonhq.com
Today I have Sajid Wajid Shaikh with us on Audiogyan. He is one of the most sought after Designers in India. Sajid is a self taught visual artist specializing in illustration and design. He uses a visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. He has worked for firms like Umbrella Design and Contract Advertising. on clients which include Google, Yahoo, Adidas, Redbull, Elle to name a few. Today we are here to discuss about illustrations and more importantly lines and faces.
Questions
1. What does the word “abstract art” mean to you? What exactly goes in the mind of an artist when they are working on an abstract thing?
2. Does an artist need to be rebel? Classical / traditional versus evolving / experimental?
3. Can any artist (or you for that matter) know that they have exhausted of all possible variations that can be created for a given artwork / thought? Within the same medium?
4. How do you perceive art and design? Since you balance both the worlds nicely.
5. Why are you so fascinated (if I may say) Faces?
Today I have Pavithra Dikshit with us on Audiogyan. She is a typographer, Graphic designer and presently working in Landor, Mumbai. And this is the way she positions herself online, I’m 1/3rd of Postcard People which is an avenue to revive sending out postcards. And I’m 1/8th of Kadak which is a collective of South Asian women who work with graphic storytelling of different kinds. Today we are here to talk about graphic design with Pavithra.
Questions
1. You say your exploration in design is within Indian context. What do you mean by that? What is Indianness when it comes to graphic design?
2. How big and wide is the canvas with respect to Indian Graphic Design?
3. Can graphic design be tactile in nature? What is the role of paper when it comes to graphic design? How critical is that element? Since I am always exposed to digital graphic design?
4. In some of your articles online, you have mentioned about you being super disciplined and lover of side projects. What can be different ways for a graphic designer to explore side projects?
5. So there is a connection between your work, life and work-life? How does your day job work in this sense?
6. How do you choose what you should work on? Especially with side projects. Everybody has so many ideas? You seem to have built a few composite projects, why is that? Is that a style?
7. A lot of your recent work involves words and typography. Could you talk about it? Also you’re reading and sharing a lot more of the books. Have you always been a reader? Is that important for a graphic designer in today’s world?
Today I have Aziz Kachwalla with us on Audiogyan. Aziz studied to be a Product Designer from the NID Ahmedabad, after graduating with a B.Tech degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Mumbai. With over 2 decades of experience in exhibition, lighting, retail and furniture design. The Orange Company is his design consultancy firm that does large multi-disciplinary interior architectural projects. His design studio is located at Mazagaon in South Mumbai and his workshop is called At-tin.
Questions
1. What does Ply as a material mean to you? How versatile Ply is as a material? How different is Flexi-ply from regular ply?
2. What have been your observations while playing with other materials? Can you share any particular product / case study of the piece of furniture you made using other than wood?
3. In India, we have seen people having more inclination towards Wood (Teak, Rose etc…), Is that the case as per your thoughts? Why?
4. How does usage of different material for furniture come into main stream market? How does the progression happen? Do designers and artists like you have to show the way?
5. What material do you think will dominate India furniture market in the coming years? Why?
Today I have Suresh Eriyat with us on Audiogyan. Popularly known as E Suresh. He is an Indian animator, director and founder of his animation studio Studio Eeksaurus. He started his animation career with Famous House of Animation soon after he graduated from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Suresh was the first to launch clay animation commercials in India. He created Amaron battery advertisements, music video Bindu re Bindu, the Simpu series for Channel V to name a few. Suresh has been instrumental in creating a market for animated ad films by going beyond the traditional technique and storytelling.
Questions
1. What does the word continuum mean to you? How to see this concept?
2. In one of your interviews on youtube you mentioned that you can animate anything and bring to life? What all elements that bring life apart from movement?
3. How do you envision future of animation in India? What are your dreams around it?
4. What are your thoughts on animation films versus live action? What is more relatable?
5. How can we achieve theatrical success for an Indian animation film in India? Is it important to do so?
Rapid fire questions - By Vaibhav Kumaresh
1. What's exciting about ad films to you?
2. What excites you in a script?
3. What kind of music do you listen to?
4. What are the inspiring trends in animation film making around the world?
Today I have Haresh Mehta with us on Audiogyan. He is the founder of Paper Shaper, a Mumbai-based corrugated cardboard manufacturing firm, and is offering an alternate and sustainable solution to wooden and furniture made of other materials. Haresh has not only created a niche for himself but has given the society a unique way of living without damaging the nature. He has made beds, benches, bookshelves, tables, chairs, children’s furniture, toys, coffee cups, lamps, photo frames, all from Carboard. All durable, superbly designed and eco-friendly. Today we are here to explore card board as a material and possible design solutions from it.
Questions
1. Can you set the ball rolling by telling us a brief history of corrugation?
2. You come from a family of paper merchants. What does corrugation board as a material mean to you when you were a child? When did you realise corrugation board is your calling?
3. What is the science of corrugation board? Why has it not gained in currency thus far?
4. Can you tell us something about flute lamination machines for a layman? What is it and what does it do?
5. Can you tell us the most interesting product your have every designed using corrugated cardboard. Since you have designed everything from cradles to coffin. Also if we can talk about the Loo Box?
6. How do you and your team at Jayna conceptualise things made from corrugated cardboard? What does one have to learn to start making it? An industrial design course or any other course or any academic studies…?
Today I have Deepa Punjani with us on Audiogyan. She is a editor, developer and content writer for the well known website “Mumbai Theatre Guide” which has been active for past 2 decades. She has taken countless interviews of known and unknown people from the world of theatre and today I am going to know her process and more about Mumbai Theatre Guide.
1. You have been at the helm of Mumbai Theatre Guide for two decades. What are the trends you have seen in the city in the past 20 years?
2. What is so unique about Mumbai in terms of theatre? Be it: Shivaji Mandir to Bhaidas, or NCPA to Lok Shahiri?
3. You have been an actor on the Gujarati commercial stage. Why does the Gujarati stage not produce quality playwrights? Or is it changing thanks to plays like Code Mantra plus texts by Soumya Joshi?
4. You are head of the Indian critics association. You have solid members like Jayashree Joshi and Arun Naik. When will Indian stage have a formidable critic like Namwar Singh who created a narrative for Hindi language literature?
5. Your reviews of plays by theatre makers like Rehaan Engineer and Deepam Shivaram are glowing in praise. What sets them apart?
6. Your five must watch plays for theatrewallahs in the city?
Payal Gupta is a chef, food stylist and floral stylist working out of Mumbai. Payal started a company called chefpayalgupta to nurture her love for food and art. This company is jointly run by her and her husband Hitesh along with a talent pool of staff. She has studies in more than 8 institutes in and outside India. Chef Payal has styled food for acclaimed global brands like Hindustan Unilever, General Mills, Britannia, McDonalds, ITC to name a few. And today we are here to understand food design or food styling
1. What is food styling all about? What do you mean when we say he or she is a food stylist?
2. "A food-stylist needs to have an expertise in cooking and an aesthetic sense to develop an interesting image for the brand.” Does this mean, an artist who is a chef or a chef who has a artistic bend?
3. What are the big challenges while styling food, especially when you are designing campaigns for Fast Food chains like McDonalds or Subway? This is mainly to understand because when it comes to food chains like these, food is not cooked but manufactured. How do you bring in the drool worthy feeling while working on brands like these?
4. What has been your experience while styling food which has Indian origin? What are the learnings you can share?
5. In one of your interviews online you mentioned, “Each year you set goals to upgrade your skill sets as a chef and do not stagnate your learnings” What makes you say that explicitly where as each professional these days have to keep pace with whats happening in the market. This question also illustrates that what would be your 2 cents to people who wish to venture into this profession.
Anusha Yadav is a Portrait Photographer, Brand Culture design consultant, and a curator of narrative, visual and theme based archives and ideas. She founded Indian Memory Project in 2010. The world’s first online visual & narrative based archive that traces a personal history of the Indian Subcontinent through images found in family and personal archives.
1. What is Indian memory Project and what was the thought behind starting it?
2. There are millions of untold stories and unsung heroes in almost every part of the world. What is your process of capturing them through you project?
3. Which according to you is the best format of capturing memories? Why?
4. How is one’s memory relevant to other’s?
5. Since you are a photographer, are memories alway black and white? Is there any significance?
6. How has your photography and graphic design skills help you grow this project?
7. What is the long term vision of Indian memory project?
1. The first half focussed on the Kumbh itself and the process of making of the deliverables. Now tell me more about some of the content in these deliverables and design systems adopted.
2. In hindsight, what was the most powerful design lesson from having documented the Kumbh.
3. You also mentioned that you published these books. What does it take to publish - how was that aspect for you considering it was your first self published body of work as a studio?
4. What were the failures and what would you do better?
5. What was your personal experience of anchoring this project documentation. Take aways as a designer and as a human being.
"Being in it and being of it" is a contemporary visual handbook, documenting experiences and conversations from one of the largest faith gatherings on earth, the Kumbh Mela of Allahabad in 2013. The anthology of writings within this compilation has been segregated based on 8 underlying themes that appear consistently throughout the experience at the Kumbh Mela. These translate into 8 individual volumes, each of which corresponds to a theme.
1. What is the Kumbh Mela?
2. What made you document the Kumbh Mela? How many have you documented this far?
3. How did you go about doing this? Processes you followed and also perhaps a few points on how collaboration was integral in conceiving this documentation.
4. Your practice is a design practice with a focus on communication design - then where does content and documentation feature in the realm of design?
5. What were the deliverables and describe them a little bit. Why did you name the Kumbh Allahabad volumes 'Being in it and Being of it' along with the 8 names that each of the volumes hold - and also why 8 volumes specifically?
6. What was your role in the making of the documentaries?
To give listeners a quick background about Maha Kumbh Mela experience project:
"Being in it and being of it" is a contemporary visual handbook, documenting experiences and conversations from one of the largest faith gatherings on earth, the Kumbh Mela of Allahabad in 2013. The anthology of writings within this compilation has been segregated based on 8 underlying themes that appear consistently throughout the experience at the Kumbh Mela. These translate into 8 individual volumes, each of which corresponds to a theme.
To buy this book - http://studioanugraha.com/Being-in-it-and-being-of-it
1. Everyone in the online designer community speak about the small discount icon which rotates and captures attention while you scroll on the home or listing page. Can you tell us the story behind it? How did you create that little delightful interaction?
2. How big is the team and how do you function? I heard you have some design sprints ahead of dev sprints. How does that work? What is the process like?
3. What is the process within the design team to ensure consistency in the product?
4. Can you share some insights into how did the “track your order” feature evolve? What was the problem statement and how did you arrive at a the design solution?
5. What is the biggest challenge for a design team at Swiggy and how do you address it? How important do you think other stake holders should be sensitive to design and user experience? How do you manage / communicate that?
6. How do you deal with the pressure of making offers discoverable in the highly competitive market for burning lot of money on cash backs and discounts? What is your stand in saying NO or finding a middle ground?
7. Do Swiggy do AB tests? If yes, can you share one experiment and what was the learning?
8. By now we can safely assume that everyone in the metro cities know what is Swiggy and what do they do. But still I would like to know how do you as head of design at Swiggy view what your company does?
9. Does Swiggy as a company treat Swiggy to a product or as a service?
10. How does the roadmap look like purely from a design stand point? What are your future plans?
Today I have Srinath Rangamani with us on Audiogyan. Currently head of Design at Swiggy and previously at Myntra, store mate and Adobe. He is digital designer with over 10+ years of experience in creative, interaction and product design for mobile apps & web. His philosophy is “Create something pure; for in its beauty, simplicity, craftiness and care - lies the experience of a user”.
Welcome to a brand new episode of Audiogyan Case Studies. Today we will be discussing “How Blackbuck is designing for technology challenged users.” And for this, I have Viraj Verma with us on Audiogyan. Viraj is an Architect turned User Experience Design professional and an avid practitioner of design thinking. He is currently leading the product design at Blackbuck, a company focussed on transforming freight logistics sector in India. BlackBuck is building an online marketplace platform for freight where shippers and fleet operators can engage seamlessly. And today we are here to discuss what goes is designing an experience for these technology challenged users.
Questions
1. What does Blackbuck do essentially?
2. How big is the design team?
3. Can you tell us what are the main challenges while designing interfaces?
4. How are you trying to solve these challenges?
5. One of your critical user is a truck driver? And as we know they are either completely drunk or frustrated with road rage. How are you handling errors and exception for them?
6. What has been your biggest learning?
7. How do you do user research?
8. Since there isn’t anyone doing much for these tier 2 and tier 3 cities or users if I may say, what is your source of inspiration. How and what your sources of reference? Because Clearly dribble won’t help.
9. You are actually solving real world problems which are slightly uncool. What keeps you going?
10. I hope this podcast make designers aware of the kind of real challenges you are dealing with. What are your expectations from designer community and talent you are trying to acquire.
Blackbuck is always looking for talented UI, UX & product designers who wish to solve problem of Real India. Drop a mail at viraj.verma@blackbuck.com or vermaviraj91@gmail.com
Today I have Ayaz Basrai with us on Audiogyan. Founder of The Busride Studio based in Goa and Mumbai.
Ayaz Graduated in Industrial Design, specializing in Product Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2003. Ayaz studio ‘The Busride’ as an independent Design Studio specialising in the design and creation of environments, ranging from Hospitality, Entertainment venues, Film and Production to Exhibitions and temporary installa- tions and more.. And today we are here to discuss about interior design of a city.
Questions
1. If we consider city to be our home, which is the living area, which is the bed room and how would you define kitchen and so on...?
2. What are your thoughts on doing interior design of a particular city?
3. Which according to you are well designed cities in the world, why?
4. Why do we need to design cities? How essential are aesthetics when it comes to designing a city?
5. Bus Ride is working on a project called as India Future projects. Can you shed some light on it? What is it and what is the objective behind this project?
Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of Audiogyan. I am super excited to announce that today Audiogyan turns 2. Yes! I started this podcast exactly 2 years ago on 27th December 2016 and It’s a been a great journey so far.
This episode will capture Top 5 insights of 2018 but before that, a quick recap of the past and whats coming up and how can you be a part of it.
For those who have tuned into Audiogyan for the first time, Audiogyan is a weekly podcast for those interested in Design and Arts. It releases every Wednesday. Audiogyan doesn’t celebrate the guests’ accomplishments or take a trip down memory lane; rather it objectively documents work, case studies, first principles of individuals who have devoted their life in the field of Design and performing arts.
In the last 2 years, Audiogyan through it’s 102 episodes has been able to document, 100+ guests that is almost 3000 plus minutes of documentation and reached 1 lac plus listens. We also partnered with Kultureshop, Hubhopper, Storytel and the biggest podcast partnership with DesignUp.
Whats coming up? Well, new branding, new website, introducing a Blog and new series called Audiogyan case studies. 2 of the case studies are already live. Case study episodes take a deep dive into one project, campaign or a design solution. All this has taken a lot of effort and time. Thanks to DesignString & a Special thanks to Yashwanth, Nitish Mohanty and team.
We also started a Fund raiser campaign to keep Audiogyan going and really appreciate your small donation if you like the show. This will not only help me paying those who help me in running this show but also will be a motivating factor. Your donations will be used for site maintenance and recordings. Do login to https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/audiogyan and make your donation today.
Now before we begin with top 5 of 2018 a last request, do follow Audiogyan on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and do not forget to rate and review us on iTunes. Oh BTW, the new website has a section which mentions "how to listen”. Well you know if you are listening this, but do share the link with your friends and family.
Alright, here is Top 5 of 2018.
1. In conversation with India’s Design Hero, Balkrishna Doshi, I asked him why have all cities started looking similar? Same steel flyovers and same glass buildings?
2. I asked Dhanashree Lele that what is the role of a sutrasanchalak. How can he stay invisible yet anchor the show?
3. While I was in Pune, I had the privilege to meet Makarand Sathe and I asked him “is it possible to write critically in today’s time?” To which his response was...
4. My personal curiosity to know “what makes people work on design solutions for grass root level” was answered by Professor Uday Athwankar
5. Last but the most profound insight was shared by Amrit Gangar, a film Historian on has film now become commodity?
And these were few gems I found worth sharing again. For more gyan on design and performing arts, stay tuned every Wednesday on Audiogyan. Till then have a happy new year 2019 and thanks for listening. Bye.
Welcome to brand new episode of Audiogyan Case studies, a series that I have started recently. Today I have Aniruddh Mehta with us on Audiogyan. The designer behind Sacred Games Title Sequence.
A designer inspired by basic shapes in nature and simple mathematical and design rules. He is the founder of Studio Bigfat, an independent Design Studio based out of Mumbai. Aniruddh has been playing along with shapes and creating digital artwork for quite some time now. Today we are here to discuss a case study of Sacred Games title sequence for which Aniruddha has been instrumental.
Questions
1. What was the brief like? Did you have to read any scriptures to do a background study?
2. What was your process of coming up with the first draft? Why did you chose to go about minimal art as oppose to traditional ethnic Indian art?
3. How did you manage to keep all the chapter artworks of the same family? All of them seem to be in a circular pattern with more of less same negative space yet varying degree of complexity. What were the major challenges while doing so?
4. Since all the artworks are with thin lines and intricate shapes, were there any constraints of the medium, for eg, smaller devices and big screen TVs etc...
5. The complexity of each artwork for various chapters keep increasing as you go along from 1st to 8th, except for Episode 6: Pretakalpa. Was it intentional? What was that process like?
6. Which typeface have you used? Was it custom and how did you mange to pick that? What are the nuances of the character that help you pick this typeface over other?
7. What was it like working with the team (Varun, Aditya and Anurag)?
8. Your favourite among the 8 episodes? Why?
9. After doing these artworks what was your role during post-production. The shim, the movement, the animation etc… Were you part of that process? How was it like?
10. What was your biggest learning while working on this project?
Will you be working on any artwork for Sacred Games part 2?
If people have to follow your work, collaborate or simply connect, what is the best way?
In this new season, I am introducing a new format called “Audiogyan case studies” where I will be diving deep in just one product, case study, service, campaign or a design solution.
Starting of with the first one with Ajay Shah today… Ajay is a furniture designer, an alumnus of NID, Ahmedabad, and has practised design in India for 20 years plus. He is the founder ASDS Ajay Shah Design Studio and also started Rubberband. Ajay comes from the school of thought, where he believes design thinking can be applied to product, spaces and graphics. Although he specialized in furniture design, he finds himself applying design principles to all areas of design. And today we are here discuss a case study of Rubberband product - the table that almost wasn't.
Topic
Audiogyan Case Study [ACS 01] - "the table that almost wasn’t" with Ajay Shah
Background
‘The Table That Almost Wasn’t’ is the first in the series of a new collection of furniture by Rubberband. The table is made in aluminium and is a result of stamping and folding of sheet metal. There are three main components which come together with the help of connector plates and brackets. The design is an expression of a new found form resulting from a material and construction language. The colour application on the flat metal surfaces removes the association of metal and simply allows it to exist as an object.
Questions
1. What is Rubberband and why did you start it?
2. People can shop, stationary, bags, furniture and more… Although all products are great in quality, lets discuss more about your tables. You have around 7 to 8 types of tables. Why tables?
3. What is the story behind “the table that almost wasn’t”? Where did the inspiration come from?
4. What is your take on products which have too many joints? Importance of single body or die cut?
5. What made you choose aluminium over other material?
6. What were the learnings while making this product?
7. Did you guys do any user research before thinking about such a product?
8. When and how did you realise that the table was ready to go into manufacturing?
9. If you were to evolve it further, what would be the progression like?
10. Do you worry about people stealing your design and replicating a cheaper version of it? How do you deal with it?
This episode is the 100th Episode of Audiogyan and I am super honoured to have none other than Prof. Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi (Born in 1927). I decided to mark this 100th episode with living legend of design and architecture. Doshi sir is considered to be an important figure of South Asian architecture and noted for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India. His more noteworthy designs include the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and the Aranya Low Cost Housing development in Indore which was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In 2018, he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. I am completely aware of my limitations while taking interview of a person of this stature but a humble and genuine effort to document Prof Doshi’s thoughts on design. 1. What is your philosophy / ideology while designing? For eg. Laurie Baker worked on more cost effective, energy efficient architecture, Or Charles Correa is celebrated for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor. In short, what does the word “Design" Mean to you? The Pritzker jury announced that you have "always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends”. What is the secret behind it? 2. What according to you is the reason that cities have started looking similar. Same flyovers, same glass and steel buildings? Have spaces become more inclusive as we are evolving? What is the role of architects in giving character to these structures? And has there been any innovation to improve the working style of the people lower in the pyramid? Do you think architects should address these concerns? 3. How has RCC changed lives of architects and designers? Has it become more challenging or less? How has the landscape changed because of RCC 4. What are your thoughts on Vastu Shashtra when it comes to architecture? 5. What according to you is the difference between good and great? To further ask this question, as per my knowledge, an artist or a designers should ensure that he or she is consuming the right content, be in an appropriate environment to nurture and grow artistic sensitivities. What is your take on it? How can one go about building their own styles?
Fenny Ganatra is a founder of Fenny G, a studio based in Mumbai, making industrial products across the globe. Fenny has always been brought up in a design centric environment and did her professional education from Raffles Design International in Mumbai. She believes, A good product is not just about who buys it or who aspires to buy it; it’s about the ‘joy’ the user and designer equally derives out of it. She has received the red dot award in 2012.
Today at Audiogyan, we will try and understand Fenny’s process, her inspiration and more about her work and the kind of materials she uses to make beautiful and functional products.
1. What comes first - Materials or design idea?
2. How do you persuade yourself to go after the design you envisioned?
3. How do you choose material? Especially when there is so much available in the market? What makes you choose one material over other?
4. How do you see, quality, simplicity and functionality?
5. How can a designer bring break through in his or her work?
Today I have one of the senior most person of the design world in India. Professor Sudhakar Nadkarni. Prof. Nadkarni studied Industrial Design at the School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung), Ulm, Germany (1962-1966). When he returned to India he started the first post-graduate design program way back in 1969, today what is known as the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He was instrumental in also starting the department of Design at IIT Guwahati in 1997 and the design Management programme at the Welingkar Institute of Management at Mumbai.
Before we begin our conversation, I would urge all listeners to go and read “The Design Journey of Professor Sudhakar Nadkarni” by Prof. Mandar Rane. It’s on Amazon or you can find few copies in IDC Mumbai definitely.
1. What does design mean to you?
2. How important is design education both formally and informally?
3. What do you mean when you say grammar of design is the same across the world?
4. Can you share any particular work which is considered to be milestone in your career and you had a great learning? For eg. while working with Compton Greaves, L&T, MTNL, Signage systems, Indian Oil, Tata Technologies or may be while setting up these big Design institutes.
5. What are your thoughts on future of design? Where is design heading and how can an aspiring designer spot the trajectory to contribute his or her design skills in improving lives of people through design?
Today I have Nipun Dharmadhikari with us on Audiogyan. Nipun is an actor, writer and director. He is one of the most talented and well known faces of Marathi theatre and film industry. He is called as 'The Theatre Revivalist' by Forbes India. I guess most of the listeners must have seen and subscribed to a youtube channel called Bhadipa. We will speak about it and much more but this Audiogyan is mainly to explore the Marathi theatre world of Pune.
1. Being cultural capital of Maharashtra, Can you give us a brief background about Modern Pune Marathi theatre world? What’s happening and how does it work?
2. In a couple of your interviews online, you mentioned, “a lot of seniors passed out or moved on..." so you picked up directing much early, can you tell us about who these seniors were and how did they influence you?
3. In one of your interviews you mentioned that while revisiting Sangeet Saunshaykallol, you reduced 67 songs to 16. Can you tell us the process in detail? How did you manage to keep the essence the same yet make it relevant to new audience?
4. On one hand you have been working on an enriching experience of theatre in Pune on other hand you are reaching to wide audience online with Bhadipa. Can you tell us about your learnings and some more things about Bhadipa?
5. Being recognised as an important figure in the world of theatre, what are your future plans w.r.t Marathi theatre or theatre in general in Pune. Do you wish to create space like Prithvi in Pune?
Today I have Orijit Sen who needs no introduction in the world of arts. He is an Indian graphic artist and designer, comics creator and illustrator. His graphic novel River of Stories, published in 1994 by Kalpavriksh, is considered as the first graphic novel of India. He is the co-founder of People Tree. This NID graduate has done several exhibition and museum design projects in India, the UK and Russia. His comics have taken the social media by a storm. Few were blocked by Facebook which led to an outpouring of support from friends, fans and followers and was restored.
1. What are your thoughts on censorship / self censorship in art? Where and how do we draw a line?
2. Have you ever tired to channelise you rebellious thought process in some other way than comics or art? How has the journey been of this rebellion?
3. Why do you think people have become so sensitive and get easily offended?
4. What are your thoughts on art of dissent? What would you tell artist of the current time to deal with such a low threshold to free speech?
5. What according to you is the role of comics in the world of arts? How impactful it has been in the past and how impactful it could be?
Dhanashree Lele is a powerful orator. Being expert in a difficult language like Sanskrit, she conducts many one-person shows in Sanskrit. Dhanashree is also a popular Marathi anchor and interviewer and has been a compere for many programs on TV, radio and stage. Worked on various projects with seniors like Shri. Sudhir Phadke, Prof. Pravin Davane, Dr. Anil Avchat to name a few…She has Secured H. D. Velankar Scholarship for Sanskrit proficiency. Today we are here to talk about what does it take to become a good orator.
1. In a lot of places, the audience remembers not only the guest but also the host, while in some cases the host is almost invisible. What is that characteristics of the good host?
2. What is you process when you are about to host a show? Research, rehearsal and other things… How do you go about doing these things and more?
3. In modern times at least as per my knowledge, we have seen only politician being good orators. Where as around 20-30 years back we had really good speakers in different fields. What went wrong and why?
4. What is the future of spoken communication? Hosting, narrating or comparing?
Dhanashree Lele is a powerful orator. Being expert in a difficult language like Sanskrit, she conducts many one-person shows in Sanskrit. Dhanashree is also a popular Marathi anchor and interviewer and has been a compere for many programs on TV, radio and stage. Worked on various projects with seniors like Shri. Sudhir Phadke, Prof. Pravin Davane, Dr. Anil Avchat to name a few…She has Secured H. D. Velankar Scholarship for Sanskrit proficiency. Today we are here to talk about what does it take to become a good orator.
1. What does it take to become a good orator / public speaker?
2. How are comparing, hosting, narrating, or giving a speech different from each other?
3. What do you mean when it is said that, one has to have command over the language? What is this command?
4. What is the importance of language when it comes to comparing, hosting, narrating, or striking a dialogue with the audience or people at large?
Today I have Suhasini Paul with us on Audiogyan. An eminent toy designer, post graduate of National Institute of Design (NID) with her specialization in Toys and Children products. Suhasini is also an Electrical engineer and has done Management Program for Women Entrepreneurs (MPWE 2016) from IIM, Bangalore. She designs the surprise toys found inside Kinder Joy for Indian / global market, sport toys for Disney, India and break-time play things for ITC Foods. You can find her entire bio on pualstudio.in. Today we are here to discuss nuances of Toy Design in India.
1. What are the various aspects of toy design? What are the steps while designing a toy? (can do as much technical as you want)
2. What are psychological considerations while you are designing a toy?
3. How important is material a factor while designing toys? Which material is predominantly used for making toys at least in India? Why?
4. Tell us about your experience in designing surprise toys for kinder joy.
5. How do you see future of physical toys when the world Is going digital?
Today I have Harshvardhan Kadam with us on Audiogyan. An artist who painted India’s largest mural at Pune’s Yerwada Jail. Harshavardhan has served as an Art Director for animation and live action films for various production houses across India. Now he paints walls and animates them vibrantly. With Mythologies seeded in his vision and sequential story telling, he conceives, perceives and executes his experiences through visuals.
1. What are murals and how did they begin and then evolve?
2. What is the role of a mural art form in society? Which parts of India can we see more murals and whats the character of the city then?
3. How important are architectural elements while making murals?
4. Do murals need a social message?
5. What is the future of murals? What does one need to do to make murals?
Today I have Sudhir Sharma with us on Audiogyan. Sudhir is a man of many facets: he is a designer, an entrepreneur, a teacher and a publisher. He is the founder and chairman of Indi Design. He is a publisher with POOL magazine, One of the most recognised magazines dedicated to design in India. In his avatar as a promoter of India’s design sector, Sudhir has been known to take a great deal of personal initiative, bringing his brand of persuasion to a wide variety of activities.Today we are here to speak about importance of building design communities and more…
1. What is Pool magazine? What was the thought behind starting it?
2. Why do you think India lacks documentation?
3. What is the importance of communities, more importantly design communities? What is the impact you have seen so far?
4. How cooperative, Design school Alumni, Design schools, government organisations have been in building these communities?
5. What is the future of these communities and various platforms of which you have been part of? How will they help society or designers at large?
Today I have Shrikant Nivsarkar with us on Audiogyan. Shrikant is a principle architect of design consultancy organisations “Nivasarkar Consultants”, established in Pune 1978. He has overseen the growth of practical from small & medium scale residential design to large scale commercial, institutional and industrial project. Apart from and extensive career spanning more than 3 decades, Shirakant is associated with various educational and professional association in different capacities. I guess this is just a formal introduction of the man who needs no introduction in the Design world. Thank you sir for giving your time and it’s a real honour to have you on Audiogyan.
1. How would you explain the state of furniture design in India?
2. What is the pre-dominant material used to make furniture in India? How effective is it from an environment point of view?
3. You have been closely associated with education space in design, can you share some numbers w.r.t number of industrial or interior designers produced by India and the demand of it?
4. Why interior design or furniture design market is not as organised as other markets in India? What can be done to do so?
5. What are your thoughts on future furniture design in India?
Today I have an actor, director, writer and a legendary theatre person who needs no introduction. Rajit Kapur. He is well known as Byomkesh Bakshi, but we are not here today to talk about any of it. Since all I could find online is people asking him about that role which is fresh and alive in hearts of people after 20-30 years. Today we are here to speak about nuances of being and actor. Be it Munna’s big brother in Gulham or Manik Mulla from Suraj ka Satwaan Ghoda. Thank you Rajit for giving us your time and it’s a real honour to have you on Audiogyan.
1. What is the process and evolution of taking a particular character from it’s literary representation to actual stage performance? This is mainly towards theatre.
2. What is the process of character development while working in theatre as oppose to working for a film or for web or TV? What changes you bring in being an actor? Short question, difference between rehearsing or facing the camera?
3. You played Gandhi for which you got national award. How much creative liberty you had while working on a historical character? How different it is while working on a fictitious character versus a real character? How did you prepare for this role with Shyam Benegal?
4. Can you tell us any particular character where you allowed yourself to play outside the boundaries of the written text / character and what was the revelation that happened?
5. Why are theatre artist respected more than anybody else? And what would you tell upcoming artists to make them sensitive to challenges of being a theatre actor?
6. Rage hosts playwriting workshops. What has been the process like? Describe it for the benefit of young people who are listening and may want to write a play
Today I have Nilofer Suleman with us on Audiogyan. Nilofer started her artistic career as a cartographer and miniature artist, collecting and recreating columbus-esque old maps, creating rivers and mountains in delicate inkspelt detail. Her work, inspired by Indian typography and street graphics, is a coalition of styles that take Indian Graphic Culture onto a contemporary platform.Nilofer’s paintings are a witty and colorful illustration of India, offering vibrant vantage points and comical observations about the city. And today we are here to explore some nuances of drawing with her.
1. Your work which I have seen at least, has a distinct identity, it has a lot of Indian element to it. What was your process to land in this form of style?
2. What made you realise that this is the style you would like to explore more? What could possible ways of discovering your own style?
3. What do you use for reference or let me ask what is your source of inspiration? How can one improve his or her sensibility as an artist / painter / illustrator?
4. What is the most important aspect when someone is drawing? I mean is it the medium, the style or the content which matters the most? Why?
5. With the new media and ways to share your work, what should be the process of being reflective about your own work?
Today I have Naresh Narsimhan with us on Audiogyan. He is an Architect, Urbanist, Activist and Creative and is well known for his long-term association with Venkataramanan Associates. As a co-founder of MOD Institute, an international collective of urban designers, researchers and curators, Naresh has also been responsible in making cities like Bangalore and the urban processes that drive them: visible and participatory. As part of the erstwhile Bangalore Agenda Task Force; a founder and trustee of Imagine Bangalore, and regular advisor to government bodies, Naresh has fuelled many progressive causes for the city. Today we are here to discuss “Design of Bangalore”
1. Can we set the ball rolling with you telling us what is a “design of Bangalore” from a geography stand point? It’s circular nature as oppose to Mumbai linear nature, It’s cow shaped geography details from a governance stand point, etc…
2. Can you share some insights into it’s infrastructural development w.r.t growing migrant and transit population?
3. Originally being a relaxed lifestyle with good weather, what has changed in the recent 2 decades? Why? What is or has been the psychological impact on core Bangaloreans?
4. (Personal curiosity) What could be wrong with Bangalore road design that people always complain about traffic jams and water logging after a minimal rainfall?
5. Where is Bangalore heading? What can citizens beware of and take precautionary measures to get rolled in the snowball effect of Traffic, changing weather, bad road conditions and more?
Today I have Jay Dutta back with us on Audiogyan. I recently did an interview with him discussing role of design in start-ups. This episode is not a part 2 but a conversation on Designup a totally go to conference for design in tech. A quick back ground about Jay, He leads the Experience Design Charter for a new, expanded MakeMyTrip Group and mentors startups. He is the AsiaPacific Lead for the non-Profit IxDa and the Founder/Curator of DesignUp Conference.
1. What is DesignUp?
2. Why did you start it?
3. What can we expect at DesignUp?
4. What is the importance of conferences like these?
5. Whats the future of DesignUp?
1. What does it take to become an RJ?
2. When and how did RJing start. A brief history in India?
3. What are the roles and responsibilities of being a RJ?
4. Why is radio still considered to be such a powerful medium?
5. What is the future of radio?
Manek D'Silva is an illustrator and designer based in Bengaluru. His work is born from a love for comics, film, and silly humour; constantly exploring modern styles and perspectives, while basing it all in traditional painting theory and technique. A formal education in visual art keeps his work deeply grounded in traditional techniques and theory, while a keen interest in pop-culture and design helps propel it into fresh and unexpected territories.
1. Can you tell us how web comics work? What made you get into it?
2. What was the reason that changed your focus from big words and complex sentences to actually thinking of what should happen at each moment?
3. In one of your interviews with Design Fabric, you mentioned “I feel that the idea of literally just making something fun and enjoyable for the reader is missing from a lot of modern Indian comics” What makes you say that. Can you share some insights into the world of Indian comics. What do you have to tell about R.K. Lakshman, Manjula Padmanabhan and people like them.
4. Every artist has his or her own style which creates a brand / impression of the artist. What are your thoughts on that since your work has a lot of different styles? What is the main thread which links all your work, like the auteur theory?
5. What are your thoughts on future of comics, web comics? How is it going shape in India in the coming decades?
Makarand Sathe, an architect by profession, has been writing plays, novels, articles and films in Marathi for the last two decades. His plays have been performed at national and international festivals. His three-volume Socio-political History of Marathi Theatre was published to acclaim in 2010. He is undoubtedly a playwright in the Marathi theatre industry who needs no introduction. Today we are here to discuss whether it is possible to have a critical commentary on today’s socio-political state of affairs.
1. In P.L.Deshpande’s Bigri te matric or Asami Asami, he has made humorous comments on Shivaji, Gandhi and many other leaders. How come it’s received in a different light while it becomes offensive today?
2. If we look at last 100 years of literature, we can see a pattern. Initially the books were banned and now more recently the writers are under threat. Why this is happening?
3. It is evident that it’s not possible to write critical commentaries on great figures today? Why not?
4. What is missing / wrong? Has the audience not evolved, are playwrights trying to be too open? Why are we not able to handle humour, political or social commentary in a good spirit?
5. Will this voice of dissent die due to today’s attitude? How do you envision the future of this critical observation in the theatre or literature world?
Today I have Jay Dutta with us on Audiogyan. abbreviated to JD, is a Design thinker, doer, evangelist and speaker. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Jay has an MSc in Design Management from UK, has been a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, London. JD built the Ux Design practice for Adobe India ground up, led Ux at Flipkart and has been one of the few Designers in a VC world - at SAIF partners. Currently JD leads the Experience Design Charter for a new, expanded MakeMyTrip Group and mentors startups. He is the AsiaPacific Lead for the non-Profit IxDa and the Founder/Curator of DesignUp Conference.
1. What is your take on state of Indian online products w.r.t products around the world in the design context? Where do you think we stand? What are the short falls? What are advantages which we have w.r.t products we’ve already built?
2. How critical is it for a company to be design sensitive? Why?
3. What is your process of getting approvals on design decisions that you take? How do you bring everyone on the same page? How do you pursue others about your design decisions?
4. In one of your interviews you mentioned, “Don’t design for the next billion. Design around the “one” and how you can make it contextual for each individual and treat them as a mass.” Can you tell us what makes you say that and any particular brief case study where you did this in action? And how did you get rest of the team on board?
5. Why did you start Designup? Tell us more about Designup.
An Industrial Designer from the National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad, India, He started his design entrepreneurship in 1989 almost 29 years ago, by co-founding Elephant, one of India’s pioneering design practices. Ashish leads the Product & Retail Experience Innovation group but believes that design must not be narrowed into disciplines and understanding users is a key component of any innovation activity. He has been a speaker at various conventions and seminars & regularly conducts workshops on Product Innovation Process. Ashish is President of Association of Designers of India (ADI) since 2010 and a founding team member of Pune Design Festival since 2007.
1. What is design thinking in the Indian context? Where people live with so much jugaad?
2. Where do you think India stands in terms of design standards across the broad?
3. Which sector of industry needs maximum design support? Why?
4. Do design agencies like Elephant have a CSR kind of program where they can give back to societies which need design help?
5. What is the future of design look like in India?
Today I have Giulia Ambrogi with us on Audiogyan. She is a co-founder and curator of a non-profit organisation, St+art India Foundation which has been making waves in the Indian street art movement. It aims to make our streets more interactive through the medium of urban art festivals across India. They have been instrumental in improving the aesthetics of cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. And today we are here to discover what goes into making it happen.
1. Can you briefly tell us about St+art project? Since when is this active and what do you do exactly in this project?
2. What is the importance of murals in society? How and what changes happen once a city scape has some murals / paint over it; as per your understanding?
3. Does Art need to be site specific? Can you tell us how do you pick your canvas?
4. Since these artworks are always out in there, as a Festival Director, how have you manage a balance between creativity (freedom of art) and limitations of being a public artwork?
5. If we can safely say, St+Art India is an act of improving urban aesthetic, we are still a long way to go. How long will it take in India? What’s your idea of a aesthetically beautiful surrounding?
Rahul daCunha divides his time between advertising, theatre and travel. On one hand he is running his ad agency, da Cunha Communications where he produces the famous Amul hoardings that have made India smile for 47 years. On the other side he writes, directs and produces plays like CLASS OF 84, PUNE HIGHWAY and ME, KASH & CRUISE. He is one of the founders of Rage Production and has been writing and directing plays for past 25 years. He is an extensive traveller and passionate photographer,
1. I am not Bajirao and Class of 84 are two milestones in Bombay. Please tell our listeners about these two plays
2. In one of your interviews with Hindustan Times, you mentioned “We didn’t have a voice of our own.” In the context of English theatre in Mumbai. What was the process of finding your voice?
3. Why do you think an English play in India is not as popular as the Amul girl hoarding. What are the learnings theatrewallahs can glean from the Amul hoardings?
4. Can you quickly tell us about, what the genesis of “Writer’s Bloc” and the playwrights to look out for?
5. 36 Ghante and the project of school children writing plays have been recent highlights. What next for you and Rage?
Today I have Pravinsinh Solanki with us on Audiogyan. Pravinsinh teaches Furniture & Interior Design at the National Institute of Design. He has worked on various interior design and retail store design projects and has rich and varied work experience. At NID he teaches Construction & Fabrication, Space Planning, Retail Store Design, Design Detailing, and Design Management. He also looks after the classic prototypes which are designed by world class designers. He has a special interest in bamboo furniture and is the coordinator of Bamboo Initiatives at NID.
1. Can you tell us the state of furniture design in India? This is mainly to set context to our discussion?
2. What is the difference between bamboo and wood?
3. You have specialised in Bamboo. How can one pick a particular material to explore possibilities. What is the process for it? Does it need to start with material? How else can it start?
4. Why did you pick Bamboo and how have things changed for you, to retrospectively say it has been worth it. Can Bamboo match up to the possibilities in fibre and other materials?
5. Are we going around full cycle while making stuff from Bamboo?
6. What is the future of furniture design in India? How can people be made sensitive to this domain and realise how important it is?
Dhimant Vyas is a veteran Animation Film Designer, worked as a creative director at Zynga games India. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design (NID). His work for Taare Zameen Par, Happy Planet, Cute Bunny, Y-snore, MTV promos and his photography have won him several national and international awards. He has a vast experience in creating animation using various techniques like Stop Motion, 2D Classical, Cut Out, Material, Sand, Pixilation and Flash. Today we are here to discuss about one of the aspects of his work, which is Stop motion animation.
1. What is stop motion animation for a layman? Can you give some examples of your work?
2. On a stop-motion film, how is the decision typically made whether to do effects practically on set or in camera, versus doing it later in post-production?
3. Is there any particular shot you’ve worked on that stands out, in terms of capturing the magic of stop-motion with brilliant effects work?
4. How much knowledge about camera and lighting is required to become a stop-motion animation expert?
5. What are your thoughts on the future potential of stop-motion as an art form?
Today I have Aarthi Parthasarathy with us on Audiogyan, who is an Indian filmmaker and a webcomic creator. Having grown up in Mumbai and now living in Bengaluru, Aarthi is known for creating the webcomic like Royal Existentials and writing for the webcomic Urbanlore. Aarthi became part of feminist art collective called Kadak in March 2016, where she has collaborated to create Personal (Cyber) Space, Aloe Vera and The Void.
1. Can you tell us a brief history of women in comics around the world, how it has evolved till current time in India?
2. You are a film maker. How did you get into comics? Do you see any common thread in these art forms?
3. What makes you believe that comics or webcomics are means to make your voice heard? Create awareness in the society?
4. You have a different style of comics where you pick vintage art predominantly. What makes you do that? What is your source of inspiration?
5. How is the balance of content and illustration styles defined in any comic? Can you elaborate any particular case study (either yours) if the webcomic reached to masses because of either of things being good?
Atul Pethe, for the past 35 years, he has been highlighting the stories from the fringes through his experimental plays, writings and documentaries. He is an acclaimed actor, writer and director. Atul’s plays have travelled extensively, both in India and abroad, and he has received many prestigious awards for these. Most of his work is documented online, from number of plays he acted in and directed, his documentaries and work along with Pune Mahanagar Palika and more… There is very nice video of his on Youtube’s Rajasabha TV channel in the show called Guftagu.
1. A student begins by copying, imitating artwork. Then may be translating and communicating bigger ideologies. Finally evolves into interpreting or giving commentary on his or her insights. Has it been a similar case with you? How has your story telling about socio-political issue evolved? And why?
2. You work with a lot of non-actors. Does it help in expressing your thoughts more accurately? Why do you choose to work with them?
3. What according to you is the importance of documenting legends of the regional community or local great figures?
4. I have learnt and realised that working at a grassroots level in any domain is a individual choice. What is your motivation? Why do you do what you do?
5. Can you tell us about what is Ringan?
Ranganath is a multi- disciplinary designer specializing in illustration, art direction and user experience. He draws inspiration from vintage architecture, street art and machinery. When he is not behind the sketchbook or computer working on pixels, he loves traveling and exploring new trails on his bicycle.
1. All your work has a typically texture / color tone to it. Is it intentional? How did you narrow down to explore possibilities in that tone? What could be your say in doing so for other aspiring designers?
2. In one of your interviews you mentioned "Design is very time bound; you have something in your mind, you build it and it changes very soon. Art, on the other hand, is very memorable.” I think with design you go deeper into the problem and solve pain points. With Art you explore & express things. Do you compare these 2? If yes how? Since you started from design and then got into art, how has your perception changed towards design?
3. I personally find dribble and behance to be just very superficial and eye candy than actually design. It could rather be a art platform than design. What is your take on it? Design displayed on sites like these are without context. How much do you think context matters in Design?
4. In one of your interviews you also spoke about how government institutes are able to hone the skills you have. Can you tell us something more about it. If openly we have to compare private design schools and Government. Whats your take?
5. You have to a certain extent brought illustrations, graphics and icons to a respectable level as oppose to older perception of stock icons. Where do you think is the future of this. How will illustration evolve in coming years? Do people still need a skilled hand instead of mastery over softwares?
Alicia Souza is a designer, illustrator and entrepreneur. She did her communication design from Melbourne and then worked briefly with Chumbak. She now has her own online store called aliciasouza.com where she sells her design through stationary, home accessories, apparel and more. Today we are here to discuss some bits of her journey but more importantly cartoons and illustrations.
1. What is the significance of cartoon as an art form in the world of arts?
2. You have a distinct style of annotations, what made you explore this style predominantly? What is your source of inspiration?
3. In one of your interviews, you mentioned “agencies choosing photography over illustrations”. Do you think photos are more powerful than illustrations?
4. Is there something called as creator’s block, similar to writer’s block while working on non-commissioned work?
5. Being also an entrepreneur how do you see an artist’s future who wants to specialise in illustration, especially comics?
Sculptor Arzan has designed some of the most prominent public sculptures in the current time. An architect from Rachna Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, got his first break when he attended a vacation art class from school, under the guidance of a noted artist Anand Mohan Naik at the late Sculptor Adi Davierwala’s workshop. He now sculpts from metal sheets, straps, rods, pipes and various other sections that are twisted, beaten and textured to give the desired effect. Arzaan lives and works in Mumbai.
How do you conceive a sculpture? What is your process of gathering material? What comes first, the form or the material?
What is the role of space while making an artwork? Do spaces contextualise art? How do you decide spaces for work which is not commissioned?
At what level do you stop abstraction to give relevance to your artwork? How do you decide that level?
What is the role of sculpture for society at large / human kind at large?
How do you decide a value of your work?
Samidha Gunjal is an illustrator and animator with distinct drawing style of her own. After doing her Masters in Design with a specialization in Animation from IDC, IIT Bombay, she is now working as a freelance artist mainly into illustrations, 2D animation, comic art and painting. Her work is mainly geared toward children’s book and aspires to be a story teller through her art.
What is the biggest responsibility while working on art related to children?
What is the importance of stories narrated through visuals in a child life? How does it effect the upbringing? Do all stories have to have a moral?
How much liberty one can / should have while depicting stories through visual medium. Can you share any case study which has positively impacted or negatively impacted children? How much deviation can one have as a story teller from the original story? How do you know the story which you are telling is true?
What is your process of working on any project? Do you have a style in mind and pick a story or the story dictates a style? How does it work?
What is the future of stories, story books in India?
Today I have Vaibhav Kumaresh with us on Audiogyan. Vaibhav is an animator; the creator of the timeless animated angry maths teacher Simpoo, the cheerful Chulbuli and the amazing Amaron claymation commercials . The founder of Vaibhav Studios along with few of his power packed team members have been successfully producing some interesting Indian animation.
1. Can you tell us history of animation films in India? How long we have been doing this commercially?
2. Why is animation dominantly perceived as children’s thing?
3. Inspite of us, Indians having a strong tradition of story telling, do you think we are trapped inn this narrow view of animation? If yes why?
4. How do you see future of animation in India. What can we expect in the next 2 decades?
Today I have Noopur Datye with me on Audiogyan.
A graduate of J J Institute of Applied Art, Noopur is a type designer and calligrapher from Mumbai. She is the co-founder of Ek Type – a collaborative type design studio that focuses on designing contemporary Indian typefaces. Her work has won a D&AD, Black and Blue Elephants at Kyoorius Design Awards and has been featured in 365 typo and in Typografica’s favourite typefaces of 2015 and 2016. Noopur is an active member of ‘Aksharaya’– A non-profit that channelises its collective efforts to document, promote, explore and create awareness about Indian scripts.
1. You work with Multiple script at Ek type. can you tell us more about multi-script type design in India and why is it important.
2. How many scripts do we have in India?
3.How do you approach multi-script type design projects? Our scripts are complex. What are the current challenges that you face? Why is that?
4. You spoke about unicode and opentype. How did the changing technology affect the design of Indian fonts
5. Tell more about ek type and what you guys do? Tell us about letterbox? tell us about Aksharaya?
Amitabh Kumar lives and works in Bangalore. He is a designer/artist and has worked as a part of the Sarai Media Lab where he researched and made comics, programmed events, designed books and co-curated an experimental art space. He is faculty in the Srishti School of Art and Design and Technology and is an initiating member of the Delhi based comics ensemble, The Pao Collective. He has been painting murals across India for a couple of years now and today we are here to talk more about Murals and his work.
Your work has a distinct grungy look. How did you arrive at this styling?
You have done a lot of murals around different cities in India. Can you tell us what a Mural is and what is it’s importance?
Can you tell about your any specific artwork which created a high impact on the audience / viewer? Why and how?
Do murals always have to tell stories?
What is the importance of initiating a dialogue with strangers when you have worked on a mural?
Today I have Kruti Saraiya with us on Audiogyan. Kruti is a graphic designer/ typographer based in Mumbai. The focus of her practice has been to allow for a contemporary Indian design narrative to emerge to fill the gap between kitsch and traditional Indian crafts. She graduated from the London School of Printing. She has worked with Rabia Gupta Designs, Mumbai and taught at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and Ecole Intuit for several years.
1. You are a typographer but you don’t design fonts. Can you tell us what is your process of typography?
2. You have mentioned in couple of interviews and in your bio as well, “‘the key is to change our mindset from an either-or to an AND.”. Can you tell us in what context it was and what makes you say that?
3. You have said, “language is a roadmap of culture.” Can you tell us what makes you say that? Why do you value vernacular languages so much? What is the importance of it?
4. Can you briefly tell us about Dharavi Design Museum?
5. What are your thoughts on typography of future within the realm of Indian scripts? Your comments on keeping it alive / nurturing it?
Today I have Dr. Uttara Chousalkar with us on Audiogyan. Utarra is trained Hindustani classical vocalist and in passionate pursuit of aesthetics in music, She has also been following the Baul music of Bengal. After doing her graduation in English Literature, she acquired the master’s degree in music in 1992. A U.G.C. fellow, Uttara was awarded a doctorate degree in music by S.N.D.T. Women’s University Mumbai in 2003. On the traditional side, she has been trained under, the able tutelage of the renowned vocalist, Late Dr. Smt.Sushilaji Pohankar for more than two decades. To find out all about her you can visit http://www.uttarachousalkar.com . This audiogyan is mainly to unravel the baul side of her work and explore this brilliant tradition which has it’s roots in Bengal.
1. What is Baul and whats the history behind it? How does it fit in the over all scheme of musical art forms in India?
2. Traditionally most of the folk arts are group activity, how come then Baul evolved into a solo act?
3. Since it’s a solo activity, how does improvisation take place? Is it similar to Classical music where the artist tries to achieve a trance in the raag and it’s exploration? How do Baul musicians improvise? On which thread? Is there any discipline in it?
4. In past few years of taking interviews and learning, I see a pattern where a lot of art forms have evolved from folk art. Why hasn’t the folk art got it’s recognition or flourished the way other art forms based on it have flourished?
5. Whats the future if Baul? How can we preserve it? What are steps taken by other Indians to keep it alive?
Nina Sabnani is an artist and storyteller who uses film, illustration and writing to tell her stories. She graduated in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodara and received a master's degree in film from Syracuse University, NY, which she pursued as a Fulbright Fellow in 1997. Her doctoral research at the IDC focused on Rajasthan's Kaavad storytelling tradition. After teaching for two decades at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Nina has made Mumbai her home. Currently she is Professor at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. Nina's research interests include exploring the dynamics between words and images in storytelling. Her work in film and illustrated books, seeks to bring together animation and ethnography.
1. Can you tell us brief history of Indian animation? What were the key milestones in it’s evolution till date?
2. How many types of animations styles are there? One end of the spectrum could be animated films like Finding Nemo and other could be Kavad films which you worked on. Can you tell us how wide the canvas is?
3. In India, what do you think students should more concentrate on, the medium or the message? This question is due to our over all Indian philosophy of telling stories and also the value which we look for while telling stories.
4. Where do you think India stands when it comes to art of story telling, both with respect to medium and the story itself. This question is mainly to understand that we are so rich with stories but not as much as with craft of showcasing it, w.r.t contemporary animation. What, where and why it’s lacking?
5. What are possible research areas in Animation and story telling in India?
Ankita Shinde is an artist from Mumbai. She runs her graphic design business under her studio name ‘AnotherDayAnotherColour’ in Mumbai and has worked with brands like Adidas, Ebay, Lenovo, RedBull, ASUS, Vogue and more… Her work has been featured in several online and print publication - Mid day, Hindustan Times, Creative Gaga, Cosmopolitan, Juice magazine by Jabong, Pool magazine, Design Taxi, 22words.com, Kyoorious to name a few.
Ankita is an artist and an explorer and believes that everybody is. She has founded petaproject.org where they empower and enable everyone to take up pet projects. She is passionate about education, about the ways in which slight transformation in the process of education can lift up an individual’s innovation capability.
1. You strongly believe “everybody is an artist”. Please tell us how? What makes a data operator or doctor an artist?
2. You have been documenting your insights and experiences in form of dawnings, words and photographs. Can you tell us what is your over all creative process like?
3. How does documenting your process help in your creative process?
4. Can you share your process when you worked on minimiles?
5. What are your thoughts on education in art? Again, if everyone is an artist how can one evolve it’s art?
Today I have Achyut Palav with us on Audiogyan. He is one of the most well known and respected calligraphers of India. Studies in JJ School of arts and passed in 1982. In 1984 he got research scholarship from Ulka advertising for his thesis on Modi script. He use tooyjyjy teach in JJ also. Be it Devanagri or the English scripts, a constant thirst for knowledge and passion for perfection continues to give a special meaning to his quest in Calligraphy. Today we are here to get some insights into calligraphy and Modi script which needs to documented.
1. What is the difference between typography and calligraphy? Is calligraphy independent of typeface?
2. Can you shed some light on Modi script. When was it used, how did it cease to exist? What are the efforts put into relive it?
3. How different is Modi from Devanagari?
4. Why do you think handwriting is so critical when the world is going digital?
5. How critical is to learn the language in order to do calligraphy in that language? What’s the role of language?
6. What are the advantages of knowing calligraphy in regional languages? How does it effect the society at large?
Today I have Ashvini Menon with us on Audiogyan. Ashvini is a graphic designer, illustrator from Mumbai and did her Masters of Graphic design from NID.
She has worked on projects with Microsoft, Reader’s digest, Visa Singapore, Bombay Natural History society, India and many more in her stint as a freelance graphic designer. Ashvini has won many awards so far. Today we are here to discuss more about graphic design.
1. What is the role of comic strips / caricature drawing in the society? Can you tell us in which all domain this type of art form is used and not used until now?
2. You have been actively working on graphics related to nature and ecology. How do you measure your success in this? Can you tell us any case study in brief?
3. Can you tell us about cartoon strip, ”Ecotism” which is a year long association with Hindu. Where does your inspiration come from?
4. You are working and have worked with big brands like Microsoft, Visa Singapore and BNHS, can you tell us how much of brands like these, value art plus giving back to society through art?
5. What was your work and contribution when you worked with TaxiFabric on Wild Mumbaikars? What was your learning then?
Today I have Prof. Gaur Gopal Ray with us on Audiogyan. Prof. Ray has been a faculty member at the Industrial Design Centre since December 1979. He served as a Head of Department at IDC from 2009 to 2013. He is also Associated Professor of the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IITB. Obtained his MSc and PhD degrees in Physiology with a specialization in the area of Ergonomics from University of Calcutta.
Professor Ray has been honoured with UNDP Fellowship (1981) and ‘Prof. J.N.Maitra' Memorial Gold Medal award (1998). He was the honorary president and founding member of Indian Society of Ergonomics as well and was the chairman of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) PGD Section 15 ergonomics and is member of the IDC committee of the IEA.
1. You work in the multiple area of ergonomics like product, workstation, automobile and more… Can you please set the context by telling us, what is ergonomics and how is it related to design?
2. How can things be ergonomically designed for mass since it’s a very customised design?
3. Can you tell a particular case study in which study of ergonomics deeply helped users?
4. What is the importance of ergonomic workstations in today’s society? IT, Shopkeeper and more…
5. At what stage should design organisations consider ergonomics as a priority given the infrastructure of the country.
Mahendra Chauhan is Head of Design at Titan. He did his design from NID and is famous for designing Titan Edge watch which is the worlds slimmest watch. He has won Red-dot award and many other national and international awards and is India’s one of the finest designer. With over 11 years of experience in the industry, Mahendra has indeed taken up the watch design world with a storm. And today we are here to discuss more about it.
1. Can you tell us brief history of watches across India?
2. How is a watch designed and manufactured?
3. What are nuances which make each watch different from other?
4. What were the challenges while building a watch 20 years before and what are the challenges now?
5. With new technology, watches seem to be useless if they only have one or 2 functions. Even watches have to be smart. How designers and engineers are working towards it, over all and at Titan?
Miti Desai is Founder & Creative Head at miti design lab. She is a a Designer, Classical Dancer & Educator. Miti finds that classical Indian dance has reintroduced her to traditional design, culture and aesthetics, which are key players in her design practice. She studied applied art in Mumbai, after which she went to the US to study design. She is an executive trustee of Shakti yogashrama gurukulam near lonavala. Her main body of work stems in these three areas and has been nicely documented on her website, mitidesignlab.com. I believe she is an ideal candidate for Audiogyan as she technically touches all three areas for which audiogyan documents for reference.
1. How and where do you see design meeting dance and dance meeting design? What is the philosophy behind it?
2. Why classical anything (dance, music) has to be so disciplined?
3. In one of your youtube video you mentioned “philosophy” is engrained in our Indian culture to which I agree, but then why is it not seen in today’s time?
4. Why classical dance activity is most of the times solo?
5. How and where can one find classical design?
6. Where does education come into your practice?
Uday Athavankar is a professor in IDC, IIT Mumbai and is on the advisory board of several international research journals.. He has been committed to education and research on design and design-related consulting for over 30 years. Uday sir has written many papers on product semantics and communication, and role of mental in design process as well as design education.
1. What is the role of design in society? Can you tell us how a well designed system can impact our lives?
2. You have built the Indian postbox, low cost ATM and are now working on affordable housing. Can you tell us role of design institutions to work on things at a grass root level?
3. How do you identify which domain to invest time and effort for design?
4. You have designed a number of purposeful games that have been introduced in India and Japan in the education space, can you tell us role of design in this and how did it help?
5. What are your thoughts on future of design education in our country?
Arun Nalawade is an Indian film and theater personality. He works in all 3 types of medium, stage, television and on big screen as well. His serious roles in movies such as “Shawas”, “Carry on Maratha” are appreciated a lot. He was a co-producer of Shwaas: the film that won the Golden Lotus India’s National Film Award for Best Feature Film for the year 2003. Born and raised in Mumbai, Arun sir started his acting career as a theatre artist and did mostly character roles and is famous for his Marathi Television serials. He is also associated with theatre in a different capacity which is Censorship. He is head of the censor board for Marathi plays in Maharashtra.
1. What are the parameters of censoring a play?
2. What are top 3 challenges in front of the censorboard?
3. With society changing so rapidly, are censorship rules changing with that speed? If not, do you think it required? If yes, can you give few examples?
4. Creativity means breaking the boundries and censorship means making sure it’s acceptable within the society. How do you manage this? Why are artists and writers always complaining about censorship?
5. Do you get complaints from lay people about demonstration of wrong things due to linient or no censorship?
6. What message you would like to give to upcoming writers and directors about restricting or not restricting their work due to censorship practises?
Sumantra Mukherjeeis a trained painter and his primary area of practice concentrates on portrait/figurative imagery of the contemporary cultural influx in today’s worlds; colourful and whimsical. He who works and lives in Kolkatta. In Kolkata, post-colonial is not a theory, but a fact of daily life. As a draughtsman he responds to such situations through Wall & Street painting, sculpture and design.
1. I believe, every art form has a subtext (an underlying message), how can one read whats going on in a painters mind? How critical it is to convey anything through art? What is your process while working on a project?
2. Whats your fascination with Faces? You work deals a lot with abstract faces?
3. Can you tell us brief history of art and paintings in Kolkatta?
4. What is the significance of street painting? Especially on roads?
5. Is proportion considered while making abstract figures?
Amrit Gangar is an Indian film scholar, historian, critic, curator and writer. He worked for the National Museum of Indian Cinema set up by the Government of Mumbai. Amrit Gangar has been working in the field of cinema in various capacities for over three decades. He has been part of production and creative teams of numerous feature, documentary, short films and video installations by artists from Europe and Scandinavia. For the past several years, he has been engaged with his new theoretical-philosophical concept Cinema of Prayoga or Cinema Prayoga
1. What has been the role of Mumbai towards cinema since the past one hundred years?
2. You have recently mentioned that cinema has now being reduced to a commodity. What makes you say that? How do you respond to movies like Court and Fandry?
3. You have been associated with the film society movement in the seventies and eighties. Can you tell us what are the milestones in this movement?
4. I would like to quote Mrinal Sen about how his cinema was a way of re-living his childhood days of innocence and fun. Is that possible in this day and age?
5. If the current trend is of mediocre or commodity driven cinema, there has to be a trend reversal like we had with Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah or Sham Benegal. What does it take to do that and how can me as a audience spot this change?
Dhanashree Pandit Rai holds a Masters Degree in Hindustani Classical Music from University of Bombay. She has trained under the stalwart of the Kirana Gharana Pt. Firoz Dastur and the Thumri legend Shobha Gurtu. She has also received valuable guidance in Thumri from Begum Afroz Bano and Batuk Dewanji. She is a recipient of the prestigious SUR MANI award from Sur Singar Samsad. Dhanashree is one of the leading exponents of the THUMRI form of music and her repertoire, besides khayal, consists of thumri, chaiti, hori, kajri , sawan, jhoola etc. She has also been associated with Jazz musicians and have been giving training in Indian music to several world renowned Jazz artistes. Most. Of us must have heard in ted talks and other places where she familiarise with Raag Sangit and how to identify raag in new and old age songs.
1. What is Thumri and how did it emerge?
2. How does Thumri sit in over all scheme of Traditional Hindustani classical music?
3. Even thumri format has set rules and it’s own framework. Did Thumri face problems when it was evolving? If yes, what kind of challenges? Why did people ventured into another lighter forms?
4. Most of the thumris are in Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Mirzapuri. Why? Have any of the artist explored by creating new bandishes or experimenting with the format?
5. How does a particular format ceases to evolve? Who decides beyond this point it won’t be called as Thumri? Futher modifications to this form and we will have to change the name? (Who defines naam-roop to these forms)
Today I have Sunil Shanbaug with us on Audiogyan. Sunil is an Indian theatre director, screenwriter and documentary film-maker. He worked as an actor/designer/ assistant director with Satyadev Dubey from 1974 to 1984 on about twenty-five productions. In 1985, he along with his group of friends became one of the founding members and artistic director of ARPANA, a repertory company. This theatre company has been working consistently since its inception, doing an average of fifty performances a year. Its work is characterised by “contemporary and original texts by Indian and international playwrights (in translation), strong performances, minimalist staging, and innovative use of music and design.
1. How do we define dissent in these times? Why do plays from the times of the Greeks and even Bhasa attract the most number of dissenters?
2. You have directed plays by Vijay Tendulkar to Mahesh Elkunchwar. And Shafaat Khan to Ramu Ramanathan. What could be the reasons these playwright try to voice controversial topics?
3. Is experimenting with controversial topics for plays reduced? If yes, why and how has it effected society? If no, then how has it survived?
4. You are collaborating with young minds at your theatre space Tamasha. What is the role of such a space in our society?
5. How do you select a play to direct? Was the process different in the seventies and eighties when you worked alongside Satyadev Dubey; to the now? Where you are seen as a thought leader.
Today I have Paul Sandip with us on Audiogyan. Paul is an international award winning product designer, alumni of (NID), Electrical Engineer and a Cartoonist. He has designed over 300+ iconic everyday objects in 121 product categories for clients across 14 countries. He is the Winner of Red Dot Award (twice!) and numerous international awards. In 2004 he created the Spherical Bulb Holder & Angular Multi-plug for GM Modular which became the most iconic best seller designs in India and have now become a standard for the entire electrical industry. And this was really a small introduction of a person who likes to call him designer of everyday objects. For more details you can visit paulstudio.in
1. Massimo Vignelli quoted, “if you can design one thing you can design everything”; that being true, don’t you think if you cover the width, depth can fall short?
2. You have been referred as industrial sculptor in a lot of places. What is it? How is an industrial sculptor different from industrial designer? What is the line that separates these 2?
3. What is your process of defining your style? How do you ensure that any product you design has a definitely Paul Sandip style / statement?
4. “Once you start selling the “designer” and not the design, objects become expensive.” Can you explain what do you mean by that?
5. Your design of the spherical bulb Holders have become a standard in the electrical product industry. Can you tell our listeners how did the product you made, bring so much impact in the electrical products manufacturing industry?
6. How do you identity an opportunity for design intervention?
Today I have Professor Santosh Kshirsagar with us on Audiogyan, Dean of JJ School of Applied arts. He did his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Art specializing in Typography and Calligraphy, and a Master’s degree in Teaching Methodology from the J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Santosh sir has been teaching art at the undergraduate level for nearly two decades. He is also a visiting faculty member at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay and NIFT. Amongst his most noted work are his typefaces in Gujrati and Oriya for Microsoft Windows XP; these were the first of their kind to be designed in the OTF format. He was fortunate to be associated with Prof Rk Joshi for a decade and he did his type design first on Vinyas. He recently submitted his PHD Thesis to IDC IIT on Handwriting acquisition
1. What is the difference between typography and calligraphy? Is calligraphy independent of typeface? Can calligraphy be standardised?
2. Why do you think handwriting is so critical when the world is going digital?
3. How critical is to learn the language in order to do calligraphy in that language? What’s the role of language? Can language be restrictive for calligraphy?
4. What are the advantages of knowing calligraphy in regional languages? How does it effect the society at large?
5. Can you tell us about phonetic aspect of Devanagari script and its relation to letterform? (Special question)
6. What is the future of calligraphy? How do you see this art form evolving in the coming decades?
Today, I am very excited to release our 50th episode and also Audiogyan turns 1 today. Since it's inception, I have interviewed 45 people and it has been a great learning experience. Not only from the gyan sessions but also from the wonderful interactions I have had with all the guests. In the past year, I was exposed to a whole lot of new philosophies and realized how deep and wide the canvas is for design and arts.
In this anniversary episode, I have collected few of the questions and answers from various people that I have interviewed. These snippets will give a sneak peek into insights which guests have shared in the past year.
Before I begin, I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to all the listeners, all the guests who have given their time for gyan sessions and few more people. Kamal Nayan who implanted this idea of documenting Indian designers. Jaydeep Gajera for making the first cut of my audiogyan.com website. Yashwanth, Pankaj and team from Designstring for building and managing my website. Apart from that, I would like to thank Veena Shahane, Manasi Joshi, Sunit Singh, Anirban Biswas, Prasad Phanse, Ramu Ramanathan and all my friends and family for the support and helping me in connecting with more people.
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Anirudha Joshi, design professor from IDC, IIT Mumbai. He talks about state of the design in India.
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Gangadharan Menon, a teacher and a writer. Ganga Sir talks about medium, message and meaning of words.
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Dr. Vidhyadhar Oke who is a musicologist and he speaks on fundamental differences between hindustani and Carnatic classical music
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Narendra Ghate, Chief designer at Tata Elxsi shared his insights into industrial design and how are things manufactured & designed at large scale.
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Varun Grover a renowned lyricist and standup comedian. He shared his thoughts on creativity and it’s challenges.
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Uday Kumar who has designed the rupee symbol of India talks about the process of designing.
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Rajat Kapoor, actor, writer and director shares his perspective on independent cinema.
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Mahendra Patel a professor from NID speaks about typography and it’s basics.
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Pavitra Sriprakash an architect deep dives in to sustainability and ancient architecture.
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Sunit singh, Product designer simplifies concept like simplicity in design.
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Ramu Ramanathan’s insightful talk on stage life heroes and villain was a revelation in itself.
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Shiva Nallaperumal a typeface designer spoke about typefaces and gave some brilliant analogies.
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Atul Kulkarni, famous Bollywood actor known for his simplicity expressed his ideas about acting and process of becoming an actor.
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Chetan Shedjale, lead designer at Harley Davidson spoke on designing a motorcycle which was quite new for me as a domain
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Hrush Bhatt, co-founder of Cleartrip speaks about entrepreneurship, product and design.
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Vikram Gahlot, teacher and thinker opened up my mind in to topic such as education and shared his views.
Hrush Bhatt, co-founder of Cleartrip. He is inherently a designer & product guy. He graduated from Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, with Bachelor of Arts. After returning to India in 1998, he worked with Plexus and then founded PaperPlane which is a boutique consulting firm focussed on business strategy and design in the online space. He later co-founded Cleartrip which I guess everyone knows of being one of the best OTAs and products in India has ever produced. Hrush has more than 20 years of experience in design and e-commerce space and today we are here to talk about product and design.
- What are the 3 most critical things when you start a company?
- How do you bring conviction is your vision? What does it take to get that conviction?
- What is the importance of design culture in any company?
- How to take product decisions? Based on what parameters does one take product decisions?
- How do you design for impact?
Vikram Gahlot is a teacher, thinker and philosopher. He started his career in Webchutney where he was heading the search engine marketing vertical. But soon realised that teaching is his passion. He now teaches at MBAguru and imparts gyan to students who wish to get into MBA, IIM and IIT’s of the world.
- We have spend endless nights discussing the mediocrity in market, is this because of education of other other social factors?
- Do you think India is asking our best minds to sell shampoo?
- If teachers keep teaching the same thing over years, how are they suppose to learn and teach advance stuff?
Vikram Gahlot is a teacher, thinker and philosopher. He started his career in Webchutney where he was heading the search engine marketing vertical. But soon realised that teaching is his passion. He now teaches at MBAguru and imparts gyan to students who wish to get into MBA, IIM and IIT’s of the world.
- Guru-shishya parampara fundamentally is so nice. How did it digress and how can we revive it?
- Why are certain subjects glorified and few sidelined while each subject has it’s own glory?
- What are your thoughts of grading system in education?
Kunal is Creative Drector and Co-Founder overseeing the design,. curation snd creative aspects at Kulture Shop. Born and raised in Zimbabwe and them the Uk,, he was part of the Asian Underground music/art movement and a spearhead of a dynamic and flourishing Indian graphic art scene. He is an accomplished entrepreneur as well as an award-winning creative director, art director and graphic artist. With over 15 years experience, his interests lay at the intersection of art, design and culture.
Arjun Charanjiva if founder of Kulture Shop. He comes from a FMCG background and has worked in marketing for several years and many brsmds.. He came back to India in 2007 and worked in the corporate world. He quit everything in 2010 and founded Kultureshop and since then has been instrumental in promoting art and artists in India
- What is Kulture Shop? How did it happen?
- What is the need of a physical store?
- How receptive are buyers of Kulture Shop products? Who are these buyers?
- Which are the most hot selling products and artists which we should look for?
- How is the work that Kulture Shop doing, influencing the society
- How is Indian art scene evolving? What are the challenges in regaining Indian identity of art?
- I can see a lot of moment w.r.t art on social media and offline events? How are they received?
- Can you briefly talk about plagiarism and stealing which happens in art. How & what is Kulture Shop doing for it?
- Whats the future of art in India w.r.t restoring the work of giants on whose shoulders we lived on?
Prof. G V Sreekumar is Head of IDC school of Design at IIT Bombay. He was trained under the legendary Prof. R.K. Joshi while studying Master of Design in Visual communication at IDC. He has worked on a Malyalam font in "Vinyas" a spine based font design software developed by Prof. R.K. Joshi and NCST, Mumbai. He is famous as a publication designer also and has designed several popular magazines in India including CHIP, DIGIT, Overdrive, Chandamama, Society, Savvy etc… His areas of specialisations include typography, calligraphy, information design and human anatomy drawing. He has over 17 years of experience as a faculty in IDC, IIT Mumbai.
- What is the role of typography in society?
- Can you tell us how important is typography even for a layman? From using the right font to influence in politics to typefaces used in signages to avoid accidents. What is the canvas of typography?
- How regional typography is important as we are moving towards a digital world? Why are fonts in Indian regional language necessary?
- Can you tell us what are prospective research areas for people interested in Indian Typography?
- How does the future of Indian typographic landscape look like? How have different foundries, education institutes contributed to where we stand today?
Today I have Deelip Khomane with us on Audiogyan. Deelip sir needs no introduction for people in the field of arts but for others, he is an artist in it’s true sense. His life revolves around everything to do with art, be it painting, clay animation, illustrations, murals, graphics and almost everything that has to do with expressing thoughts through colors and other mediums. Deelip sir has worked with big agencies like O&M, redifffusion on various campaigns. His paintings are regularly exhibited in various parts of the world and are truly inspiring. Recognised with number of awards Deelip Khomane is a JJ pass out.
- Is style important or content? Why?
- Does one intellectualise on art?
- What are your thoughts on finished paintings and artwork? How do you see them?
- How do artist conceived paintings which are not commissioned?
- What it is to be a painter in India? Now and then?
Pavitra Sriprakash is an architect and urban designer with a focus on Sustainability. Pavitra is the Chief Designer and Director at The Global Design Studio of Shilpa Architects which is an acclaimed design house based in Chennai. Having practiced urban design and planning in New York and Chicago, Pavitra’s work has been India focused since 2008.
- How do you identify soul of the project? Can you give one example in detail?
- What do you mean by spaces being responsive to users?
- The architecture you find in forts and old palaces used to be much more evolved and rich. What made us go back to something rudimentary?
- What is the role of geography when it comes to building structures?
- What is the role of sustainability while making cities from a architects point of view?
Based in Mumbai, Ameya SK is a independent graphic designer. A product and user experience designer who dabbles in illustrations as a means of self expression. More importantly an artist who specialises in icons. A lover of line art, iconography, steam-punk, mythology and other fantasy driven themes, his expression for art is militaristic and futuristic.
- Can you share a Brief history of icons in India? How have they evolved and current state?
- What are the characteristics of and icon family?
- How have meanings of icons changed as we have evolved as humans, societies at large?
- What does it take to make an icon unique in style but still communicate effectively and friendly?
- What are your source of inspiration to make icons?
Veena Bakshi started her career as an assistant to renowned ad filmmakers Prahlad Kakkar, Mansoor Khan and Dilip Ghosh. She later started her own ad film production house where she made over 300 ad films as both producer and director. She started her first feature film, The Coffin Maker which won National Award for Best English Film in 2013 and has also been awarded many other National and International awards. Veena has briefly worked in television and also teaches film technique at various institutes around India.
- How are traditional ad films made?
- What are the boundaries of where an agency’s work ends and where a film maker’s start? Who define these jurisdiction?
- What is the role of an ad film maker in taking the concept further? How much liberty one has due the virtue of knowing the medium? E.g.
- How does an ad film maker get his or her satisfaction from?
- How can an ad film maker take a stand of not sell something mediocre?
Aziza Iqbal is an Indian visual artist, surface design and pattern specialist currently based in Doha, Qatar The quintessential maths nerd and pattern junkie. She thrives on details, grids and symmetry, and believes in communicating with shapes and colours rather than words and pictures.
- What is role of geometry in design and art?
- How do patterns influence design? Can a design be simply patterns or then we will call it art?
- I believe Patterns intrigue you. What do you see when you see a pattern? Are you looking for patterns?
- What happens when the pattern itself is anarchic?
- Is pattern and routine same at a philosophical level? How come we are so inclined towards breaking the pattern / monotony?
Today I have Narendra Ghate with us; Chief designer at Tata Elxsi. He is a product design graduate from IDC, IITB. He started his career in 1997. An expert in product planning, automotive styling, graphics, branding and more… He was also part of the core team that was instrumental in making the Industrial Design division the largest design house in India. Today we will be discussing about industrial design and what goes into designing a small shampoo bottle to the most complicated airline systems. We will also touch upon User research and what part does it play in designing these things.
- What all can be considered as Industrial design products? How huge is this canvas?
- What are challenges involved while designing something for such a wide range of users? For e.g., ergonomics, cost, recyclability,
- How do you differentiate between a user need and user want?
- Which is the most significant work you have done so far? How did user study help? What would have been different if you would have not done user research?
- What new products can we see coming in the market from India in the coming decades.
This podcast is brought to you in association with Kulture Shop.in
Manu is originally from Thrissur, Kerala, and now based in Mumbai working as a self employed artist. He has an image-making style which is a balanced blend of realism and figuration. His work has been featured by Kyoorius, RevolutionArt magazine, Creative Gaga, MTV Indies and more. He holds a dual degree from MITID and Northumbria University with a specialization in image-making.
Questions 1. Can you quickly tell me about yourself and your journey of being a designer? 2. What is image making style of work? What exactly is your form of expression? 3. What does it take to do your kind of work? 4. In Kultureshop you have given one quote which says “One form of art, inspires another” - What do you mean by that? 5. How do you see Instagram, Prisma and other applications? What missing in them? Can they win over art? Do artist feel threatened by these crazy applications?
Today I have Mira Malhotra with us on Audiogyan. She is an artist associated with Kultureshop. Mira is a Mumbai-based visual artist and graphic designer and Founder of Studio Kohl. Her personal work is essentially Indian, witty and contemporary, characterised by her visceral use of line. A post-graduate from the National Institute of Design and a B.F.A. in Applied Arts, Mira’s rare approach to design is rooted in logic and common sense but enriched by her distinct aesthetic and creative flair. Her work has been featured by Kyoorius, RedBull Premieres and Vh1 and has represented India in the Triennale Museum, Milan and SouthBank Centre, London.
Questions 1. Can you give a quick snapshot of how you became a designer / artist and what is Studio Kohl? 2. What are the characteristics of illustrations which make each artist’s work unique? 3. Your style of work is “rooted in logic and common sense” - How do you define your work exactly? 4. In one of your interview with My Creative wall you mentioned “Design/Art is vague and cannot be learnt from a textbook” - what does that mean? 5. How can one break boundaries of art and still be relevant?
Manav is an actor and director born in Kashmir. He started the theatre group Aranya in 2004 and has done number of plays, to name a few, Ilhaam, Park and Shakkar ke Paanch Daane. Most people must have noticed him for the first time in Kai Po Che!, Jai Gangaajal and will see him soon in Tumhari Sulu. But today we are here to talk about his one of the passions. Poetry.
- How to identify which is a good poetry and which is a bad poetry?
- Jab gadya ji takath samapat hoti hai, tab padya shuru hoti hai.
- What is your process of writing a poetry? How do you take these abstract ideas and make them relatable to the listeners / audience?
- Traditionally every poet in India has been in pain. Is pain necessary? Why?
- If a poet enjoys expressing his or her pain through poetry, does one induce pain for ongoing creativity?
- What is your perspective of poetry? Where do you think poetry will be after 20 to 30 years from now?
Rajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, writer and director born in 1961. Kapoor was born in Delhi, India.
Today we will try and understand the landscape of Indie Cinema in India.
- What is Indie Cinema? What defines indie cinema? Is it defined in the way it is financed or the way it’s distributed?
- What is the biggest challenge Indie cinema is facing today?
- What is the need of such kind of cinema in the society? What is the role of such films? Why do indie cinema exist?
- What is the future of Independent cinema in India according to you? May be 2 or 3 decades later?
- As per my understanding, Mithya resonates with Godard’s line of cinema being the biggest fraud. Then why to try and show false reality? What excites you to do so?
Swapna Wagh is the founder of Desi Toys. Having worked with big organised retail players like Future group and Shoppers Stop in India for more than 8 years, Swapna Wagh started a unique venture called ‘Desi Toys’ in year 2012 which is a specialised Retail chain which offers Authentic and Traditional Indian Toys and Games.
- Why are toys so important in a child’s life?
- What is the importance of culture specific toys?
- What is the process of introducing a new toy in the product line up? On what parameters you decide that?
- What is your process of giving brief to your designers when you want a new toy to be designed?
- What is your vision of toys 10-20 years down the line when the whole world will be Digital?
Gangadharan Menon gave up advertising after a successful stint of 28 years, He worked with agencies like Trikaya, Rediffusion, Ogilvy and Mather, Mudra and Chlorophyll and more… He decided to wind up his advertising journey, to take up his first and second love: teaching and travel. He now teaches at Rachana Sansad College of Applied Arts, Mumbai, and does travel photography and travel writing. His articles have been published in The Hindu, The Times of India, DNA, Hindustan Times, Mid-day, and in Hornbill, the journal of Bombay Natural History Society. Through his writings he encourages people to discover the joy of travelling in India, a country that is made up of many countries.
- A Canadian professor, philosopher, Marshall McLuhan wrote a phrase in his book “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”, published in 1964 - “Medium is the message”. What does this mean according to you?
- What does a word mean to you?
- What is the ontological connection between words and media?
- Is it really possible to find meaning of a word?
- Why haven’t we got really strong hard hitting copy (har rang kuch kehta hai or khaitan - sabse tej or hamara Bajaj) in the recent times? Is truth missing or power to write missing?
This episode is brought to you in collaboration with Kultureshop.in
About Shiva, Shiva is a Graphic Designer, Type Designer and Illustrator from Chennai, India. He follows a research led, process driven work ethic to bring meaningful solutions to design problems. He has been awarded by Forbes for 30 under 30. Shiva’s practice has focused on Identity Systems, Publication and Exhibition Design, Custom Typefaces and Interactive Design for a wide range of international clients. He graduated from DJAD, Coimbatore, and then did MFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA. He has won many awards and recognition for his work in Type Design.
What do you do and whats your journey like?
Where do you draw inspiration for your typefaces & projects in general?
What are the peculiar characteristics of Indian type faces?
In one of your talks at Design Fabric, you drew a brilliant analogy of type faces are like real human faces. Each have distinct features. Is there a saturation point while designing?
In one of your interviews you mentioned that Type is subliminal. What the are the challenges in making it so?
Where do you see the Indian landscape of Font and type faces in next 10 or 20 years where we have technology in one hand and illiteracy on other?
What does simple design mean? What is lunch and dinner code word? What are important traits of becoming a good designer? How do you become a designer?
About Sunit Sunit is a partner & co-founder at Design Capital, a design advisory firm though which he mentors design & product teams at Cleartrip, Ola & Table Hero. He works very closely with the founders and teams at each of these companies, helping them build a design culture and sensitise the entire organisation to good design.
Sunit is a graduate from Sir J. J. School of Art, with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting followed by Masters of Design in Visual Communication from Industrial Design Center, IIT Bombay.
Sunit put his talents to use really early, picking up freelance design and art projects through his college days and went on to co-founding his own design studio after his post-graduation. Since then, he’s worked with some of the leading design firms and product companies like Paper Plane, Burrp!, Yahoo!, Cleartrip and Ola. Cleartrip being one of his most significant stints, where he led the design for the mobile products and a major overall redesign. While he’s led design teams of various sizes, he continues to be a very hands-on.
How do you define your canvas? How has that process evolved in years?
If your products are one-of-a-kind, how do you define value to it?
Can you tell us the power of kitsch when the world is tending towards minimalism and utility driven design?
What is the significance of upcycle?
Can you share your learnings since you are a self taught designer?
Who or what is an Antagonist and a Protagonist? Do societies define hero, heroins & villains, do hero and villains guide societies or is there an absolute hero and a villain? India is a land where antagonist and protagonist are worshipped equally. Whats your process of defining them? What could be parameters to gauge a character since a very subjective thing? It’s a question to become a better audience? If there is a gun in the first act then it should fire in the third. How true it is and how have you used it in your plays?
What would you say is the most difficult part of being a voice artist? How difficult it is if you make your switch from acting to purely voicing? What are the top 3 things one need to learn to become a voice artist? What’s the mindset of working in this profession? Giving voice to thousands of character but always behind camera. What’s the measure of your satisfaction? Which is the most easy and tough expression to express without being melodramatic on Radio? Is their anything like parallel cinema in Radio or any voice related profession?
What are the fundamental similarities and differences between Hindustani and Carnatic Classical Music? Do we have 22 Shrutis in Carnatic Classical music? How are these divided and why are the considered different than Hindustani classical? How come Hindustani has 10 thaats while Carnatic has 72 Thaats? How can one remember 72 thaats?
What is the correct way of breathing? What exactly happens when you inhale and exhale? Can you train your body to inhale and exhale correctly and also involuntarily? How to do so? What is Indian & Chinese Pranayam?
How did you enter this field of acting, writing and direction? What is the role of body in acting? How did you manage to play so many different characters yet making each of them so convincing? What are different aspect of acting? What happens while you are acting, on stage or while in front of the camera?
acting #writing #direction #dilip prabhawalkar #marathi #indian #interview #nuances #acting lessons
- The biggest asset of Hindustani classical is the framework of Raag (Raag Vyawastha). Why do we need this framework and how does it help?
- How is one raaga’s mood defined? Who defines them? For eg: What is Marwah’s feeling
- In one of the interviews, Vasant Rao Deshpande mentioned that once Asa-ali khan Saheb sang Marwah and he realised span of Marwah is so huge. What does this span / canvas mean?
This is the last Audiogyan episode on Soundcloud. I am moving all podcasts to Audioboom. Please do follow there and continue loving. Now you can find Audiogyan in the following places. - http://audiogyan.com/ - https://itunes.apple.com/in/podcast/audiogyan/id1217026675?mt=2 - https://audioboom.com/channel/audiogyan
- What do you mean by sound, nada or Dhwani?
- How do we generate voice?
- What do you mean by correct and incorrect breathing?
- How can you control voice with help of breathing?
- Who defined phonetics in devanagari script?
- What is the significance of vowels and consonants in music, breathing and practical life?
- What is motorcycle design and how can one get into it? What does one need to learn to become a motorcycle designer?
- What are the design goals while making a bike?
- What are stages when you are designing a bike? Structure of the team, iterations, process etc..
- What are few considerations while designing a bike for India and other countries where infrastructure is better?
- How did you become a bike designer? Can you tell us your story?
Introduction and emergence of Harmonium in India and when and how did it come to India or Indian classical music? How can a technically wrong instrument which was banned, be more popular? What exactly is the problem in a Harmonium or Piano? How is harmony and melody connected in Indian classical music? Were you the 1st to actually think of creating a 22 Shruti Harmonium? Can one develop an ear to be able to listen to 22 Shrutis? If yes, How? What could be the process of learning and unlearning the existing Western Shruti structure? If 2 people are singing (For e.g.: Rajan and Sajan Mishra or Mallikarjun and his son) Both sing the exact shadja, but still, we can identify 2 different people on stage. How is that possible? What else have you come up with, in your research on 22 Shrutis ? What is the message would you like to leave to the listeners about 22 Shrutis ?
What is a Shruti? Why is it the most important aspect of music? What do we use in our Music, ‘Shrutis’ or ‘Nadas’? How can we practically differentiate between Shrutis and Nadas? How a Raga is formed? Can we ‘measure’ a Shruti? Why are Shrutis 22 only? Who fixed them? Can anyone not create new Shrutis?
What is a difference between a font-family and a typeface? How does one define / gauge / comment that a particular font is bad and good? For e.g.: Comic sans is considered to be an ugly font. Why? Every typeface has a particular emotion. Is there any other way to feel the mood of that typeface? A lot of times, in a given context of a word or typography, 2 letters are mathematically equi-distant but they feel to be visually off. Why does that happen? What is the way to correct them? What are the challenges of designing font for Indian scripts? Why do we always have these serif and san-serif font pairs. Any suggestions to spread the importance of Typography, especially to designers so they get inspired to design fonts and typefaces for Indian context?
Whats your connection with poetry and what does poetry mean to you?Whats the Poetry scene in Mumbai? Why is poetry reading growing again? Do the new poems have depth? Are these poets mature to articulate their thoughts? Are the poems contextual to the current social, political structure? Where is it heading? Whats the future of these Poetry sessions?
Who / What is a Guru? Why does one need Guru in Dance or life in general? How can one find the right Guru?
- From BA in Psychology, to Social media analyst, from program manger to Tech head, and from Operations to now digital solution architect. Can you tell how this crazy journey has been?
- What are the roles and responsibilities of an online technical architect in an agency model, not necessarily a product based environment? What exactly do you do?
- What makes you stick in an agency model type business as oppose to work on a single product and see it through?
- Whats your perspective on startup culture in India?
- You have worked in almost all parts in the online world, blogger, podcaster, social media, developing applications. What do you think you enjoy the most or is your true calling? Why?
A details introduction on Tabla, taal, naad and lay... What is peshkara? What is Farashbandi? What is qayda? What is rela? Why does Aroh and avroh exist in singing? What is khali bhari?
We can clearly see a big gap between the syllabus and what actually is required when you become a professional designer. 1. Why do you think it exists? 2. How do you think it we can reduce this gap? 3. By when do you think this gap will be reduced?
India has very different kind of culture and lot of multiplicity - Is it fair to borrow minimalism concepts from western or oriental schools of design? How effective has been it so far?
What is wrong with the industry? As per my knowledge, there are hundreds of projects which were conceived about 10 years back and seeing the light today. How do we continue to stay ahead of the curve and leverage this upcoming talent and nurture these ideas? Or spot them early?
In an Indian context, there are already thousands of things designed through various practices and rituals. How can one leverage them in simplifying design for Indians?
How can one stay genuine to his or her role and still stay detached? What is the process of developing a character where you can showcase the subtleties effortlessly? What according to you are the 3 required skills to be a good actor? Last temptations of an actor; what can one do to avoid falling in trap of this Maya of films, movies and entertainment still be remembered as an actor? You also live a very simple life with Roti, kapda, makaan and wifi. Can you tell us more about it?
What do you mean by Bandish? How has Bandish evolved and will evolve? What's missing in today's Bandishes? You have made few bandish in English language. How do you decide in which Raag it's suppose to be based on? What make you pick one raag over another? What's your plan to further break these boundaries and expand Hindustani Classical music.
How is Natyashashtra and dance therapy connected? In ancient India, Classical Dances were aimed at the betterment of health of dancers. How and why did it digress? What is making it come back as a therapy? One of your article reads, "turn your suffering into art, art into awareness and awareness into action". How can one think of dance when they are in pain? Is this possible for a person to get out of depression? What are the steps you take to bring the person in suffering to at least step on the dance floor? If dance form is so ecstatic and one loses a state of awareness, how can one concentrate and work on his or her sufferings? Where do you see Dance therapy going in the future. May be 50 years down the line?
Design nuances of Indian Rupee Symbol - What were the design goals while designing the rupee sign? I mean visual harmony, culture, context and any other considerations? - What were you design goals before getting to work? - What was your process to evaluate that the symbol you made will work across? Size, color, shape, context, language etc.. - What should be the process if someone has to design for a wider set of people? - What is the significance of horizontal lines vs vertical lines in the currency symbols? - What is your perspective about making design which is immortal? Is it possible since you have made something which is equivalent to our national anthem? - What will be your top 2 goals if you were going to design the 2000 rupee note?
In the creative field, it is said that it thrives on limitations. Who defines these limitations? And then how come people get offended? Should art depict society or society learn from art? What according to you is the role of Comedy as art in society? With youtube and so many other mediums of getting famous, what is that one thing that any artist should be aware of so that he / she doesn’t loose focus on quality?
What is tone of voice? Why do brands need it? Or it is important in other domains as well? What is the role of language in defining the tone? How much command you need to have over language? How do you establish relevance with your audience using the tone?What are the challenges in maintaining tone of voice with the introduction of social media?
What are the main differences between the actual silicon valley and Indian valley of startups?
What do you think are the main factors for building a successful product?
What are the few things you look in a candidate while hiring as a product manager? Especially in Cleartrip.
What is voicing? And what is a difference between voicing, dubbing, playback and giving voice for animation? How does one get into this field? Any courses, skill set required? Which emotion do you think is the toughest? How do you make your smile heard? Which is the most challenging voice u have given? How important is knowledge of language important? What is the career roadmap for a voice artist? What's the split of men and women in this profession pan India? How does one realise one's passion in this field and ways to validate it? Can you tell how the voicing industry works? What's a role of a dubbing director language specialist? Channel voice is a big responsibility?
Gyan session on Copy, Branding and advertising with Anusha Pinto. What are the challenges in making a no-so-good brand better? What is the role of language in the advertising world? Orange, Hutch, Vodafone - How did they manage this big brand transition? How important it is to have command on language?
What made you consider Dance as a profession? What are the possible job prospects if you decide to devote your life to dance? With Nach baliye and Boogie Woogie, has it impacted Indian traditional dance forms. if yes, how? What kind of challenges one faces while spreading these traditional forms of art? How do you see practice? How do you see Indian traditional dance forms 50 years from now? Any practical and simple way for parents to create curiosity among their kids for classical forms of music or dance? How many hours you practice daily and one should? You have also been working on Dance therapy. Can you please tell us what is it about? How is it helpful? What is the role of a Guru in dance? How do you find a Guru in this day and age? What is one thing you would like to tell aspiring dancers?
What is sound design? What kind of skills you need to become a sound designer? How has technology impacted sound design? What are the challenges of being a sound recordist and more…
Should art depict society or should society evolve by looking at art? How much do you think commerce effects art? How do you know your story is finished? Why does every film need a protagonist and an antagonist? Why do you think Indian main stream films have conclusive ending while foreign or experimental cinema don’t have it? And how do you decide a movie is good or bad? Know more about films & perspectives from Kedar Jape.
How do you see design? What should one learn when one is in design school? What do you mean by Horizontal & vertical lines? What according to you is Yin and Yang of computer age in the field of design? How do you address “attention to detail” to your students? and many more insightful questions with Sharad Patwardhan.